Eminence Kentucky-Minutes

The City Council of the City of Eminence, Kentucky met in a regular session on Monday, May 9, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. with Mayor Doug Bates and the following members present: Kevin Harris, Laura Whitney, Howard Roberts, Tom Ferguson, and Leeroy Winburn. Absent was Member Drane Stephens.

Subject: Minutes - The minutes of the previous regular session held on April 11, 2005 were reviewed. Motion made by Member Roberts and seconded by Member Ferguson to approve the minutes as presented. All members present voted “Yea”.

Subject: West Owen Street Re-Development Project – Kriss Lowry was present and reviewed the monthly progress with council. She reported that the only grant money left is $3,500.00 for administration fees which will not be released until the project is complete. All of the scheduled acquisition is complete. The Mary West estate which is now owned by Ivory Henderson, stills needs to be rehabbed or demolished. The family is now willing to sell it to the City for the appraised value and would like to have an answer from the City by June 30th. Ms. Lowry reported that the final demolition work on Dortha Beach’s old house is being finalized as well as some very minor finish items on her new house. Final payment will be made on these two projects when the above items are finished and inspected. We are currently $5,359.00 in the negative on the project as it stands. The City will have to pay this amount and hopefully recover the funds when the lots are sold.

No bids were received on the lots offered for sale. Ms. Lowry stated that Tony Tingle had expressed an interest in bidding as he has someone interested in building on West Owen. The interested individuals are checking on financing and hopefully he will know by the June meeting if he wants to bid on the lots. We will not be able to close this project until we are able to show proof that the four bedrooms lost have been replaced for low to moderate income individuals. This does not have to be only in the West Owen Street area, but can be anywhere in town.

Subject: Eminence Tomorrow – Main Street Director, John Scharfenberger, reported on the Welch property which was sold to Tommy Paul last month. Mr. Paul already has the roof on the building and anticipates having the lower level of the building ready for occupancy by July 1st. Mr. Scharfenberger reported that he has received four or five letters back congratulating the City on saving this building.

Main Street Director John Scharfenberger reported that Eminence Day planning is progressing nicely. He passed our flyers describing the planned activities. John reported that our website administrator, Joyce Meyer, has put the information as a popup on the website. The Courier Journal has Eminence Day listed as a calendar item and the Henry County Local will also be promoting the activities.

Mr. Scharfenberger reported that Sharon Fields with the Eminence Christian Church is planning a trip to Midway on June 17th if anyone is interested in attending. There is a $15.00 fee to help cover the bus cost.

Mayor Bates reported that Bellsouth should be finished this week on the streetscape project. MAC Construction can then come back and patch in and finish the brick work.

Mayor Bates reported that our Public Works department has re-seeded the park and is working on landscaping which he hopes to have done by Eminence Day.

Subject: Police Department Report – In the absence of Chief Hadden, Officer David Stratton reviewed the monthly activity report with council. Officer Stratton reported that there were 27 criminal cases opened this month with 24 of them being closed for a success factor of 88.88%.

Member Harris inquired to Officer Stratton about the City’s policy on parking. He was informed that the City has a two hour parking policy, but that we have not been enforcing the policy. Member Harris stated he has a complaint, primarily about the Farmers Deposit Bank employees, who park all day on City streets. He questioned how this could be handled. Discussion held that this has been addressed in the past with the employees of Farmers Deposit Bank being allowed to park on the street beside the old Video Vender store. Member Whitney stated that the employees have to have somewhere to park and that we cannot expect their employees, who are mostly women, to park a long way off and sometimes be in the dark walking to and from their cars. Member Whitney stated that the bank employees are not the only ones parking on City streets for an extended period of time. Mayor Bates appointed a committee of Members Harris, Whitney and Ferguson to review the problems and see if they can arrive at a solution.

Subject: Administrative Office Report - City Clerk Sandra Doane reviewed the monthly administrative office report with council. Clerk Doane reported that her office has sent out late notices to about 80 companies who have unpaid net profits as well as a third notice on unpaid property taxes. We have been getting some results from these mailings.

Clerk Doane reported that she has received the anticipated reimbursement from the state for our streetscape project since her report was prepared and has paid that portion of the interim financing off. The balance on the loan is $5,382.00, which represents the park portion.

Clerk Doane reported that our collection of telecommunication franchise fees will be handled through the state starting in January of 2006. This change of law (HB 272) does have a hold harmless clause which should insure that we do not lose any funds and it also has a growth factor connected to it along with the allowance of including other previously un-allowed fees on telecommunications.

Clerk Doane reviewed the City’s commercial insurance renewal quote thru Curneal & Hignite with council. The new quote is $36,824.00 as compared to 32,796.88 last year. This renewal quote does include adding the ten lift stations and two 2005 Ford police cruisers. We also added two 2005 trucks and one 2005 Ford Explorer in the current year with no additional premiums being made. We can possibly lower our costs by reviewing some of the deductibles. Our current commercial carrier also gave us a quote on workers’ compensation for a total price of $20,483.28. Our current workers’ compensation carrier renewal quote thru KLC is $21,642.00. The biggest difference in the two workers’ compensation quotes is that KLC offers a $4,000,000 liability limit with Curneal & Hignite only offering a $1,000,000 limit. Council asked that we review the renewal and get some quotes from Curneal & Hignite on changing deductibles and/or other options.

Subject: Annexation Ordinance – Attorney Brammell held the second reading of an annexation ordinance annexing 116-3/4 acres on the east side of Highway 22 belonging to GHC, Inc. into the city limits. Motion made by Member Winburn and seconded by Member Ferguson to adopt the annexation ordinance as read. All members present voted “Yea”.

Subject: Parks & Recreation Committee Report – Mayor Bates reported that the committee has not met so no report is available. It is too late to do anything specific toward the pool this year. He has received one additional quote on repairs, which was extremely high.

Subject: Subway Drainage Problem – Member Ferguson stated that this has been resolved and should be removed from the agenda.

Subject: Fire Department Report – Council Member Roberts reviewed the monthly activity report with council. Member Roberts reported that the Wednesday training sessions are going well. All state training guidelines are being followed to insure receipt of the state funding assistance.

Subject: Community Center Report – Mayor Bates reviewed the monthly community center activity report with council. Mayor Bates reported that ten archery sets have been purchased with Bryan Raisor having been certified to teach this program. All users will be given training prior to being allowed to use the equipment.

Mayor Bates reported that the Board has met and recommends the following as membership fees for use of the exercise equipment:

Intro Price Monthly Price Yearly Price
Single $5.00 $10.00 $100.00
Couple $6.00 $12.00 $110.00
Family $8.00 $15.00 $120.00

The introductory price will be limited to five sessions with the individuals being asked to pay at that time either daily, monthly or yearly fees. The daily fee will be $1.00. Motion made by Member Ferguson and seconded by Member Roberts to adopt the fee schedule listed above for use of the exercise equipment effective July 1st. All members present voted “Yea”. All fees will come into the City and be accounted for separately so that necessary repairs and replacement can be done on the equipment as needed from these funds.

Subject: Warrants – The warrants presented for payment were reviewed. Motion made by Member Roberts and seconded by Member Ferguson to approve the warrants for payment as presented. All members present voted “Yea”.

Subject: Public Works Report – In the absence of Public Works Director William Smith, Mayor Bates reviewed the monthly activity report with council. Mayor Bates reported that a meeting has been set for May 20th with the state on the sewer plant expansion project. The proposal would allow for covers for the lagoons which would increase the capacity from 500,000 to 750,000 and cost ½ million dollars versus the other way of expansion which would cost 1-1/2 million.

Mayor Bates reported that the old water tower removal is scheduled for Friday, May 13th.

Mayor Bates reported that the Highway 55 project is scheduled to start this week. All materials are on site.

Mr. Smith reported that he is meeting with the state on May 12th to review the plans for placement of the culvert under the road for the Highway 22 West development.

Mr. Smith reported that a new contract is being drafted for approval between Henry County Water District No. 2 and the City of Eminence for our water supply. The recently completed project will allow for this contract to increase from 80,000 gallons to 120,000 gallons per day.

Mr. Smith reported that he has sent our paving projects to the Department of Transportation for documentation for our special funding.

Subject: Closed Session – Motion made by Member Roberts and seconded by Member Whitney to go into closed session to discuss the possible sale of property and possible litigation. All members present voted “Yea”.

With no further business to be discussed, motion made by Member Roberts and seconded by Member Ferguson to adjourn. All members present voted “Yea”. Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

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