By Korrie Harris
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Midway probably won’t have to resume paying interest on
Midway Station after all, due to pending property sales, the City Council heard
Monday evening.
The council also heard first reading of an ordinance that
will raise cemetery-lot prices to fund upkeep of the two largely abandoned
African American cemeteries in the city.
Midway Station: Woodford County Economic Development Authority Chair John
Soper said the EDA has approved three tentative sales of property, with one
other contract waiting for approval at the EDA meeting this Friday.
EDA Chair John Soper spoke to the City Council. |
“We’ve got $800,000 in contracts that we’re in various
stages of doing,” Soper said, adding that the buyers could employ more than 100
people in two to three years.
Soper said the sales prospects mean that the city and county
probably won’t have to resume paying interest on the Midway Station debt, as
was expected in February when developer Dennis Anderson terminated his option
on the property, which he maintained by paying the interest.
“We may not be able to pay it July 1,” Soper said. “You all
may have to pay it, but I think of these four, that by August or September
we’ll have at least two of these closed so we can reimburse you.”
Soper said from the $800,000 in sales, about $480,000 will
go toward the principal of the note and the remaining balance should be around
$300,000. That cash on hand will allow the EDA to maintain the property.
Recently, Midway agreed to do one or two rounds of mowing at
Midway Station while the EDA bid out the work. The city will be reimbursed for
fuel and labor, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said.
Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said it took the mowers 23 hours to
get Midway Station to “where it is now.”
Soper said, “It looks like something somebody is wanting to
sell.”
Midway Station, developed in the 1990s, was largely a
failure for 20 years, leaving Midway and the county with $6 million in debt
borrowed to buy and develop the land.
Soper quipped, “In my former life, I was a banker and we
loved to see development loans paid out in 15 to 18 months and this is going on
15 to 18 years so it’s time, it’s time.”
Vandegrift said, “You’ve done an amazing job, and I think
that it’s becoming pretty clear that after all this time, 20 years, that Midway
Station has turned into a success story and everything looks like it’s going in
the right direction.”
Soper said the EDA is concentrating on the industrial side
of Midway Station because the EDA thinks the “demand is there” and is starting
to put “feelers” out on the commercial lots, zoned B-5, but plans to address
that after the industrial side gets moving.
“The more we get in on the industrial side, the B-5 will
become more valuable as we go on,” Soper said.
Cemeteries: Vandegrift said first reading of the proposed cemetery
ordinance could wait, due to some council members having concerns about it, but
he went ahead after Council Member Sara Hicks made the request to read the
ordinance.
Hicks chairs the Cemetery and City Property Committee, which
proposed changes to the cemetery ordinance. For example, the cost of a single grave would
increase to $750 from $650; and opening and closing a grave would cost $700, instead of $600.
Vandegrift said the idea was to get some money to help
create a perpetual-care fund to help maintain the two closed African American
cemeteries in Midway that “can’t generate revenue on their own,” the Sons and
Daughters of Relief and Saint Rose Tabernacle graveyards; and to install markers for
unmarked graves.
The extra revenue wouldn’t be dedicated directly to the
replacement of markers, Vandegrift said, because the council should be able to
discuss each budget cycle to “determine the needs of the budget and the needs
of the cemetery” to decide how much to put in the perpetual fund “going
forward.”
He added, “You can’t really compel future councils to adhere
to this, I’m afraid. I mean, you can try, but I think it gives future councils
more leeway to decide each budget cycle how much money goes into the perpetual
fund.”
Former Council Member Johnny Wilson, who drew attention to
the African American cemeteries in January by donating $1,000 for their
restoration, presented two $250 checks to the council to go toward the Sons and
Daughters of Relief Cemetery and Walter Bradley Park.
Wilson told Council Member John Holloway that he would like
a tree named after him, “a crabapple or persimmon tree, to fit my personality.”
“Persimmons are great trees,” said Holloway, who manages the
park.
In other business, the council:
• Approved
Vandegrift’s nomination of Cynthia Bohn, owner of Equus Run Vineyard in Midway,
to the county Tourism Commission for a three-year term.
“She’s really a kind of expert in all things tourism, so
she’s a good pick,” Vandegrift said.
• Heard the
mayor say that the application deadline for cooperative sidewalk repairs ended
on March 31, and 10 projects signed up.
“The ones who needed to do it the most stepped up,”
Vandegrift said.
He said the city will get measurements of repairs, take
photos and present them to the council for approval. Once approved, there will
be a request for contractors to work the project.
• Heard
Jeffrey McGuffey, representing the U.S. Census, say that census takers are
needed.
The job has three parts, he said: validating addresses,
helping people to go paperless, and going to the homes of people who don’t
respond.
McGuffey said the “temporary, part-time, flexible” work will
start in July and the pay will be $14 an hour.
“The count is very important,” he said.
To apply go to www.2020census.gov/jobs or call 855-562-2020.
• Accepted
bids totaling $3,582 for equipment that the council had declared surplus.
Tom Walton and Lauren Lancaster both bid $500 on a mower,
and Vandegrift broke the tie with a coin flip. Walton was the winner, but
Lancaster was the successful bidder on three other items, all $20 or less. The bid tallies are in the council packet, available here.
• Heard
Elisha Holt, representing the Midway Business Association, announcing that
“pop-up markets” would be held in Midway from 7 to 10 p.m. June 14, July 12 and
Aug. 9, all Fridays for “artists, craftsmen and strolling musicians.”
• Approved
an event permit for the American Diabetes Association Bicycle Race. It will be
on June 4 from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. The cyclists will start at Keeneland and
finish at Keeneland, riding through Midway and stopping at Walter Bradley Park.
In the roundtable that ends each council meeting, Council
Member Stacy Thurman, manager of the Midway Public Library, announced that the
history of Walter Bradley Park will be discussed at the library on April 25 at
6:30 p.m.
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