Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, ma'am. We are all right. All right, I'd like to call to order the Rackcliff City special called meeting for Monday, January 12th, 2026 at 5:00 pm being held here at city hall and will be streamed live on Facebook and Councilwoman Toshi Merurl is attending by Zoom. If you could please rise for an invocation remain standing for pitch.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and we thank you for your many blessings. We thank you for this new year and this new beginning of the chapter of our city. Father, we thank you for our 60th year as we enter into it and we are so thankful that our city has been here. Father, we thank for our mayor, our city council, our city attorney, and all our department supervisors. Bless our service members both here and abroad. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. [snorts] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. All [clears throat]

right. Can we have a roll call, please? [clears throat] Present. Brown here. Ro here. Merl here. Owens Thompson here. All right, we have a quorum. Just want to mention that uh Miss Merurl, of course, as I said, is on Zoom heading back from a funeral. And so, we hope everything went well. And then also want to mention that uh Miss Owens is on jury duty, I believe. Is that correct? Yes.

And so was unable to be here. So with new business uh this is something that we moved over from December's meeting which is consideration approval of the Lincoln Trail AD development district u a ro a proposal which is us to um contract with them for six months and that is to test the um off for the public relations um that they are now offering as a service to see whether or not that is something that bene is beneficial to the city. I'll make a motion to uh approve the agreement with the wind control area development. I'll second that. Motion second and we can have discussion. Mr. Brown, you had something?

Uh yes sir. Um there's a perception of Radcliffe that I want to [snorts] address and I think this will hopefully start that process. We need to brand ourselves. We need to start sharing the positive stories, the positive people, the positive positive events that take place in our community. We've never done that the way we [snorts] could. I think this is a beginning. It's a start, but I believe we need somebody who's just dedicated to that, but I'm willing to see how this works out for six months. I'm willing to spend the money for it, but I want us to look hard at it in six months time and say, are we getting enough for our buck for for our taxpayers dollar to proceed with this or should we go ahead and look in house and have one person dedicated to the city and its efforts to show put itself on its best foot? And and just to mention just so the public and and those may be watching that didn't get to see it in November's meeting u or was the December work session uh sorry that the link trail which was um Daniel London and Casey came to do a presentation and so the council just so the public's aware did hear a presentation from them. This is not a cold vote. This is presentation that was given and u the council heard what options and stuff was going to be presented and uh kind of what that service would look like. Anybody else?

I'll say I agree with Councilman Brown. I do think that um [clears throat] we want to put our best foot forward. We want to showcase everything that we possibly can in the best light that we can. And I think this is a good move though of opportunity to see what can be done and you know and revisit it in six months. And I agree. Let's take a look at that. after six months. Anybody else? I want to say that we have to keep going, moving on. Progress is here and we have to follow it. We cannot stay behind.

Sorry. I believe we have to move on. Marketing is number one now and before but more now. There is a lot of competition and there's so much information. So, I aim for it. and we see what happens. Can you mute anything? I'm for it. Toshi, I don't know if you can hear if you have anything to add.

Uh, yes, I can hear. And um I agree with Councilman Brown and Mr. Roach and the rest of the council. This is something that I'm looking forward to um seeing if it works and the positive side of showing Rack's growth and all that we have going on. Having that dedicated to one person who is from Rackcliffe, who understands Rackcliffe. Um I'm looking forward to seeing how this next six months go. All right. Uh with that, I'll take roll call vote, please. Yes, sir. Bill, yes. Brown, yes. Yes. Merl, yes. Thompson, yes.

All right, motion carries. Uh, next is consideration approval of the budget amendment. This was the um construction building. I got Jake here if there's any questions, but we are uh we had discussed uh about the uh the road office centennial, which is going to be right there adjacent to the Baptist Health, which has been back in October. The recording was done and the uh easement was given to the city for the road. And so this is just the uh we're doing the construction portion which is our portion of it. Utilities, Jake, if I'm not mistaken, is being done by the developer all around that the road and all we're responsible for is our construction of the roadside. Correct. Okay. And so we're ready to move forward with that. This would just be a consideration approval of the uh budget amendment which will be done at a later date and we anticipate that that's we're probably looking between highend 175 but we probably would come in Jake probably around 150 or lower hopefully. That's I'm gonna hold him to it. So, and so with that, we can take a motion.

I'll make a motion. Second. Second. Motion. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Can we roll call vote, please? Brown. Yes. Ro, yes. Merl, yes. Thompson, yes. Yes. All right. Motion carries. And we did have consideration for a close session, but we do not need that one today. So at this time I'll take a motion to adjurnn. Motion second. Any discussion? All in favor?

Any opposed? All right, we will move on to our regular work session and at this time we have one item on there um for this and this is Sanders Springs cabin which I know some of you gonna come up real quick. I don't know where. Becky gonna let her have the reigns for this one. She uh we had discussed the cabins uh and I know we approved the the inspection for the the beetles the say it for me post powder post beetles the termites

termites the beetles the powder beetles do we need to still revisit that yes okay and then we can get into the cabin side then I'll I'll kind of lead you on that one but go ahead with the powder post beetles. [laughter] So, uh, all of the council members were able to come by and take a look at the cabin and we went inside.

So, I know all members came and everybody was even able to go inside. We weren't able to get that. But anyway, I think what you're able to see with this situation are in and I think everybody agrees we need to do something with them. So the color needle the amount on that now this will be done in the spring to treat all four cabins and let me say

yeah for the power it's $13,752 and then that wood that's treated at that point will not need to be treated again and if they're the [clears throat]

So I would like to see if we can do that. So um that will be in the spring. So that they put on the treat and absorb something today.

Well, I visited I was the first one to visit the cabins and I saw the little tiny holes that those that you call them powder the powder. Yeah. And I agree can they can anything that you neglect it can cause more damage. You neglect credit card payment it doubles. So it is understand that this needs to be done. [clears throat]

Um any yes oh I apologize. I don't know what order we're in. Um, Miss Fargo, were you able to get more than one estimate for that or is that one estimate for the 13,000 the powder postal? We just that one. Is there any other companies that do it that you knew of? I mean, it's the same company that does all of our pest control. So, it's the same company, uh, Councilwoman that does all of our pest control already for the city. Okay, thank you.

Any other questions on this that issue?

Okay, next um we were going to discuss uh Mr. Baker and um we have been working uh to see what we can do about this cabin. We had two suggestions. One obviously was to take the building down separately, which we had proposed could be um just taking the the stoveall cabin down and um labeling it and then kind of stacking it off until we figure storing it until we determine what's going to be. Um we did have an estimate um that came in from a company that does do the work um and would probably really do a great job. probably build it back almost like it was back then. But that I don't want to mention the number because I don't want to put that out there right now just because we're probably going to try to get other bids. Um but that number was pretty high, a lot higher than I think that we and Becky anticipated that number would come in. So that part of the discussion I think we would like to just kind of hold off on till we have another opportunity. You would be surprised that um restoration of old cabins is not as easy to find people that are willing to do it and those that do want to do it uh want to be paid very well for their expertise.

And so I think what we're going to have to do as a council and um um mayor and give him a chance is find out uh obviously the cabins are a great attraction. Um I couldn't probably tell you how many photos over the years have been taken. uh by people graduating, getting married, celebrating anniversaries, or over there at the cabins. Um but we're going to have to make a decision on if we want to be in the cabin business, just like we're in the pool business. And if we do, are we willing to spend the money uh that comes along with having those cabins here, and then how long we expect those cabins to be a vital part of our tourism here in Rackcliffe. There's been some proposals. I know Miss Merl has asked if tourism uh would be willing to participate. um as far as helping restore those cabins. Those are conversations we can have. Uh but I think long term we probably need to determine what value they are to our community and then um if we're willing to spend the kind of money that it would probably cost to get them restored to the level they need to be at. So

which is why when I brought this to the council, I brought the so deterioration and So, if the council's okay with that at the work session, I hate to cut that discussion short, but I think it's really we need to have a little bit more.

And also, if I could answer, um, I did go back and talk to the company about if there's a cost savings of taking it down and rebuilding it, right? And they said there would not be because there's no store on site. So, we wouldn't save any I I have to ask in the meantime, are they going to be visited? Are they going to be open? Not the from the moment. Not the one that is uh in Yeah, that one is already already isolated. Yeah, that one is the other ones are okay.

We got those open. So how much time how much time do you give from the moment we get another bid to the salary get the money then it's going to get deteriorated more right yeah that one's been in pretty I'd say since earlier this past year it's been in pretty rough shape uh I don't disagree a couple years

well not to the level where it's fallen yeah um but I don't disagree with anything you just said I think we have to decide uh whether or not we want um obviously spend the dollars and I would like to have maybe a second quote just to compare those two from another reputable company. I already have somebody who did the work for me in three days. Usually it takes three months and I'm sorry I didn't I have it here. I have the number here. He's not a restoration. He is a service. It's a like a handman but he's good. He's He built something in three days. He's good.

Yeah, this one's a little bit of a specialty. Not saying he can't. I'm just I just This one's a little bit of a specialty. Um and the the the cost of like I said, I don't and the reason I don't want to just throw a number out right now is I don't want someone to come in and and just say, well, you know, this was this price, I could do it for this. I'd rather have a true honest. And so, typically, we don't like to throw those numbers out in the air. Um but I was a little bit sticker shocked when Miss Baker did show me that number. And uh so I told her let's let's hold off before we get too far. At least by March have a good idea where we want to be at.

So what I would like to do is like take that one down take care of that issue and then So you're suggesting the 37 or the 37,000 as an option to at least get it down and maintained and then we go from there on. Okay. That could be something we can consider. Yeah. So, another thing about taking it down, we also prevent we also prevent the safety risk that it also houses right now because currently we it's pretty much open. So, if we do go on and take it down and store it, then it's no longer safety risk for us. Okay.

Would you like to vote on that potential on Tuesday? Do you anybody have any questions regarding just the removal the take down of the Sure. The take down of it does not affect you're saying correct. I mean it's either way, right? So it would be the same [clears throat] regardless of Miss Merl, you say it's a week or two. I'm waiting my turn. Yeah. Go ahead. You're go ahead. Go ahead.

Okay. Um, Barbara, I I really enjoyed going out to all the cabins and I appreciate very much all all the effort uh that you're putting into it and giving us all the personal tour. It was very enlightening. Um, I do like the take that mayor uh just spoke of the direction of waiting a little bit. I'm really personally was a little sticker shocked at the price of just taking it down and storing it without, as the mayor said, is this the direction we're going to go? I think we all agree that cabins are part of the the the history and the makeup and the the visitors and everything that comes to make Son Springs what it is. But I think we should get other bids and figure out, can we rebuild it at the same time and can we save money? I know you said the one company said we're not going to save money, but I think we explore other options. That's my opinion. I I just don't, you know,

the example I used was you don't take your bathroom apart. You don't have somebody come in and destroy your whole bathroom and not without getting a bid what it's going to take to remodel it to put it back. You figure out what it's going to cost to put it back I think before you even take it apart. That's what I would like to see us do. [clears throat]

Right. And I agree with that. And if it was the other cabin that are not already fallen, they almost falling down into that sad state of disre I totally agree with that. That's why we didn't get any bids to take those down at this time because those need to be down and brought immediately back up. So I agree with you. Um but you know as we stated before we have looked for not months we've actually been looking for years to find some people that can do this work and and do it well and safe and um you know I said before we talked to person he's not doing it anymore. Some other people have retired person that is not even interested in coming.

Yeah, we talked to uh the one building the or try to get the one to come out. I think they did come out and look, but they haven't contact us back. The one that they're doing in Vine Grove next to um the railroad tracks there where Glenn Dvers got the property, right? I talked to another person that said they could do it, but they don't do the roof. They don't do the windows. They don't do the foundation. They only do they don't even do the stone masonary. They only do the Yeah. The original the original people that built them I don't think um is doing it either. It's it was Yeah. the people that

So, the person taking the person taking them down, do they not put them back at some point? Are they saying they can't do that? They do. Um, they do, but that's that's the high number that we're discussing right now. Right. But then we're going to tear it down, store it for if it took years to get this bid. How long are we gonna store it? Well, that's a bid.

That's what I'm saying. If we if we can find and I think it's not years to get the bid, it's been um the dilapidation has been years in the making and now we're trying to restore and bring it back to a level in which it's back to when I mean a quality I mean grade A and the company is is well I mean it's it's it's hitting a few zeros and so that's the that's the issue. Um and it's per building. It's not just one. And so we have reached out the the initial one that was done uh we had had some local people and back when our previous director was there they were Menanites I believe that

uh Amish was it Amish or Menites? Menite. It was Menanites

um that we worked through and we have spoken to some of those and they're not they they just don't do it anymore. There's just some that just don't mess with it. So, uh, we've reached out to the state, the state, we've talked to them about some of their, uh, ones that do at the cabin. So, it's just I think we really have to have a true discussion on how much we want to spend, um, and ensure that our department heads, Becky and then Barbara, have done what their job is and reached out to as many people as possible to get us quality bids. Um, and then if those come in, then we got to decide whether or not we want to move forward with that. And I'm assuming, Mr. Pike, some of this would be considered specialty work, if I'm not. Yes.

Yeah. So, can we invite them to come here and talk to us? These people that you took. Um, another thing that we do have with these cabins. She fell off. She fell. Oh, go ahead. You're good. You want me to wait for No, you're good. She may have lost. I'm back. I agree with you, mayor. I don't see you. I was gonna say so another thing with these so they are not considered historic cabins because they were built they were rebuilt on property. So they're not they're they were not they're not original to the land.

They're not original to their property. So therefore it makes it extremely hard to find grants to build for to find for these cabins. Another reason why they can't find them. What our director was just mentioning back there is that our um because these were removed off the original property where they were initially set, they're not considered historic cabins, which limits us on any kind of grants or funding that we may be able to get that could help restore those. But on the flip side, that also means we can do whatever we want with them. Yeah.

So if if that's council, if that's direct, there she is. that's a direction then uh we can have I think we just probably need to schedule a maybe a meeting and and I think everybody's been out and looked at them and I think we just have to determine and I think after we talk to tourism to see if maybe there's some support there we'd have a little bit better answer any question so really the only vote next week will be on the post I can't ever say it right and then um then we just need to maybe have a little more discuss on removal on the removal portion and I'll probably jump in a little bit more on this to have some discussion with those folks and then go from there.

Is that okay? Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Toshi. You got anything else for Oh, sounds good. All right. Thank you. All right. Stay on. Okay. Next, mayor council comments. Uh, I want to start off by saying I know that there's several people running for mayor, but I guess I don't get a name tag anymore. They're already wanting me to leave. I looked at I looked down here at this and I said, "Where's my name tag at?" She said it was there the other day, so I guess they're already ready for me to What have you done for me? [laughter]

Oh, all right. So, every so often at time of election, I have to sometimes be the bad guy. But during Mayor Council comments, as we all know, I want to congratulate everyone that has filed for running for office, not only here, but across the county. And uh during the election time, obviously, we have mayor council comments. And I just want to remind our council and of course even myself that uh this time is to talk about things going on in the community, things that we've always done. Um, you know, I don't want to be the bad guy and have to cut anybody off.

Yeah, keep it with city business. You know, please don't mention anything about any kind of fundraising or any kind of campaign thing you're doing or something regarding a campaign because we try to keep this portion of the uh thing about fair and equal time and and want to make sure that we do what we're supposed to be doing when it comes to just sharing things that are going on in our community. So, just want to remind everybody of that. But I do want to wish everybody that filed and decided to run and take this big leap uh best of luck and uh you'll may have this headache soon. So, so with that, Kim, I'm going to start on your end because you're by yourself.

All right. Um well, first of all, I wish everyone had a better start on the year and holidays than I did. And uh I agree that Kevin's big deal, you know, get something done before

to just cut your mic off. I might have to be on [clears throat] it. All right, Toshi.

Um, yes. I just want to let everyone know that next week Tuesday at Calvin is the Ryus small business alliance uh monthly meeting. Um this particular meeting and this is not political. This is our current mayor and judge executive uh the mayors of the cities are going to be giving an update I guess other cities and what is going on. So I think that would be a good meeting. That's 11:30 at Calvin Community [snorts] Center on Tuesday. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. I really don't have anything except to say happy new year

to everyone. Looks like we are going to have a wonderful year going to go into it thinking that way anyway, right? So, happy new year everyone. All right, Mr. Brown, I don't have anything else meeting mayor. Well, don't forget the mayor's last mayor's breakfast. It's the 24th of January, early morning, 8:00 till 11 at the Culling Community Center. And uh happy new year to everybody. It is still new. That's it. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. She did mention the mayor's breakfast. Um just want to remind everybody come out. You still sign up as as Miss Bell said. Um it's our annual 16th annual mayor's breakfast and so uh wish everyone to come out and celebrate with us. It's a good time. A lot of door prizes. Everybody always has a good day and a good time when they're there. Uh NAACP Freedom Fund banquet or lunchon. Partly the Kings get it right. Sorry. I'll get it right. You want to mention that real quick? Yeah, that'll be uh on the 19th uh Monday the 19th, Martin Luther King Junior birthday. Uh we'll be at the Coven Community Center. We have good program in store.

Yep. And it's glad to have it here, of course. And then we'll be closed that day, so encourage everyone to come out. Um let me see. Leaves out today. This will be the last pickup going through the city. Um so if you have your leaves out, uh please just or if you need to get some leaves out that they'll be making the rounds. And if you have to uh if they miss you or you need to come have them come pick them up 2703518150 thinks the number. So uh call public works and they can be able to pick them up. Try to think of anything else. Is that about it? Try to think we're missing anything. Donations. Yeah, donations. I know uh

yeah people have gone around. I know Miss Baker's done in the past. We've always had a good good door [clears throat] prizes for that. So, and the food's always good. And Greg probably do a story before we get there. Supposed to be the biggest one ever we ever had. It's my last one. I'm gonna have the biggest party ever, Mike. All right. I think that's it. Next meeting will be uh Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, 5:30. I don't think there's good. I feel like I'm missing that event. Me, too. I think that's something he's missing. Feel like I'm missing something. I don't know. Only other thing I can think of is Kentucky basketball finally won an SEC game. The only thing

All right, with that. All right, with that, I don't guess we need a motion. Miss Merl, you can disconnect. Thank you for for joining us. Have a safe trip. Safe trip home. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Thank you all. All right, we're Thank you