City Council - Regular Meeting

Go ahead and do a little, so the public knows what we're doing, and then you do the motion, okay?

Okay.

Let me know, ready?

Hi, good evening. This is the city council meeting for the city of Dayton, Kentucky. And our mayor was out with an injury, could not make it today. So we need to have a member of city council make a motion to appoint somebody for tonight to preside over the meeting. So please make a motion.

I'll make a motion for Member Nyman to run the meeting.

I'll second that. You want to read the roll call?

Sure. Member Horton. Here. Member Neiman. Here. Member Kelly. Here. Member Judd.

Here.

Member Lovins.

Council Member, you want to go over and sit at the.

That's correct. So here means aye. Is that?

Sure. Everybody good with here, me, aye? Aye. Hear ye, hear ye.

How about that?

That's what it was. There it is. Yeah. OK. Call to order?

Yeah, she's going to do it. Yeah, just go down the order. Just go down the.

Hit this and say call to order. Call to order. OK.

Call to order. And the roll call. Member Horton.

Here.

Member Neary. Member Neiman. Here. Member Kelly. Here. Member Judd.

Here, aye.

Member Levins. City Attorney Edmondson. City Administrator Fawcett.

Here.

Okay, now we can take a moment of silence and do the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

So do I read this? Yes. Okay.

We're having a public hearing for the 2026 property tax rate. It's open to public comments on a new property tax rate at the compensating rate plus 4% revenue increase.

So just a little background before we have the public hearing on this. This is required by Kentucky statutes that we have a public hearing every time we set the tax rate. We are allowed to take a 4% increase over the previous value, which is important because if we don't, our costs are all going up, inflationary costs are going up. So if we don't do that, we're actually losing money. So, we always recommend that we take the 4% increase. In the past couple years, we haven't had to do it because our values of properties have gone so high that we didn't have to take the 4%. Last year, we took a little bit under 4%, but this year, with the economy where it is and kind of the uncertainty, we thought it was prudent to go ahead and do the 4%, which we'd previously done for the four or five years before that. anyway that's our recommendation from city staff and now if there's any comments from the public they can come to the podium okay are there any comments no okay so then you need to close the public hearing if there are no comments from the public okay the public hearing comment section is closed okay that's good so you can move on

The mayor's report, the mayor is not here today. He had an injury. Let's all keep them in our thoughts. He's had surgery and he's doing his best to pull through. Now we can do the approval of the minutes for August 11th, 2026.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes for August 11th, 2026. Second.

Roll call.

Roll.

Roll call. Member Horton.

Aye.

Member Kelly. Aye. Member Judd. Aye. Member Levin.

And then also approval of the minutes for August 25th, 2026.

I make a motion to approve the minutes from August 25th, 2026. I'll second.

roll call member horton aye member kelly aye member jed epstein remember lovins yes okay and we move on to presentations so um we do have a separate this is just for presentations on items that are on the agenda if you're here to speak about anything other than that then there's a period after this that allows us it says none

And now we are open to public comments regarding legislative items on the agenda tonight. Anyone? No? Okay, that's closed. And now we're on ordinances. We are going to vote on the second reading, ordinance 2026-9. Is that your job?

An ordinance providing for the imposition, levy, collection, and apportionment of taxes for the city of Dayton, Campbell County, Kentucky for the fiscal year July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

We had a first reading of this at a special meeting a couple weeks ago. This is the second and final reading of this ordinance. As I discussed before, staff is recommending taking the 4% compensating rate because of inflationary concerns.

OK. Now what am I doing?

Vote on it. OK. Is that it? Motion.

Is everybody ready to vote? Does anyone have a discussion?

I'll make the motion for ordinance 2026-9. OK. I'll second.

OK, roll call.

You always say there's discussion. Oh, OK.

I'm out of order. All right, does anyone want to discuss?

OK, roll call. OK, Member Horton? Aye. Member Nieman? Aye. Member Kelly? Aye. Member Judd?

Aye.

Member Lovins?

Aye.

And now the first reading of ordinance 2026 dash 10.

An ordinance amending the text of the city of Dayton, Kentucky zoning to add manufactured home and modifying the definition of mobile home in the definition section, allowing qualified manufactured homes as permitted uses in residential zones and adding compatibility standards for manufactured homes constructed in the city.

So this is an issue that is here tonight because the Kentucky legislature passed legislation in the last term that requires cities to allow manufactured housing in their cities. So manufactured housing is housing that is made in a controlled environment in a factory, which is generally made in like big blocks. They bring it here on tractors. There's a foundation. It doesn't necessarily have to be a basement, but a foundation. They are set on that foundation. And all the plumbing, electric is already in there. And then once it's all set up and hooked up, you have a house. So the legislature said that they want this to be permitted in all cities in Kentucky, in all counties. So they pass this law. And under Kentucky rules, legislature controls what cities do in terms of zoning and other things. So we have no choice. So our processes then go to the planning commission for the city. We have the acting chairman of the planning commission here, Roy Newman, who heard this at our last meeting. We have certain... changes that are outlined in this ordinance and red line that shows that every residential zone in the city now allows manufactured housing. But in addition, we also did what we said are some controls that we wanted to place, which the legislation allows us to do. And it says here are the controls that we are asking that that we approved that all single family new single family homes must be oriented so they face the street so you can't have a house that goes horizontally. It needs to be vertically so it's facing the street like all the other houses are pretty much in Dayton. And then all new single family homes must meet at least three of the following criteria. One, incorporate a minimum four to 12 roof pitch. Contain covered front porch containing at least 24 square feet under roof. Include a building foundation with five or more corners, not including porches. incorporate an attached garage, has an upper storage, I'm sorry, has an upper story, finished walkout basement, or a half story with conditioned living space, and incorporate the same or higher quality exterior materials compared to existing residential structures within one eighth of a mile. So those are six different ones. You have to comply with at least three of them. The whole idea is to try to make sure the houses that are being put in these infill lots are not consistent with the other houses in the neighborhood. So that's pretty much why these are being added to the ordinance. So we really have no choice. They gave us this leeway to do these controls, which we're doing. But other than that, the legislature says you've got to allow these houses in your community. Now, these are different than mobile homes, which are mobile in nature. These are permanently affixed to foundations. So that's why they're different than mobile homes. So we had to add a different definition of manufacturer housing in our definition section, and we did modify the mobile homes to distinguish between the two.

Wait, could you repeat the last part? You did modify... What's that? What did you say? You did modify...

We did modify the mobile homes just to clarify that they are different than manufactured homes.

Okay.

We have one mobile home left in the city right now. I think that's the only one left. And I don't know if we have any manufactured housing, but a lot of cities are doing it. Covington just put four of them in. They're trying to provide affordable housing in the city, and I think they put three or four in in the downtown area. And they have a number of empty lots in one area, and they put them in there. But... Now, I think a lot of cities will probably see more people wanting to do it since this legislation is requiring them to allow these types of houses.

I can see why you'd want to do it. The rents are so high, and if you have the room and you have the land and you have an elderly mother, I can imagine why you would want to do it, right? Right. So how did you come up with the list of add-ons that you put, like the second floor and all that?

How do I do what?

How did you come up with that list and why?

That was recommended by our planning, the planner from the Campbell County, who's trained as a planner. And he suggested that these be, I think there were some standards maybe that were discussed by folks in that planning community. But I think the idea was to try to make sure that when they are put in a neighborhood, they try to match up with what's already there. So that's the reason behind it. That was his recommendations to the planning commission, which they, after hearing it, approved. And we're recommending to you all that you approve the change.

Did I hear you correctly that it includes a garage?

It can. That's one of the options.

It's a requirement? Attached.

It's got to be an attached garage.

It has to be.

It says it has an up... Let's see.

What?

Three of the six. Oh, thank you. One of them. Thank you.

Have we made a motion to discuss yet, or are we?

Yeah, we are. No, it's a first reading. It's a first reading. OK. OK.

I had a question, Jay. Has any other municipality in northern Kentucky adopted this law currently, or are we the first one?

Actually, we're late to the game. It went into effect on July 15th. So many of them have done it in previous meetings. So we were behind a couple cities, and finally Kurt was able to get to us. So, yeah, every city's got to adopt it.

So have we, like, looked at all their adoptions and then kind of seen what has kind of worked for them and modeled ours after theirs, or is that how we've?

Yeah, I think, you know, basically we have to put it in every residential zone. So whatever residential zone we have, we have to allow this type of housing. I think the ones that most cities are doing are similar to what we're doing in terms of what we call the controls. So I think a lot of the cities are doing the same thing. They want to make sure that the housing that goes there is consistent with what is already in those neighborhoods.

It makes sense. My only question was I just want to make sure we were in the same compliance as other cities in northern Kentucky.

I'd say we're probably one of the later cities to do it. I think most of them probably did it in August or July after this was passed.

Awesome.

Any other discussion? Nope? OK. What else? Okay, so we have an order resolution 2026, 13R. Was there a vote on this? Oops, there was no vote.

It's a first reading. I'm sorry, it's my fault.

Thank you.

Order resolution 2026, 13R. An order resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a release and abandonment of easement between Cheryl and Roy Newman and the city of Dayton and entering into a new easement between the Newmans and the city in connection with the construction of trail project in Jamestown Pike Park.

So this is an ordinance that's coming about. Cheryl and Roy Norman are here, by the way. They're sitting in the front row right there. They own a beautiful house up there at the top of Belmont and kind of a neighbor of yours.

We know them well. We know them well. They're very nice.

But they were kind enough when, and this was before I was here, but when they were buying the house and gathering the property and getting ready to buy it, the city and them cut a deal where the city got an easement that allowed them to get up the old Belmont Road so that there would be a trail connection up there So that's the back history. So there was an easement that was granted to allow that, that the city signed and the Newman signed. So let's go fast forward another six or seven, I don't know how many years it's been since you guys did that, eight years. And we decided now it's time to put a trail down in Jamestown Pike. which runs along Dayton Pike. We've hired Cora to do that, and when they started doing it, they started looking at this Eastman area where the trail is supposed to go, and the Newmans also had concerns about people coming close to their house. Of course, this trail is too steep here. It's not going to make sense to put a trail here. But we could use a bit of Newman's property down at the bottom of their lot closer to Dayton Pike because we have some steep streams there. And it seemed like it made more sense. Their property made it a little bit easier to bring a trail there. So we kind of started this discussion about what if we gave up, abandoned the upper easement, and you gave us one for the lower corner. I guess that would be your north. corner of your property and they agreed to that so what we're going to do and what this order resolution does it abandons the previously granted easement so that it's no longer effective and it grants a new easement to the city to allow the trail to go along that portion of their property down closer to Dayton Pike so That, in essence, is what this legislation does. There will be two documents. One will be filed with the county clerk abandoning the old easement, and a new one will be filed with the county clerk establishing this new easement that will allow us to do the trail through that portion of the property.

Thank you.

All right. Do we have to vote on this? What's that? Do we have to vote on this? Yes, you can vote. All right.

Is there any discussion?

I was going to move to accept so we can start discussion.

Oh, yeah. That's going to be it.

Move to accept order resolution 202613R. I'll second.

And now you see there's any discussion.

Any discussion? All right, is there any discussion?

Newmans, you're good with it? You're good with it? No further discussion on my end.

Okay, so roll call for that.

Okay, roll call. Member Kelly? Aye. Member Judd? Aye. Member Lovins? Aye. Member Horton? Aye. Member Neary? Who is not here? Member Neiman? Here, I mean, yes.

Okay, now order resolution 202614R.

In order resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Allen Stone Company, incorporated in the amount of $308,260 to construct a retaining wall on the northern side of Seventh Avenue at its eastern terminus, which is payable from the city's general fund.

So as many of you know, we've had an issue with Seventh Avenue at its terminus on the east side, the east end of the road. It's been a problem for years. It's only getting worse. It's sliding down over the hill. Council Member Kelly knows this better than anybody. She lives a few houses down from where the problem is. and we've been trying for years to address this issue um and get funding we try to get state funding for a couple years and couldn't get it we are trying to get funding for paving but what we do have enough money for and we budgeted for this in our current budget was to actually put the retaining wall up and then once that's up we'll come back and put in the road and finish the road and make the repairs that need to be done there This bid came back under our, we had set aside $350,000 for this, and it came back at 308,260, so it's within budget. And we are recommending, and I had our engineer do an analysis of the bids, and he recommends this is the lowest and best bid. The other one was a little bit over this one. and he's checked out this company and they are they are good to go he says that they have good reputation so we are asking that the council go ahead and approve this contract so we can try to get this project done this fall we started this fall and then hopefully we get the grants we're trying to get for the payment and we can repave it and fix it in the spring or summer of next year so that's the plan but the first thing we need to do is build retaining wall It's been designed for a couple years. We had Duke remove their utility poles from the north side of the street to the south side of the street so we could do the peering needed for the wall. And so this will be the first step of a two-step process to finally get that street repaired.

Move to accept order resolution 202614R. I'll second. Go ahead.

No discussion?

No. OK.

So does anyone have anything to say? Do you want to have a discussion?

Sorry. How many bids did we get in for this one? Two. Two. OK. Thank you.

And then can you remind me, I know this little address, the slippage on 7th, but will it also perhaps help with some of our additional stormwater runoff issues down on 6th and on to 5th?

It should, yes, with the idea is that we would put curbs here and also capture the stormwater and direct it into the sewers. There is a stormwater sewer up there now, but the water's not getting to it. And, yeah, we've been having, you know, a lot of these rains, we have these heavy rains. It's amazing that it's coming down from, you know, River Point and it's coming down off the street, but it's... It's just been really a problem last year or so. So yeah, this should address it. That's one of the reasons why we're doing it. It will hold up the hillside, it'll hold up the street, and it will collect the water and funnel it into the correct stormwater source.

Thanks.

Roll call. Member Judd.

Aye.

Member Lovins? Aye. Member Wharton? Aye. Member Neiman? Aye. Member Kelly? Aye.

Okay, and then what else do we have? I guess making the move some.

Yeah, yeah, you're done with legislation now. The department directors should pick. Oh, that's right.

What am I doing? Okay, department meeting heads. I'm not doing any spinning things or I'm just saying Cassie and that's my favorite one. So, okay, I want to hear.

Did you just say that's your favorite? It's my favorite report.

I like to, you know, it's wonderful. Is it? It is.

So let's see, you have a copy of my report. I also said that I would come in and talk about a little bit about the Airbnb, Marcy's been giving me the Airbnb reports. We had two calls, one was an accident, so that really I wouldn't consider a call. I had two emails about parking and one was just a suspicious person. So those are the calls on that, four total. See, Bill did 110 rental inspections last month, been pretty busy, and 15% of those only had minor issues, which could be as easy as a smoke detector, you know, something really simple. So that's good. I feel like people are kind of getting accustomed to things that we look for. And, oh, I think that's about it. Oh, I wanted to give Bill a shout-out. I forgot to say this a couple months back. He did go to do a rental inspection. When he got there, the guy was in distress, and they called 911. He kind of waited for the, so I like to think he saved a life because the guy was, like, in the ICU for a few days. So shout-out to Bill for that. Wow. Yeah. Oh, lucky. So, yeah, that's about it.

All right.

Any questions? No? All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Y'all have my report for August. Just one thing to add was social services. They didn't get back to me till about four o'clock today for their annual report. So just they had 28 calls of service that they helped. So I just want to add that on there. Other than that, it's we got through the fireworks and I don't want to say the Q word, but it's it's been running very smoothly. And I've been at a couple of conferences and training, so I've been out of the city just a little bit. But other than that, so I have to report.

These are the guys getting out on the new bikes that we bought.

Yes, the bikes. The latest one we had was last weekend. We were able to, uh, uh, one of our officers received a tip while he was on an e-bike. Uh, he was approached and, uh, investigated a drug activity, which resulted in an arrest and a search warrant and three subjects in custody. So, yeah, that's just while on the e-bike, but we've been down on the trail. Uh, I, I've been on it a couple of times, uh, It's been hot. It was a little when you got the vest and things like that, but the guys, the guys have been wearing shorts. I allow them anything over 90 degrees or they want to ride the bike, they're allowed to wear the shorts just for temperature and stuff like that just to keep cool a little bit but yeah they love the bike that's the best purchase we've had in a while so they they do like getting out on it do they have to wear all of the equipment on the bike yeah you have to wear it it's part of policy to wear a vest you have to wear a vest even when i was on bike patrol back in the day i had to wear my level three vest underneath and it's kind of why a lot of people don't like doing it i mean it's nice to wear shorts and a polo but You carry a lot of heat and sweat inside those vests. So it could be something we might look into. I was thinking about that today, just with the heat and stuff like that, go to maybe a level two vest, kind of like what I wear, more of an executive type where it's more thinner and breathable. But yeah, it's part of policy. They have to have it on because you don't know what you're going to encounter on a bike.

Do you have to have the full belt, everything?

Everything.

Can't just put a gun to your leg and move on?

No, no. It's just ALC, it's part of insurance policy, and you've got to stick with policy, so you've got to maintain what you have. That's why I allow them to wear shorts. At least it gives them a little bit of breathing room somewhere, at least their legs. It's tough, especially in the weeks we've had just recently. But they enjoy it. They still get out there. They just don't get out there as long as... You know, they probably could, but being fall coming up and stuff like that, they're probably out there a little bit more.

Is that it? Questions? Any questions? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Chief Ekins?

Chief Schaefer. Chief Schaefer.

Chief Schaefer. Aye, aye, aye.

everybody has a copy of my report uh so year to date 441 fire runs 978 ems so we're right around a little over 1400 runs so far for the year um 82 fire runs for august was that that was that was high so we were pretty busy there um 1500 training hours With the new development in Bellevue, we were able to have access to the little Crawford building, was able to get in there and do some training, so that's been nice. Aside from that, we have just a few meetings getting ready for Riverfest. Thanks to Chief Hatfield, he let us borrow one of their ATVs to get around on. And then have been working with Red Cross and emergency management. They're trying to come up with possible emergency shelters. So they toured some for Dayton, be this building. So they did come and do the site survey there and have that in work. So that's all. Questions? Thank you.

Thank you. Rick Lucas?

Fired. Grass is growing.

All grass is still growing. Yep. We've been working on the river trail. We did get the riverside cut back about 15 feet or so away from the trail. So you can actually see the river a lot now. We'll have to start on the land side here pretty soon. I mean, it's getting bad too. And let's see what else we got. Oh, red knot. We went up and did a survey and checked on their new sidewalk and everything. Looks like it's going to turn out really nice. Yeah. I mean, they put a new curb in, the full length of their property line. So it's going to work out. Now we've got to get the street repaired.

Please? Now we need to get the street fixed.

Right, right. The street is really bad. And just general, I mean, we've cut back a few alleys. I mean, as people call in. We've been having to take care of the baseball field, cutting that grass a lot now, because especially the school's going to be using it for softball and other things, I think. So all in all, we're busy and have plenty to do. And we'll be on the flood wall tomorrow. Hopefully, we got 90% of the backside cut, so the river side. But we'll be starting on the inside. Other than that, that's it. That's all I got. Anybody have any questions?

Good job, Rick. Any questions? No, that's OK. Thank you. OK. Now pursuant to KRS 61.

One second. You're skipping ahead.

What am I skipping? Oh, new business. Hello. OK.

nope city administrator oh my gosh i am skipping home it's your turn so yeah so my report the only thing i really have to report is that you'd be happy to hear this i know the stair project is finished between dayton and brooklyn and i'm sorry on dayton between brooklyn and 10th looks great she's finished it she painted it but she's also some has a number of ideas that she wants to maybe incorporate into it which i um I'm going to communicate with her today. Rick and I have already gone up there. There's a little section that actually runs onto your property that is where an old paper street is that's open, and the deer use that all the time. We're going to put little deer crossing signs there. We think we'll maybe put a bench there. She recommended we call it Baker's Bench after Mr. not the mayor, but Barry Baker for all the work he's done for the parks in the city. And also she wants to plant some ferns because it's really shady there. She wants to get rid of some of the invasive species that are there. And she's got some ideas for some art that's going to go there. So she really has gotten into this. And she wants to come to the next meeting and talk about her experience and the people she meant doing it i said please come we'd like to hear about it so we want to have a dedication i know the mayor wants to be there for it so i think we have to work around his schedule a little bit but uh i think we have some ideas about how we even want to make this even more of a public space than it is i think i've just reached out to duke today to see whether we can put two more uh street lights on that trail we got one but there are two other there are two other two other uh poles are there i think it's their poles So I went and hear back from them. That will make it safer at night and in the early morning. So the project turned out great. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, it's beautiful and it's a very efficient way to get from lower Dayton to upper Dayton. It's still in pretty good shape after at least 50 years old. I don't know how old it is. And it's really in nice shape now that the railing has been repaired and painted. Anyway, I want to send thanks to Susan. She did a great job, and she's still got more ideas about what we can do there, so there's more to come.

I was up there last week. It's unbelievable, the difference.

Yeah.

Rick, all the work you did up there, too, I think of getting rid of all those weeds and poison ivy and everything. It really looks, it's such a transformation. And it's fun to sit up there because so many kids come up there. And they're very positive about it. And it's really, it's very fun.

Yeah, she's got some great stories. I can't wait to hear her talk about it. She's told me a few of them. So, yeah, she connected with the kids. And one little girl once did a welder when she was welding. And she was showing her how to do it. It's pretty cool. Yeah. that's all i really have to report on okay all right and now it is time for audience comments do i have to be more specific yes if you want to speak please come up to the podium state your name and address and tell us what you want to talk about no i think that you guys you do you want to speak still i mean okay you were here just to make sure that we passed that i mean that order resolution anyone

Members of Council, firstly, my name is Adefemi Adjaye. I had hoped to address the mayor as well today. Unfortunately, he's not here, and I wish him speedy recovery. So Mayor Baker has publicly emphasized supporting entrepreneurs' responsible property investments and continuous improvement of homes and businesses in data. I'm here tonight because I believe my experience with the city code enforcement present raises a broader issue that deserves the attention of our elected officials.

Can you hold on one second? Can you turn his mic up?

You have to get closer to the mic and speak closer to the mic.

Okay, then please get closer to the mic.

Do I need to repeat myself for the ones already? Yes. Probably.

You're really quiet.

So I said Mayor Baker has publicly emphasized supporting entrepreneurs, responsible property investments, and the continuous improvement of homes and small businesses in Dayton. I am here tonight because I believe my experience with the city code enforcement process raises a broader issue that deserves the attention of our elected officials. I fully support code enforcement and the responsibility of property owners to comply with city requirements. My concern is what happens when a resident or small property owner or small business owner makes a good faith administrative mistake, begins cooperating with the city, makes payment and continuously try to resolve the issue. But the penalties continue escalating while that person is actively seeking help from the city, from everybody visiting the city office literally every day. and sending multiple letters to all the city officials for help. Kentucky law describes local code enforcement as an equitable, expeditious, effective, and inexpensive means of ensuring compliance. And I believe my experience raises a fair question about whether the current process is achieving that balance for residents who are actively trying to comply. and doing everything in their means to make sure they comply. In my own case, I was out of the country because I lost my mom, so I missed the deadline to pay my renter inspection at the right time. Immediately I go back, I received two citations, which came in April, and on May 26, I reached out to the city for help. that I just got back, I lost my mom, she had cancer and all those things, and I asked for help. What can I do? The city agreed to resolve for $500. What they said is already $2,500. Unfortunately, I immediately make sure I resolve the violation. And I pleaded with the city to give me one week to pay the $500. And at that point, also, I paid $250. Unfortunately, ultimately, this has become $10,700 in liens, despite my continued communication and payment efforts, because the city refused my appeal to pay the $500 in one week and immediately increased the fee to $2,000. I'm currently discussing my individual matter with the city council is here, so I'm not asking the council to adjudicate or decide my case tonight. Because again, I know this has passed the seven days deadline to appeal and other things. What I'm asking is that the mayor and the council look at my experience as an example and consider how the city code enforcement process is affecting residents and small business owners, particularly around settlements, payment allocations, partial payments, payment plans, hardship, and then other things, especially escalating daily fines and the opportunity to resolve a good-faith dispute before penalties become extreme. so that citizens and residents are not getting punished even when they try to comply. I have prepared a short open letter that I would respectively like to submit to the Mayor and the Council for review. My hope is that my experience can help lead to a fair resolution in my case, and more importantly, help the city identify opportunities to improve this process. drive so many opportunities for clarity of process, fairer process, and more effective process for residents in the future. Thank you for your time. I'm certainly excited to put it in the notes so I don't say what I'm not supposed to say.

I was going to say, I would like additional information. Like, what kind of citation are we talking about? Are we talking about a seven-day, a month? You said $2,500 or $500, like...

We can send you an email that we sent to him explaining the whole process, and for two years we've dealt with this. But I think City Attorney Alex Edmondson is supposed to meet with you tomorrow, I believe, to discuss this. Is that right, Alex? Right. Okay. So... So I'll send you the email we sent to him that kind of lays out the two years we've been dealing with this. And you'll see the background. But Alex, we'll meet with him and discuss it further. The meeting has already been scheduled. So we'll report back to you after that.

I was going to say, just keep us updated. After that meeting.

And thank you for sharing with us, because that's what community is about, to coming up and sharing your grievances and important things and celebrations so we know what to deal with in the community. So we appreciate you sharing with us what you had going on.

Thank you.

All right, Jerry Huntley, 585 Manhattan. I was just sitting here during the meeting, and you kind of blindsided me on this tax thing, but I made a quick note that I'd just like to get a response from. If the city reduced the property tax rate because the increased property assessments over the last few years have sufficiently had revenue to fund the 2027 budget and maintain the city's reserves, what has changed that... that decision that now requires the city to increase the tax rate.

So we had to reduce the tax rate even two years ago because our rates went high enough that It's a complicated process, but it was more than 4%. So we weren't allowed to raise our tax rates because our values went so high. So we can only raise them 4% more than the previous year's tax valuation. That make sense?

No.

okay it's complicated so we had to we weren't allowed to raise it at all even if we wanted to two years ago because we had a that was the year after reassessment of all the properties in the city and we also had a big one go online right here even though that was um That one was not taxable.

That was an IRB property.

So, yeah, so we couldn't raise them. We couldn't do the 4% if we wanted to. Last year we could have done 4%. We did something like 3%, but it kept it lower than what it was the year before. But this year, if we don't take the 4%, that money's gone forever. We know that our costs... For materials, labor.

I was just going what was based on the budget that was presented, what's it been, two months ago?

It was a 4% was in the budget.

Yes.

That 4% was in the budget.

That's correct.

Yeah, the 4% increase was in the budget. And then later on, once they get property values, then they can figure out how to assess it from there.

So we generally do the 4% in the budget, and then they can decide whether they want to take it or not. And they decided tonight to do that.

Jay, wasn't it like a .19% increase? It was like something really, really small, .019 increase or something like that?

It's going from 3.98 to, yeah, basically somewhere around there.

3.99 to 0.0421.

Yeah.

So it's like a .30.

Yeah, it's like 2.5, truly a 2.5% or so rate increase. But I was just curious as to why one year we're dropping it, and then the next year we're adding it back in, getting it back, if our intended revenues from our sources keep increasing, should overtake that.

We always are allowed to do the 4%. We take the same values last year, and we're allowed to take 4% more than that. That's a state law. And we generally do that always, but we didn't do it two years ago because the values went so high.

That was my question. What has changed that the values have went?

They have not increased. They did not increase substantially like that. They've increased, but not at that level that they did two years ago.

OK, that's cool.

OK, all right.

Yeah, and just point of clarification there, I think you can raise it more than four, but it has to go to a public vote. That's correct.

I mean, if you don't want to do a public vote, you can only go 4%. Most cities take the 4%, like I said, because if they don't, that money's gone forever, and you're not going to be able to pay for the increased costs that the city has. I would say inflation will likely be more than 4% next year.

Any other audience comments? Okay. And now we're going to discuss new business and an update from the city council committees.

For usual, I'll do the honors and kick this off. There has not been another meeting of the Finance Committee, so no updates there. The Sports and Recreation Committee has lost momentum. Tara, who was our only remaining member other than myself, is now moving out of the city. So it's down to just me on the committee. So if anybody still wants to keep the momentum alive for Sports and Recreation Committee, I'd welcome you to join me. Please reach out. But other than that, right now we're not meeting because we don't have a quorum and we don't have anything to talk about. Otherwise, it would just be me in a room talking to myself.

Do you want to keep it going?

I wouldn't be opposed to keeping it going, but if the public interest is not there.

Do you want the city to post it on Facebook and social media? It is already?

I've seen some postings already for joining boards and committees. I don't think there's been too much traction for that particular committee.

Okay.

Lots of interest for the marketing committee. That one's running strong. And finance as well. But sports and rec, not so much. With that being said, it is Veteran Suicide Prevention Month, so I've committed to running 100 miles. So if anybody wants to do that with me this month, feel free to let me know, and I'll go jogging with you.

Okay. Who else? Finance Committee?

We can teach a pickleball. That's all I got.

Yeah, like I said, finance committee is not met. Okay, okay. And so if anybody on the marketing committee wants to give an update, they can.

Well, I guess it's me. Let's see, last month, we're meeting tomorrow, by the way, if anyone's interested in joining the marketing committee. Last month, it always is the night after the city council meeting. Last month, Jared joined us and has a lot of plans for... our city marketing our city signage he had a big presentation so had a lot of hands out handouts so tomorrow night we're going to be discussing what he has shown us and giving feedback and moving forward with that so if anyone wants to attend tomorrow that would be great marketing committee right here at i think it's 6 30. yeah yeah 6 30. okay

okay um i got a couple things for new business but uh so just to remind everybody for final friday september 25th this it starts at seven now listen to some music you know see your neighbors um and then since we won't have a meeting beforehand fall fest is coming up on october 3rd it'll be at monument park from four to eight there's going to be a petting zoo pumpkin decorating for the kids, kid zone, vendor market, music, all kinds of fun. So mark it on your calendar, and we hope to see you there. And I'm sure that the Civic Activities Board can always use volunteers. So if anyone is interested in helping out at Fall Fest, reach out to the city or... shoot me a message on Facebook Messenger or something and we will definitely be able to use your assistance and we hope you can come out to Fall Fest.

Great. Do you have a face painter?

Yes. Good. Do you have food trucks? Actually, Hometown Heroes is going to be cooking for us this year.

Okay. Great. Anyone else?

OK. Business.

And now we are going to go into executive session pursuant to KRS. She usually reads that.

Oh, sorry. So we do have two items for executive session. Yeah.

Pursuant to KRS 61810-1B, deliberations on the future acquisition or sale of real property by a public agency, but only when publicity would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property to be acquired for public use or sold by a public agency. And pursuant to KRS-61810-1C, discussions of proposed or pending litigation against or on behalf of the public agency.

So we'll need to have a motion from the council to go into executive session. So moved. Second. We need a vote.

We need a roll call.

You want to do a roll call on that? No.

Member Horton. Aye. Member Neiman. Aye. Member Kelly. Aye. Member Judd. Aye. Member Lovins. Aye.

Thank you.

The audience does not have to stick around.

Yeah.

Good job.