Council moves to ease volunteer work, honors Soper for EDA leadership, gets 29 applications for pandemic relief

By Aaron Gershon

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

Midway’s City Council took a step Monday toward simplifying volunteer work on city property, and honored outgoing economic developer John Soper, who gave another upbeat update.

Meeting via online video, the council gave first reading to an ordinance that would simplify volunteer work at Walter Bradley Park or other city property.

Volunteers would no longer be required to sign in and out each time they volunteer, and wouldn’t be required to city supervision at all times, since they would sign a waiver of liability, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said before the meeting.

“Frankly, we have not been doing it that way,” said Council Member John Holloway, who wrote the proposed ordinance with help from city attorney Sharon Gold. Holloway, the unpaid manager of the park, spearheaded a major cleanup and improvements in recent years, with much volunteer help.

Holloway said he was guided by volunteer work he did at BigSpring Park Versailles and singing that city’s waiver.

“It was a lot more inclusive than what we were doing,” Holloway said. “It gets the city a lot more coverage against possible lawsuits and makes the waiver good for one year from  the time the volunteer signs it.” 

The second reading of the ordinance and a vote on final passage is scheduled for the council’s August 3 meeting.

Grant applications: The mayor announced that 29 businesses in Midway have applied for federal covid-19 relief funding from the city. 

On July 6, the council voted to appropriate $75,000 from the city’s $129,000 relief allocation to fuel the grant program. The businesses that are approved will all get the same amount; if all 29 businesses were to be approved, each would get $2,586.

Vandegrift said he plans to meet Wednesday with his appointed committee of Council Members Stacy Thurman, Sara Hicks and Holloway to decide which of the 29 businesses are eligible for the grants.

While businesses have suffered due to stay-at-home orders in March, April and May, the mayor said the city has seen just two coronavirus cases and that both patients are now recovered.

Hail John Soper: The mayor and council honored longtime Woodford County Economic Development Director John Soper, who will be stepping down July 31. The council declared the day “John Soper Day” in the city and Vandegrift gave him a “key to the city” clock.

After thanking the council, Soper said progress continues at Midway Station, the industrial and commercial park that he helped transform from the city’s largest liability to its biggest asset. 

“We’re close or significant contract negotiations with probably every industrial acre out there in Midway Station,” Soper said. “That’s remarkable given the times that we’re in, but I think it also shows you the product.”

In other business Monday, the council:

●            Approved a $5,000 donation to Court Appointed Special Advocates, a group that checks on children who may be in danger of neglect or abuse. That left $2,500 in the budget for donations.

●            Deferred a request from the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce for a $1,000 donation, saying Executive Director Emily Downey should appear before the council, as should all others seeking donations. Vandegrift said Downey is “really doing a great job and I do think that we are getting a lot more attention than we used to,” but Council Member Logan Nance said the council should review other possible donations so it can stick to the budget for them.

●            Nance said he spoke with several residents of the 200 block of Johnson Street and found that all but one were in favor of making the block a one-way street, from Gratz Street to Brand Street. “It’s really not big enough to be a two-lane street anyway,” Nance said. “Homeowners expressed frustration with meeting people on the street and people driving in their yards and curbs.” Vandegrift said that unless he hears objections, he would put the issue on the Aug. 3 agenda.

●            Appointed lawyer and Laurel Hostetter to the county Board of Ethics. Vandegrift said she is philanthropy and engagement director for the Life Adventure Center near Versailles.

●            Accepted a $31,815 in-kind grant from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation for 12 Sets of firefighting gear for the Midway Fire Department.

●            Holloway announced he is preparing a resolution to rename and reschedule Midway’s Sparks in the Park event, which has been held on July 3. The resolution would move it to June 19 and make it the “Midway Juneteenth Celebration” to recognize emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. Thurman said African Americans need to be included in the discussion, and Holloway agreed, saying, “Right now it’s a bunch of white people sitting around talking about what black people want, and we don’t know.”