BEREA CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 3, 2015

The Berea City Council met in a regular session, Tuesday, November 3, 2015, Mayor Steven Connelly presiding. A quorum being present the meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

A council work session was held at 5:45 p.m. to discuss the annual audit report with Heather Cochran and Jerry Hensley of Ray, Foley, and Hensley Company.

COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Terrill, Hembree, Caudill, Wagers, Farmer, Little, Kerby, Powell

OFFICIALS: J. Gilbert, R. Stone, C. Chasteen, D. Gregory, S. Sandlin, S. Meeks, E. Fortner, D. Brumley, P. Bloom, K. Hensley, D. VanWinkle, D. Isaacs, A. Haney

VISITORS: Tim Taylor, Beth Meyers, Ken Scott, Paula Hollon, Bryan Basford, Linda Gullette, Sasha Zaring, Andy McDonald, Frankie Blevins, Jimmy Owens, Valerie Owens, Lilian Owens, Richard Daugherty

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: OCTOBER 20, 2015

Farmer moved, Caudill seconded to approve the minutes of October 20, 2015; all ayes.

PROCLAMATION – WORLD DIABETES DAY

Mayor Connelly read and signed the proclamation declaring November 14, 2015 as World Diabetes Day. Paula Hollon, representing the Madison Co. Health Department and the Madison Co. Diabetes Collation, accepted the proclamation and thanked Mayor Connelly for signing it. Kentucky is a high risk state for developing diabetes, and there are many good resources for help here in Madison County. The mission of the collation is to promote education and awareness of diabetes.

BEREA BUS SERVICE – KENTUCKY RIVER FOOTHILLS – BRYAN BASFORD

Mr. Basford thanked the mayor and city council for their continued support of the
Transit Bus Service that runs in the City of Berea.The city invests $55,000 annually for the service; the cost is $1.00 a day for an all-day pass, and Berea College students can ride for .50. The bus is handicapped accessible and offers senior citizens services. Berea is very fortunate to have a transit-bus service, and we were the first to start this service with the Kentucky River Foothills Development Council, Inc.

2014-2015 AUDIT REPORT – JERRY HENSLEY

Mr. Hensley and his partner Heather Cochran met earlier with the council and staff to review our 2014-2015 report. There were no incidents of non-compliances with any of our operations, and over-all we received and excellent report. Our total net equity was fifty-seven million, four hundred thousand dollars, which reflects a five-million increase from the year before. Our statement of activity received a very good report; we have a good system in place and good leadership which gives us good results. He thanked the mayor, council, and city staff for being of service to us.

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LEASE ASSIGNMENT – ARTIST CIRCLE – MAYOR CONNELLY

Mayor Connelly informed the council of Honeysuckle Vine’s request to assign its interest to Jeff Farmer; original lease consent dated February 20, 1985. The city will need to approve the consent. Councilman Terrill requested to pass out an email that he received from Frankie Blevins with concerns he had regarding the Lease. Mr. Blevins addressed the council; based on his research he could not locate the renewal lease for such property for $1.00 per year. He feels it could be rented for a fair market price, which would bring in more revenues to the city, if the lease has not been extended, why are we renting it for $1.00 per year. Mayor Connelly informed the original lease agreement was between the City of Berea and The Village Smith signed by Charles Horrar of said premise, for the making, demonstrations, and retail sale of crafts, and all activities reasonable associated therewith. Honeysuckle Vine originally was assigned ½ interest, they are requesting their portion be assigned to Jeff Farmer who was a partner of the original Village Smith. Terrill moved to table the approval until a copy of the extension of lease is found. Mayor Connelly asked Mr. Blevins who he was representing as an attorney, he replied he did not have the authorization to disclose that information. His clients wants to know if the city is not bound to a lease, are we going to continue to rent the property for $1.00 a year for the next 20 years. He is questioning the validity of the lease. Mayor Connelly stated that the Tyree’s will be retiring soon and leaving the business. Discussion was held among the council and it was agreed once the extension of the lease is seen, the council will consider the assignment. Mayor Connelly stated the “Motion to Table” does not hold, this was only an information item for the council to state any objections to the assignment. Mayor Connelly will provide a copy of the renewal extension to the council.

ORDINANCE #14-2015; AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BEREA, KENTUCKY, AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 26-90, PROVIDING FOR THE CREATION OF A FRANCHISE FOR THE OPERATION & MAINTENANCE OF A TELEPHONE AND COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES SYSTEM WITH THE CITY OF BEREA, KENTUCKY, DEFINING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS THEREOF AND PROVIDED FOR A BID PROCEDURE THEREFOR. – 2ND READING

Corporate Counsel read the ordinance by title and summary. Terrill moved, Caudill seconded to approve and adopt the ordinance. Roll call vote; all ayes.

RESOLUTION # 10-2015; A RESOLUTION CONSENTING TO THE TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF TIME WARNER CABLE MIDWEST LLC, FROM TIME WARNER CABLE INC. TO CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO EXECUTE A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH TIME WARNER CABLE MIDWEST LLC. AND AN ASSUMPTION AGREEMENT WITH CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

Corporate Counsel read the resolution by title. Caudill moved, Little seconded to approve the resolution. Terrill questioned if the concerns of residents in Homestead not being able to get cable/internet service has been resolved. Administrator Stone has

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been in touch with the cable representatives and they are addressing the issue. All ayes.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Audit & Finance – J. Little

Councilman Little addressed the council of what he feels his duties are as being a member of the Audit & Finance Committee, andthe city council. The council is in charge of approving the budget and the budget directs how the tax payer’s money is to be spent in each department in the correct line item. I feel it is my duty to the taxpayers to help make sure their money is spent to run the city in the most efficient way. It is often hard to ask the correct questions and challenge the administration on issues that could help save the city money, and run it more efficient. I want to assure the residents I am not against the city, I want to help make our city one ofthe best to live in, and for our city employees to work in. I have heard a rumor that some think I don’t support our new Police Building, I want to set the record straight, one of the most important departments in our city is our police and I fully support a new police building, in addition to our Fire Department. But new buildings don’t make our city safe and secure, having sufficient personnel makes the difference. If you will look back at the last 20 years or so, you will see all the changes and growth our city has gone through, if not for the foresight of the previous administration and council years ago to build our current city hall with lots of room to grow; example, when our city hall was built, only the first floor was used; we had the sewer, police, fire and city administration all on the first floor. In the proposed new complex, we are using most of our space, I question if this is the correct location to build a city hall complex if you want to house all the departments under one roof. Would we be better off to go to new green field site where we could build a complex and have room for growth in the future and probably save some money. We have talked about the north western end of the city needing more fire coverage; would we be better off building a third building in that area to cover future growth and have a building that would accommodate female fire fighters. We could fix two issues with one building.

  • I have been getting calls from citizens interested in our new electric provider and wanting to conserve energy. Council Kerby stated she had received several calls from citizens who have requested their input into the process with regard to evaluating the electric companies and providing information about what the citizens want. She proposed a Public Hearing to invite our citizens input on energy conservation, energy efficiency, and hear what they would like for us to consider as we pick an electric provider. Mayor Connelly requested the Audit & Finance Committee to organize a public input session concerning our future electric contract/our wholesale provider.

Personnel – V. Farmer – no report.

Public Works – C. Powell

The committee met last evening to discuss many on-going projects.

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  • A new drainage box has been installed on Rose Court to help with the water problem, the concrete will be finished soon.
  • We have a drainage issue on Oak Grove Street, it will be resolved soon.
  • Retention Ponds are placed in developments for a reason; we want to remind everyone the ponds are put in to protect the neighborhoods. People cannot change or remove these, they need to speak to the Codes Department before they attempt to do so; we had an issue in the Vineyard recently that we have addressed.
  • A drainage issue on Short Line Pike was brought up, but it was discovered it is not part of the cities maintenance plan.
  • We ask for residents to not place their brush, leaves and yard waste in the storm drains; it causes them to stop up.
  • We were asked to remove one parking space in front of art gallery next to the library for visibility of people pulling out of the side parking lot.
  • We would like to get our snow removal plan on Channel 12, it will list the streets to be cleared by priority. Pauline Drive has been blacktopped and we will plow this street due to the VA Clinic and businesses located there.
  • There are a few trees along Chestnut Street that will need to be removed for safety/vision purposes.
  • We discussed the proposal presented by the family living at 103 Meadow Lark; the city has made no changes to the roadway, streets or drainage in this area, and will not be purchasing the property. Once the US25 project starts, the state will possibly install some additional water retention areas.

Public Works Director, Dwayne Brumley reminded the residents of the city adopted regulations required under the MS4 Program. Citizens are not allowed to place any yard waste, brush, or debris in our streams, or storm drains to help ensure that all our water sources are clear. We ask our citizens to not rake their leaves out in the streets, if we get a big rain this washes the leaves into the drains and stops them up.More information on the rules and regulations will be distributed soon. Councilman Powell stated the city has 29 private streets that do not receive snow removal; for information of these streets, the residents should call the Public Works Office. Streets that have not yet been accepted in the city’s maintenance plan have not been completed by the developer. During snow removal we do not clean sidewalks. We would like to get all this information on our access channel.

Economic Development – C. Hembree – no report.

CSEPP – S. Caudill – no report.

RECOGNITION OF VISITORS:

Linda Gullet; driver of the bus service expressed her concerns about the bridge crossing on HWY1016. From Dixie Park to Silver Creek School many students and residents are crossing this bridge, the bridge is narrow, and there is no sidewalk. She has called our representative, but nothing has been done.

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CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT: R. Stone

No report.

Questions:

Little – has a meeting been scheduled concerning our transfer station? Stone stated a meeting was scheduled last week, but he was out of town, it will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

  • What is being done with the second floor of the Old Hotel Building? Stone stated repairs are underway, the heating/ac needs to be replaced, carpet removed and it needs to be painted. Tourism will take care of paying for the repairs, we expect to rent it as residential.

MAYOR’S COMMENTS:

Danny Isaacs started this week as our new Economic Development Director. Kerri Lee Hensley is appointed as our new Tourism Director, effective today. Economic Development and Tourism have a good working relationship.

COUNCIL COMMENTS:

Hembree – This week is Hospice Awareness Month; there are several hundred flags in front of the county court house representing the number of patients that have been taken care of by Hospice last year. There are events all month long, there is more information of events taking place throughout the month, look up their web-site or Facebook for more information of how to support this organization.

Farmer – welcome aboard Danny Isaacs; and congratulations to Kerri in their new positions. I wish them all the best, and look forward to wonderful things from the both of them.

Little – second to what Vi said.

Kerby – well wishes also.

Powell – reminded everyone that Berea needs volunteer firemen; it’s a great program and a good opportunity to learn life saving techniques. Please come and talk to the Fire Chief about the program. It would be a great service to the community.

Meeting adjourned: 7:49