Board of Commissioners Meetings

A Regular September 10, 2013 A regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Henderson, Kentucky, was held on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, at 5:30 p.m., prevailing time, in the third floor Assembly Room located in the Municipal Center Building at 222 First Street, Henderson, Kentucky. INVOCATION was given by Pastor Charles Cameron, Ambassador Baptist Church, and then Mayor Austin led the assemblage in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to our American Flag. ________________________ There were present Mayor Steve Austin presiding: PRESENT: Commissioner Tom Davis Commissioner Robert M. (Robby) Mills Commissioner Jan Hite ABSENT: Commissioner Robert N. Pruitt _______________________ ALSO IN ATTENDANCE INCLUDED: Mr. Russell R. Sights, City Manager Mr. Buzzy Newman, Assistant City Manager Mrs. Dawn Kelsey, City Attorney Mrs. Maree Collins, Acting City Clerk Mr. Robert Gunter, Finance Director Mr. Jerry VandenBrook, Assistant Fire Chief Mr. John Reed, Police Chief Mr. Davis Piller, Police Major Mr. Brad Mills, Public Works Director Mrs. Kathy Ferrell, City-County Planning Commission, Executive Director Mr. Curt Freeze, City-County Planning Commission, Assistant Executive Director Mr. Leason Neel, HWU Chief Financial Officer Mrs. Mary Alice Springer Mrs. Patsy Thomas Mr. Mike Shoulders, Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates Mr. Bob Grewe, Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates Mr. Heath Farmer, Engage Henderson Ravin Sprague Gabe Pirtle Debbie Hazelwood Lisa Pittman Danny Pittman Taylor Gogel Phil Shaws Gin Biver Greg Biver Mark Vowels Courtney Vowels Heather Townsend Mike Farmer Bob Seymour Karen Carter Frank Lucician, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity David Raleigh Bee Raleigh Jamie Raleigh Mr. Frank Boyett, The Gleaner  A Regular September 10, 2013 PROCLAMATION: “CONSTITUTION WEEK: MAYOR AUSTIN proclaimed the week of September 17 through 23, 2013, as “Constitution Week” and asks our citizens to reaffirm the ideals that the Framers of the Constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained. MRS. PATSY THOMAS announced that on September 18th at 10:00 a.m. at the DAR Monument, we will be having a program with Mr. Merrill Punke from South Junior High who are participating in the program and everyone is invited to attend that program. __________________________________ PRESENTATION: MIKE SHOULDERS, BERNARDIN LOCHMUELLER & ASSOCIATES MAYOR AUSTIN introduced Mr. Heath Farmer, who thanked the Board of Commissioners and staff and reminded the audience that over two years ago, this process or movement of “Engage Henderson” started. The City of Henderson is one of the key players involved in this project. We are focusing on Washington Street to Atkinson to Green Street, often referred to as the East End. Mr. Farmer introduced Mr. Mike Shoulders and Mr. Bob Grewe of Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates. Mr. Shoulders explained that they had been trying to be a technical resource in planning, engineering, and design for the East End project. He stated that they were working under a direct client named the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) which includes Henderson, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties. They are working under a federal grant from a consortium of HUD, the EPA, and the Department of Transportation. There are 45 metro areas in the country that received this grant and our three-county MPO is one of those. By doing a great regional development plan, it could bump us up on the priority list for some federal funding so we are going to hold their feet to the fire and see if that comes to a reality. He stated that he has been directly involved with the East End Project for about one and one-half years. They have been meeting residents and meeting the citizen leaders in the East End as well as the interested groups and has held design workshops. This presentation will show you the latest thinking about the East End by the residents and by the interest groups themselves. He invited Mr. Bob Grewe who went through the various slides. MAYOR AUSTIN thanked Mr. Farmer, Mr. Shoulders and Mr. Grewe for their presentation. He also welcomed a group of interested citizens to introduce themselves and thanked them for being here. The list included: Ravin Sprague Gabe Pirtle Debbie Hazelwood Lisa Pittman Danny Pittman Taylor Gogel Phil Shaws Gin Biver Greg Biver Mark Vowels Courtney Vowels Heather Townsend Mike Farmer Bob Seymour Karen Carter Frank Lucician David Raleigh Bee Raleigh Jamie Raleigh APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA:  A Regular September 10, 2013 MAYOR AUSTIN asked Maree Collins, Acting City Clerk, to read the following items included on the Consent Agenda: Minutes: August 22, 2013, Called Work Session August 27, 2013, Regular Meeting MOTION by Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Hite, to approve the items on the Consent Agenda. The vote was called. On roll call, the vote stood: Commissioner Davis ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Mills ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Hite ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Pruitt ----------------- Absent: Mayor Austin ------------------------- Aye: _______________________________ ORDINANCE NO. 28-13: SECOND READING ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF AD VALOREM TAXES AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HENDERSON, KENTUCKY, PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF AD VALOREM TAXES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2013, AND PROVIDING FOR THE TIME OF PAYMENT FOR SUCH TAXES, PENALTY, INTEREST AND DISCOUNT On second reading of the Ordinance, it was moved by Commissioner Mills, seconded by Commissioner Davis, that the Ordinance be adopted. MAYOR AUSTIN explained that the Board of Commissioners decided to not take the allowable 4% increase this year in the tax rate and instead decided to take the compensating rate which allows for additional revenue from assessments and new constructions. MR. RUSSELL R. SIGHTS, CITY MANAGER, added that the way this ordinance is written, it gives tax payers the opportunity, should they want, to lump two years of property tax payments into one calendar year for income tax purposes. That is the reason that we have the last date to pay before penalty and interest being January 3, 2014, so you can have one working day in 2014 to lump those and some tax payers prefer to do that. The vote was called. On roll call, the vote stood: Commissioner Davis ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Mills ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Hite ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Pruitt ----------------- Absent: Mayor Austin ------------------------- Aye: WHEREUPON Mayor Austin declared the Ordinance adopted, affixed his signature and the date thereto and ordered that the same be recorded. /s/ Steve Austin Steve Austin, Mayor September 10, 2013 ATTEST: Maree Collins, Acting City Manager RESOLUTION NO. 83-13:  A Regular September 10, 2013 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF HENDERSON APPROVING AWARD OF BID FOR CANOE CREEK CLEARING PROJECT PHASE III BY THE HENDERSON-HENDERSON COUNTY FLOOD MITIGATION BOARD TO HESS CONSTRUCTION, LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF $249,896,00 MOTION by Commissioner Hite, seconded by Commissioner Mills, to adopt the resolution authorizing the award of a contract for the Canoe Creek Clearing Project Phase III by the Henderson- Henderson County Flood Mitigation Board to Hess Construction, LLC in the amount of $249,896.00. MR. BUZZY NEWMAN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, explained if it were read, the paperwork associated with the resolution, you would have noticed that there are two prices listed in the cover letter from the City Manager. He continued by explaining the difference in the two prices, one is the lower of the two prices is without the Nature Conservancy District property being cleared. In the past, the Nature Conservancy has not been open to the city getting on their property to do the actual clearing and cleaning of Canoe Creek. He has reached out to them again and asked if they would sit down with us to discuss this and they have responded back and will be here on October 8, 2013, to discuss this further. Hopefully, they will realize the need for this project to move forward and if they agree, then the higher of the two prices will be utilized for this project. COMMISSIONER MILLS asked who owns that property and Mr. Newman replied that they were out of New York City but there is a Kentucky chapter and they are in Lexington. The administrator for Kentucky is named Terry Cook and the woman who is coming down to meet with us is Diane Osborne. They are a worldwide organization. Mayor Austin confirmed that this property is between Highway 60 and the Ohio River. Mr. Newman stated that this would be the last section to be cleared and cleaned. Mr. Newman added that another thing that the Flood Mitigation Board was able to receive information on and that was that we had an engineering study done to see the impacts of the improvements at Canoe Creek and the Flood Board passed a motion to submit a FEMA, LOMR request to lower the base flood elevation along parts of Canoe Creek. This will mean that, potentially some properties will come out of the flood plain, which will then result in the lack of need for flood insurance. The outer Clay Street flood base elevation has dropped over a foot and one-half. Mr. Newman added that the area that they always keep an eye on is Lakeland Subdivision. He was told last week by the church that they have not experienced any flooding on Glover Drive since we have begun the widening project. Mayor Austin added that it has been a good project and a big payoff for the community and thanked Mr. Newman and that of the Flood Mitigation Board. Commissioner Mills stated that the work done on Canoe Creek has to be rated as one of the top five or six issues that city government has done in the last 20 years. The vote was called. On roll call, the vote stood: Commissioner Davis ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Mills ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Hite ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Pruitt ----------------- Absent: Mayor Austin ------------------------- Aye: WHEREUPON Mayor Austin declared the Resolution adopted, affixed his signature and the date thereto, and ordered that the same be recorded. /s/ Steve Austin Steve Austin, Mayor September 10, 2013 ATTEST: Maree Collins, Acting City Clerk ______________________________ RESOLUTION NO. 84-13: RESOLUTION APPROVING PURCHASE OF PATROL RIFLES FROM BUD’S SUPPLY, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $22,500.00 MOTION by Commissioner Mills, seconded by Commissioner Hite, to adopt the resolution authorizing the purchase of Patrol Rifles and related equipment from Bud’s Police Supply, Lexington, Kentucky, in the total amount of $22,500.00. CHIEF REED explained that this was the completion of the conversion from shotgun to rifle and this was the lowest bid.  A Regular September 10, 2013 The vote was called. On roll call, the vote stood: Commissioner Davis ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Mills ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Hite ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Pruitt ----------------- Absent: Mayor Austin ------------------------- Aye: WHEREUPON Mayor Austin declared the Resolution adopted, affixed his signature and the date thereto, and ordered that the same be recorded. /s/ Steve Austin Steve Austin, Mayor September 10, 2013 ATTEST: Maree Collins, Acting City Clerk ______________________________ CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: MR. SIGHTS said that there will be no work session scheduled for next week. There will also not be a called work session on September 26th to go over another aspect of the new zoning update. We do anticipate that possibly in October, we will be in a position to do that, either at the regular work session time or in a called meeting. We are looking for a regular work session in October but nothing in September. _________________________________ COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS: COMMISSIONER DAVIS noted that September will be a busy month for the community. COMMISSIONER MILLS stated “just to tie up the East End and engage. There are a lot of groups and individuals coming together to do activities in the east end and it is a neat thing and we’ve even got private money coming in. Commissioner Davis and I were talking about people buying some properties and the interest, so the spark has been made and he really liked the look of the streetscape and the idea of the park and individuals wanting to be interested in programming the park, so there’s a lot of good things going on out there. He is asking everybody to continue their support and he thinks it is important to continue on. On top of that, this is a kind of a hot-button place that federal money is going and when a city is in the business of chasing grants and there are some grants associated with this. Like Mike said, once this planning program is done, he thinks we will see our ability to get some funding for some of these activities in the next three or four years could be increased.” “Thanks for your support to this point and will look forward to your support in the future.” MR. SIGHTS stated that “you heard Mr. Shoulders say that we were one of forty five in the country that received this grant but you stop and think about it, as many metropolitan areas as there are in the United States, that’s pretty competitive and we feel very fortunate to have obtained that money for the Evansville MPO. MAYOR AUSTIN said “that he wanted to bring to our attention a sign that is over there in the stand and we have been working and I will go back just a little bit. When the Hopkinsville First Impression folks first came to Henderson, there #1 issue with Henderson was signage and not being able to get around in the community and didn’t know how to get to the downtown or our facilities and different things like that. Then the Leadership Henderson group, independently had a similar report. So we got to checking and this effort is something that’s evidently been needed for a good number of years but has not been able to get the traction so we are trying to give it some traction this year. We are trying to do a public-private partnership with this. As you know, the city and county governments has assisted on some of the funding for the signs. We are trying to get some private partnerships to also do some funding. I made three presentations last week to individuals or groups. We are gaining some momentum on this. That sign will represent about a 50% scale of what the actual signs will be. We will start in the Central Business District and then move out. It is a big deal to cover the whole community and probably will take two or three years to complete that project, as it needs to be done. We are working with the state roads, Second and Green Streets. I think Buzzy and I will try to go to  A Regular September 10, 2013 Hopkinsville in a couple of weeks, they are going through the same program down there and also stop in Madisonville and have another meeting with the state people. The state people have a lot of “you can’t do that’s,” so you have to work with, through, and around them sometimes. We are trying our best. We have a group that includes the city, county, tourism, chamber, NWKF, college, agribusiness, library, and a lot of different groups together on this and working toward a single goal. _____________________________ REAPPOINTMENT: MUNICIPAL HOUSING COMMISSION HOLLY VINCENT – TERM TO EXPIRE SEPTEMBER 30, 2017 MOTION by Commissioner Mills, seconded by Commissioner Hite, and upon recommendation of Mayor Steve Austin, to reappoint Holly Vincent to a four-year term on the Municipal Housing Commission. Said term to expire September 30, 2017. The vote was called. On roll call, the vote stood: Commissioner Davis ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Mills ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Hite ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Pruitt ----------------- Absent: Mayor Austin ------------------------- Aye: ________________________________ MEETING ADJOURN: MOTION by Commissioner Mils, seconded by Commissioner Davis, to adjourn the meeting. The vote was called. On roll call, the vote stood: Commissioner Davis ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Mills ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Hite ----------------- Aye: Commissioner Pruitt ----------------- Absent: Mayor Austin ------------------------- Aye: WHEREUPON Mayor Austin adjourned the meeting at approximately 6:18 p.m. ________________________________ Steve Austin, Mayor October 8, 2013 ATTEST: __________________________________ Carolyn Williams, City Clerk