Eminence Kentucky-Minutes

The City Council of the City of Eminence, Kentucky met in a regular session on February 9, 2009 at 6:15 p.m. at the Eminence City Hall Council Chambers with Mayor Jim Petitt and the following members present: Danny Meadows, Shawn Bright, Drane Stephens, Lee Ann Armstrong, and Leo Mason. Absent was Member Polly Troxell.

Mayor Petitt thanked all the City departments, the City Council and the citizens of Eminence and Henry County for all the help during the recent snow/ice storms.

Subject: County Update – Magistrate Adam West was present and introduced himself stating he was appointed in November to fill the unexpired term of Wayne Gunnell. Mr. West stated he too would like to offer his thanks to the City and individual departments for all their help during the storms. Mr. West stated he has met with FEMA representatives and that the President has declared us a major disaster area. A verbal call was made on Wednesday morning after the ice storm to request emergency assistance and was followed up with the written request later. Depending on how this all ends up we will either receive 100% reimbursement for our expenses or 75% from the federal government and 12.5% from the state government with the remaining balance being our responsibility to cover. Various discussions have been held with FEMA representatives with it originally being thought that contractors would be coming to chip up the debris, but it now appears this will be our responsibility. We can call Don Spears to get a state contract which would reimburse at 87% with the balance to be our responsibility. Member Meadows asked if individual citizens could get expenses reimbursed with Mr. West replying that probably they could not. Mr. West reported that the County is working on a site for individuals to bring trees/brush with the County to rent a chipper. Member Armstrong asked how we are to help the elderly and disabled citizens with the tree/brush removal. Mr. West stated if there are special circumstances to call him and he will try and get help. Another suggestion is to take pictures of the downed trees and file with your individual insurance company. Mayor Petitt stated FEMA indicated there are 44,000 people in Kentucky still without power so we can consider ourselves very lucky.

Subject: Minutes – The minutes of the previous special sessions held on January 20, 2009 and January 29, 2009 were reviewed. Mayor Petitt asked for any additions or changes to the minutes and with none forthcoming, stated they would stand approved as presented.

Subject: Crumb Rubber Grant Follow-up – Member Stephens stated he will be mailing the crumb rubber grant application on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 as they now have all the supporting documentation needed for the application. Mayor Petitt asked Member Stephens to thank Jennifer Stephens for all her hard work on this application.

Subject: Water & Sewer Ordinance Amendment – Attorney Brammell held the first reading of an ordinance amendment allowing for the water tap on fee to be waived if the City does not have to physically make the tap.

Subject: Police Department Report – Chief Carey Duncan reviewed the monthly activity report with council which showed total contacts of 199 for January with 18 people being arrested on 37 separate charges.

Subject: Property Ordinance Enforcement Report – Chief Duncan presented the monthly property ordinance violation report for January.

Subject: Public Works Department Report – Mayor Petitt reported that Public Works Director William Smith has been called away on a water main break on King Street. Mayor Petitt asked council to review Mr. Smith’s report and call with any questions. Member Meadows asked if Graybeal had taken care of the problem at the Community Center on the heat pump. Mayor Petitt stated they have been at the Center and he assumes everything is okay at this time.

Subject: Fire Department Report – Member Meadows reviewed the monthly Fire Department activity report with council as well as a storm activity report which indicates 292 man hours during the week of the storm. Member Meadows reported that our Fire house was staffed at all times during this storm. Discussion held on the handling of the emergency services during the storm. The Fire Department was commended for doing a great job. Member Bright stated he was concerned about the word being spread that people were to be sent to the fire station and if this is our County disaster plan we need to correct the plan through County Disaster Coordinator Bruce Owens. This inadequate plan to send people to the fire station prompted our City government to determine that the community center would be a much better shelter. Member Mason asked how we can continue to use the center as a shelter without showers being provided. Member Meadows stated we are getting portable showers and that we also need to address the capacity at the center for this type of shelter use. Member Meadows stated we also need to make the cleaning of the community center lot a priority if it is to continue as a shelter, as it was not done timely this go around. Magistrate West indicated that Henry County does not have its own Red Cross Chapter which makes us have to use the Oldham and Shelby County chapters. Other discussion followed with Council in agreement to move forward with a clear idea of the positive and negative aspects of the use of our center as a shelter so that we can be better prepared the next time something happens. Mayor Petitt stated he feels a great job was done and we should use this as learning experience. Member Meadows stated that all the fire departments and the EMS need to know who in the County is on oxygen and dialysis, etc. by way of a written list for future emergencies.

Subject: Administrative Office Report - City Clerk Sandra Doane reviewed the monthly administrative office report with council. Clerk Doane reported that we have now collected approximately 88% of the 2008 property tax billing which she feels is on target as compared to prior years.

Clerk Doane reviewed the occupational/net profits/business license tax collection which is now at 68% of the budget and that she will have a better idea on this after the next quarter as most of the layoffs and cutbacks happened after December. Clerk Doane stated she will continue to monitor this closely and report back to council.

Subject: Community Center Report – Member Bright reviewed the monthly Community Center activity report with council. Member Bright stated that hopefully the School will know by February 13, 2009 if they are successful with their grant to operate the Community Center. Member Meadows asked about the note on the report indicating that a personal trainer wants to use the Center. Member Bright stated he will have more information on this later. Member Meadows stated he is concerned with this especially from an insurance aspect. Attorney Brammell stated this should not increase our insurance liability unless someone gets hurt due to our equipment or property if we are not the one conducting the activity. Member Bright stated he did mention the giving of the center to the school again with them indicating they are checking into this and that they know our door is always open for a plan. Member Meadows stated he feels we should come up with a plan. Member Mason asked who the contact is for rental of the Center. Mayor Petitt stated that the center is the initial contact for scheduling the date with the individual then required to come to City Hall to pay the deposit and rental fee. This creates a lot of confusion, but this was the way the school wanted to handle the rentals. Member Armstrong stated she did not feel this was too much difficulty with the only exception being the getting of the key. This will be looked into further.

Subject: Festivals Update - Member Bright stated he does not have anything to report on this but he does like the idea of coordinating this with the Kids Day in the fall. Member Mason suggested the committee meet to discuss this.

Subject: Parks Committee Update – Member Stephens stated the committee met last Thursday and developed a Phase I wish list. Member Stephens reviewed the list with council stating if we get the crumb rubber grant we would have an overall less cost involved. Member Meadows asked about the total cost. Member Stephens stated this is still being worked on with individual members of the committee working on different projects within the proposed Phase I for pricing, for example he is working on getting costs for the materials through Perry’s hardware for the pavilion.

Mayor Petitt stated we need to discuss the tearing down of the pump house at the park location and that we must have a declaration of surplus property in order to sell any salvageable equipment from this building. Motion made by Member Bright to declare the pump house as surplus property as the original purpose was to operate the pool and as the pool is now filled in and no longer operating the pump house is not needed. Motion seconded by Member Meadows. On a call of vote by Clerk Doane, all members present voted “Yea”. Clerk Doane asked for clarification of whether we were going to sell the equipment and bid for someone to tear down the structure. Motion made by Member Bright and seconded by Member Meadows to amend the motion to include authorizing the sell of any salvageable equipment or materials under sealed bid. On a call of vote by Clerk Doane, all members present voted “Yea”.

Member Stephens reported that we got the bid notice for the purchase of playground equipment into the newspaper on time with the bid due date being Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. Mayor Petitt suggested the Parks Committee meet with him to open the bids. Discussion held as to a suitable time to do this, with no definite decision being made.

Other discussion held including how to fix the possible sharp edges around the top of the old pool. Council in agreement that they will have the playground and some of the other work complete by this summer. Member Bright suggested getting in contact with the individuals who authorized the City to maintain their donation from the recent fund raiser to open the pool and see if they will allow the use of these funds for the park. Member Armstrong indicated that the lighting will not be as big of a deal as we originally thought.

Subject TE-21 Grant Engineer Services – Mayor Petitt indicated that we have received one quote for engineering services for our TE-21 grant; however no discussion of this amount will be forthcoming due to possible bidding of this project and/or receiving of additional quotes. Member Meadows asked Mayor Petitt to review the grant one more time. Mayor Petitt stated the grant is for $82,500.00 with our portion to be 20% of the total project amount or $20,587.00. The grant writer did not include architect fees in our grant and this must be included. Mayor Petitt stated he will get a copy of his original streets list for council to review to determine what areas will have to cut from the project since we will have to use prevailing wages and met other federal guidelines which will lower the amount of actual concrete work we can do. Member Meadows asked how this will affect individuals who put in their own sidewalk under the 50/50 match with the City. Council in agreement that we cannot make any adjustments for this. Member Meadows stated he would like to either bid out for the engineer services or at least get more quotes. Attorney Brammell stated we do not have to bid for professional services. Consensus to proceed with getting additional quotes for engineering services.

Subject: Warrants - The warrants presented for payment were reviewed. Motion made by Member Meadows and seconded by Member Bright to approve the warrants for payment as presented. On a call of vote by Clerk Doane, all members present voted “Yea”.

Subject: New Business/Council – Mayor Petitt asked if any council member had anything they wanted to discuss. Member Meadows stated he wants to thank everyone again for all their help during the storm.

Subject: Mayor’s Update – Mayor Petitt reported that we have received the annual cost of living factor from the Department for Local Government for local officials which is .1% and when applied to the Mayor/Council salaries would increase the Council salary by $3.90 per year and the Mayor salary by $18.46 per year. Motion made by Member Meadows and seconded by Lee Ann Armstrong not to take the .1% increase. On a call of vote by Clerk Doane, all members present voted “Yea”.

Mayor Petitt requested that all departments begin working on their department budgets for the new fiscal year as he would like to have them by April 1st.

Subject: Closed Session – Motion made by Member Meadows to go into closed session per KRS 61.810 (1c) to discuss possible litigation. Motion seconded by Member Bright. On a call of vote by Clerk Doane, all members voted “Yea”. (Time 7:38 p.m.)

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

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