City of Russellville, KY

MINUTES of REGULAR SESSION

of the BOARD of COUNCIL

of the CITY of RUSSELLVILLE, KENTUCKY

held JUNE 8, 2010

The Russellville City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, at 5:00 p.m., in city hall. Mayor Gene Zick presided over the meeting with council members Jimmy Davenport, Pat Bell, Jack Whipple, Doug Nash, Russell Jones and Lanny McPherson present.

 

The mayor asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the May 18, 2010 regular session of council.

 

Bell moved, seconded by Davenport, to approve the minutes of May 18, 2010.

 

The mayor asked for any additions or corrections.

 

Bell said on page 2, where it mentions Terry and Marilyn Milam it was Mary Lynn. Also, on page 3 at the bottom where Whipple says Good Sam it should read Good Samaritans.

 

The mayor asked for a roll call on approval with the corrections noted. The motion passed unanimously.

 

The mayor asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the special session of May 27, 2010.

 

Jones moved, seconded by Bell, to approve the minutes of the special session held on May 27, 2010.

 

The mayor asked for any additions or corrections to the minutes. Bell said on Page 2, 4^th paragraph, it reads the money said yes and should read the mayor said yes.

 

McPherson asked if the note listed before the minutes of the special session was part of the minutes; he had not been present for the public hearing. Riggs explained we had just wanted to note there had been a public hearing; it wasn’t part of the minutes or meeting.

 

The mayor asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the 27^th with the correction so noted. The motion to approve passed unanimously.

 

The mayor said he had gone to the BRADD annual meeting, which was held at the Houchens Smith’s Stadium Topper Club. They had an excellent speaker, Butch Lumpkin who was born without arms. We also presented a proclamation to the R J Corman Distribution Center who has been in business 20 years. The fire department was doing pump test Saturday when the ladder truck went down and had to be towed.  The truck was within five minutes of finishing the test but it stopped cold. The gas solenoid apparently gave out; we found a solenoid and it has now been repaired and back in service. Chief Poole and others are quite concerned about the status of the vehicle since it is the only ladder truck within the county. We have applied for the grant (for a new ladder truck) but when will we hear about the grant; he thinks between now and the end of the year. The mayor asked Pat Bell who is on the fire department if she wanted to expand on that.

 

Bell read a letter from Chief Poole explaining the circumstances of the truck breakdown.  Bell told the council when there had been a fire at the Pig (Piggly Wiggly) they had been able to extend the ladder truck to shoot the water on the roof. We do not have any ordinary man ladders that are tall enough to reach the roofs in the downtown area. The closest ladder truck would be in Bowling Green and would take 30-45 minutes from the time they were dispatched to the time they would be able to get here.

 

The mayor said again the application for a grant was in place. Grant Writer Kaye Simmons has written to congress to help expedite the grant and with this latest shut down he thinks we will give them another call because it is getting more critical. The mayor said there had been another shut down with the truck and this had been the result of fuel and happened on Bethel Street. He said fortunately this was engine related and not ladder related at this point in time, this was a bigger concern. If the ladder is non-functional you can forget it, if its engine related we can tow (it) in place if we have to.

 

The mayor said Kaye Simmons had recently been made a Kentucky Colonel by the governor and more importantly she was made an Admiral in the state of Kentucky. He added this basically was from the Energy and Environmental Cabinet.

 

The mayor asked McPherson if he would be willing to serve on the garbage renewal franchise committee and McPherson said absolutely. The mayor said others on the committee would be Bob Hedges, Bob Riggs, Wayne Thomas and himself. He said as soon as he can get everyone together we would get started. He said he has been working on the Atmos Energy franchise with Bob Hedges and Bob Riggs and they thought there had been an agreement. We wanted language in the franchise (agreement) similar to what Bowling Green has, and to pin them down a little better than the 3 page(s) we now have in existence. They balked at that so it is back in the hands of the lawyer. I have been in touch with them today telling them to get going and move this along. Another one we are working on is the Electric Plant Board. We have given him (Larry Wilcutt) letters that he required to move it forward on his side. We will sit down with him again and negotiate those clauses.

 

The mayor asked if there were any committee reports. Bell said she had a report on the fire department. The department has had a total of 378 incident runs.

 

The mayor said FEMA has been in and out. As he understands it we are first on the list and should get our money as quick as possible. We have them looking at bridges, the creek drainage at Bethel Street (a crossing caved in as a result of the storm water going through there). He said there were several areas and we will see how much we can get; we did well the last time.

 

There were no other committee reports.

 

Treasurer Bob Riggs gave a financial report on the General Fund. At the first of May the fund had cash of $251,000 and at the end of May we had $196,000. Cash is $39,000 lower than the budget, that’s pretty close. There’s no short term operating debt but there is the old hospital note that will be due in August. The Rockwell Park project has spent about $947,000; about $581,000 is still available. We have spent $40,000 of the KCTC Fire Training Facility grant; there is $85,000 still available. The $325,000 for the Streetscape project has still not been released. From what the mayor has been telling us they may even want us to re-submit information. We have spent $4,000 of the Kentucky CDBG Green Firehouse grant and still have $496,000 available. The FEMA flood reimbursement is in progress.

 

Riggs reported on the Water and Sewer funds. The fund started the month of May with a negative $2,000 and ended the month about the same. We actually had $90,000 but had not paid our water bill which is about $95,000 and would actually have been a negative $5,000. There is no short-term operating debt for Water-Sewer. The revenue through the first 10 months of the fiscal year is down $118,000 from the budget and we budgeted to be lower than the previous year. The Logan-Todd cost is up $85,000 and part of that is the rate increase since March. We should be $211,000 lower than budget in cash and we are very close to that, we are about $208,000 lower. Riggs said that does explain why we are lower in cash; the revenue is lower and the Logan-Todd cost is higher. We have spent $7,000 of the Rockwell money on the Rockwell-Johnson Street Phase II project; we have $421,000 available. We have spent $388,000 of the KIA Johnson Street grant money and we have $412,000 still available. When we finished with the KIA grant-loan we will use much of that $400,000 from the Rockwell money to pay the loan portion of that so there will be no re-payment necessary.

 

Riggs continued reporting on the financials: The Municipal Road Aid started the month with $89,000 and ended the month with $85,000. We should receive about $84,000 additional money in August. The Perpetual Cash started the month with $188,000 and we did not spend any of that. Riggs asked if anyone had any questions. He said there was going to be a meeting on medical and dental insurance in the morning at 10:00 a.m. If any of you haven’t been to one of these meetings you may want to go to sign something, particularly dental care or the new health care package.

 

The mayor said the fire department training tower should be completed by next week and ready to use. He also understands the shelter is not going to be vacated, apparently some issue at the new building apparently between fiscal court and the contractor.

 

Davenport asked where the city stood with the (old) hospital. The mayor said the last conversation he had with AU (Associates) things were starting to brighten up a little on the market and what he is looking at now is doing salvaging where we can gain some money out of that. He has a broker coming in tomorrow. We sent a flyer out to various brokers and recyclers etc to see what they might offer. Kaye Simmons said there was also a meeting at the end of this month in Frankfort with AU and the Department for Local Government. The mayor said he thought they had an open house in Glasgow (on another project that just finished). They are definitely still interested. Russellville’s Relay for Life team raised $3,200.

 

Next on the agenda was a proposal presented by Mayor Zick on the Dream Riders organiization. They and the extension service have decided to part ways. As a result of this Sue Sharp (Dream Riders) has called and asked if the city had any land available. He told her he was sure they did but didn’t know how much she was looking for. Sharp said they have purchased, or were about to purchase a building and was looking for a place to put it. The mayor said he knew the city had an area below the old tennis court and between the gravel road there is an open spot for a big building.

 

The mayor explained Dreams Riders took young people or people disabled and put them on horseback, rode them around and let them play with them. They are looking for a building to utilize two or three days a week. The rest of the time it would be the city’s building to utilize for whatever purpose we would want, an indoor facility. Nothing is in writing yet but we were talking we would give them a lease, a minor cost. They would pay the utilities from the time they are there and we would pay utilities when we would use it. They would bring the animals in for the times they will use them then they would depart. He said this looks like an opportunity and he would look into it and come back to council with a lot more details unless there is a total objection from them. The mayor said he thought it was an opportunity for another building the city could utilize for other indoor activities when the weather is inclement. The mayor told council if they had no objections he would take it further; there was no response from council either way.

Next item on the agenda was an animal licensing proposal. The mayor told the council he, Hope Strode, Gail Guiling, Chris Cooper, and Ellen Pitts had met last night to go over some of the thoughts they had in mind. He said several things came out of this and one thing the city was looking to get out of this is control over the animals in town and also to give the Humane Society funding which they need. We are not looking to cut off their funding; it was obvious in our last meeting relative to the budget. He said there were a couple of things they were still fighting through but Code Enforcement Officer Hope Strode would outline the proposal so far.

 

Strode had previously handed out an explanation of what they were looking at. After meeting with some of the board members yesterday they came up with this agreement; they think they can handle it and we think it will work well. The goal is to cut down on the loose animal population. Strode said she has expressed her concerns on this issue in the past. She could spend 3-4 hours of her day every day just on animals. There are both cats and dogs at large. The goal would be to put a licensing plan into place. Areas all around us have the program. Bowling Green and its Humane Society has the same program in place. The license would be for a year; July 1^st through June 30^th. They charge a $10 license fee for an animal altered, spayed or neutered, and a $40 license fee for animals that are unaltered. The Humane Society would handle the management of the records, take applications, collect fees; they said they were fine with that. If a city resident adopts an animal at the Humane Society they would not have an additional fee. They would be licensed along with the adoption; they wouldn’t charge an extra fee. They were concerned with an extra fee cutting down their adoption rate. So, (again) if a city resident adopts an animal at the animal shelter then they wouldn’t be charged a license fee but they would have a license. The city would furnish the tags, the computer and the application. Strode said she already has tags here (because) we register pit bulls and she has already gotten the application from Bowling Green to (use) as a draft. At the time of licensing they would have to provide proof of rabies vaccination and proof that the animal was spayed or neutered. She said it was really basic.

 

The mayor said obviously one thing was their concern about funding; if the city cuts them off completely. He said what he had talked to them about was the city would continue the funding but on a payment plan basis and as this program gets down the road, as we see the income coming, that will be deducted from the city’s side. They will be made whole. We have offered them an old computer so they can keep track of everything. He said they had been very happy with the proposal and saw it as a long-term fix for them. He said they are preserving animals now, they are capturing them. Strode said they were looking at a five year plan. They are already a no-kill shelter. They think their population will be cut way down in five years.

 

Davenport asked who would police this; that is licensed. The mayor said they should have had a meeting last night but they will be talking to the county and the animal control officer. The mayor said he was not aware of this but he (animal control officer) was running for office in Todd County he was also hired as a full-time person but when they have a deputy missing he is pulled off of animal control. They are saving on overtime. He said we have animals out there and we can’t get anybody out there. Another thing is we are going to try and utilize the police in all the areas a little more. They are going to have separate cages and be looking to tranquilize the animals as they catch them so they can transport them in the event the individual is not available.

 

Davenport asked if the issue was just in the talking stage and was told yes. He said one of his concerns would be that people that would license their pet would not let their pet run wild anyway; it’s probably not going to cut back on the animal problem. Strode explained to Davenport that if an animal was picked up unlicensed and without a tag and we find the owner they will be fined $100.00.

McPherson said no one would claim the $100 animal. Also, his concern with this is the county has one person covering 700 square miles and he was in hopes if we ever went down this road for the city that it would include those license fees. The county has to maintain the shelter and if we had an animal control officer we would be able to take animals to that shelter, they would have to take them. It would his hope that any kind of license fee, and I know the Humane Society needs funding, but their main goal is to rescue animals and our main goal is to control the animal population in Russellville. It would be my hope that this money would go to funding our own animal control officer so that when we get a call we can send somebody. If we have to call the county by the time he gets here it is going to be done and gone. He said he understood the plight of the Humane Society but he’s not sure that if we don’t include in this some way to have an animal control officer at least part-time or maybe full time then we are not going to help our self with the animal population in Russellville.

 

The mayor told McPherson he understood his point and that he thought maybe that was the second phase we get into. He wants to see what the county is going to come up with and how efficient they are going to be. If they are not efficient then that is certainly a direction we can go. We have 4,000 households here and the average U.S. is 2 animals per household. A lot of people keep their animals inside and they are not the problem; it’s the ones running around loose. McPherson said another thing he was thinking was the year long license. Driver’s licenses are good for 5 years; could we not do a 2-year license fee.

 

Strode said at this point it was just a proposal. The mayor said the main thing was to make sure the shots are up to date and that’s another means of getting that. Whipple said his dog has its 3-year shots.

 

Bell asked if Bowling Green’s for (fee) non-spayed animals was $40; that sounds high to her. Strode said it was the same and Bell could go into their website (and it would show her). Strode said she has been talking to Bowling Green animal control officers and the Humane Society there.

 

McPherson said if the city had an animal control officer that he would not pick up an animal because it was out of the yard unless he gets a call. It was kind of like the illegal alien thing, we would have to have cause to go there.  Then, if we have cause and we go there and the animal is not tagged or licensed then we have to pick it up. Whipple said (so) you couldn’t just get even with people and McPherson said yes because neighbors would use this. Whipple said that had been discussed last night.

 

The mayor thanked the council for their input and advised we would take the ideas and go back to the Humane Society and see what they have after they have their meeting with the county and then he would get back to the council.

 

The mayor said he did not have a reason to go into executive session and asked council if they did.

 

Davenport moved, seconded by Bell, to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_________________________                                                                             _________________________

City Clerk                                                                                                             Mayor