Newton Street to be closed at intersection with Dudley Street at 3:30 today due to flooding, cold temperatures

The outlet through Midway University is at lower right. (Google base map)

Newton Street will be closed at its intersection with Dudley Street at 3:30 today due to flooding of Lee Branch and cold temperatures, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift announced via email at 1:45 p.m.

"Because of floodplain runoff from the recent heavy rains, and the falling temperatures, a dangerous, icy condition at the bend on Newton St. where it meets Dudley has caused us to make the decision to close Newton Street at 3:30 p.m. today," Vandegrift wrote. "It will reopen at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and at this time we do not expect any further trouble occurring from this."

The mayor said Newton Street residents won't be cut off; they "will be able to leave their homes by using the back entrance to Midway University," and going through the campus to East Stephens Street. "We’re thankful to Midway University for allowing our residents to exit through campus," he wrote. "Let me know if you have any questions."

Council advances incentive package for Lakeshore expansion, readies new franchise for cable and internet

Mayor Grayson Vandegrift talks with Helen Rentch, a major supporter of The Homeplace at Midway, in front of the van that the city helped the nursing home and assisted-living facility buy. The rear of the van has donors' logos. The Homeplace brought the van to the City Council meeting. (Photo by Kennedy Sabharwal, University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media)

By Kennedy Sabharwal

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The Midway City Council approved some incentives for Lakeshore Learning Materials’ expansion, and held first reading on others, at its meeting Monday evening. It also approved a franchise for a new telecommunications company to serve the city.

Lakeshore: One reason Lakeshore chose Midway to house its Eastern U.S. distribution center in 2016 was the incentives offered by the city, Woodford County and the state. Now that the company has decided to build a warehouse and add 100 jobs, the same incentives are at work, plus a new one.

One incentive was that the occupational tax on the company payroll would be decreased from 2% to 1.5% for 10 years once the company had reached its promise to employ 262 people. The city will grant a similar decrease once the warehouse has reached 100 employees, and make a similar reduction in the occupational tax on the company’s additional net profits for five years.

“I thought it was a fair but reasonable offer to make,” as the city competed with Beaumont, Texas, for the facility, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said. He said Midway collected only $5,000 a year in net-profits tax until Lakeshore arrived, and the company pays “about six times that.”

The net-profits incentive is in an ordinance, which will require a second reading before passage. The other incentives were in resolutions that the council passed unanimously and without debate.

Another incentive is industrial revenue bonds, which the city will issue to give Lakeshore a lower interest rate for financing construction of the warehouse. “The city’s not pledging its credit,” said Timothy Eifler of Louisville, an attorney for Lakeshore.

Since the city will own the land and lease it back to Lakeshore, it will not be taxed, but part of the agreement is that Lakeshore will pay Woodford County Schools the same amount that it would pay in taxes if it owned the property.

              

TV and internet service: Though the city of Midway already has a cable television and internet provider, Spectrum, many residents have voiced discontent with it. A proposed ordinance hat got first reading Monday would grant a non-exclusive franchise to MetroNet so it can use city streets and property to build its service.

Vandegrift said second reading and likely passage of the proposed ordinances will be on Oct. 7. In June, when a MetroNet representative spoke to the council, the mayor said "I've been very impressed" with the company and agreed with the representative's statements that the firm has "the best technology available in the world" for internet, television and telephone."

The representative said the company is coming to Midway because it recently got a contract to serve the county schools, and would be seeking a similar non-exclusive franchise from the Woodford County Fiscal Court.

Softball shenanigans: Kim Wilson of Elkton Place, a short street at the south end of the city, asked to buy a small piece of land between her home and the Midway softball field, which is used by Midway University.

“No offense to the Midway softball team, but they’re just outrageously slobs,” by littering and urinating on the wooded tract, Wilson said, adding that she has voiced her concerns to the university, but the issues persist.

University spokeswoman Ellen Gregory told the Messenger in an email, “The comment on those urinating on property was in reference to umpires. . . . When we were first notified of this issue by the property owner, our head of security spoke directly to an umpire, who was an offender. And our softball coach has also spoken to the umpires to correct the improper behavior and will communicate this again to the conference assignor. The university pays for two Portalets at the field during the school year; those were delivered again Aug. 29 for this year. We also have trash cans onsite; our grounds crew mows the area and our security monitors the field daily.”

The presumption at the meeting was that the city owns the land, but Vandegrift said in an email after the meeting that “the bulk of the property” belongs to the owner of an adjacent farm, whom the city will send “a letter notifying her that she will need to maintain the property from here on out.”

Flooding: James and Sandy Reynolds asked for help with the flooding of the basement of a church in the Loft Apartments building they own on Dudley Street, next to the sloped parking lot for The Brown Barrel & Blind Harry’s.

Vandegrift said the issue needs to be fixed but it is on private property, and “I’m not going to spend taxpayers’ money on what is not a taxpayers’ problem.” Reynolds said he didn’t want that, just advice and approval to take the problem into his own hands.

Tuesday, Vandegrift emailed the council and news media saying a consulting engineer from the city “looked at the area today and determined the problems they are experiencing are not due to city issues. I encourage the property owners to hire their own engineers to alleviate their flooding issues.”

Other business: Last fall, a wagon selling pumpkins was forced to relocate because it lacked a temporary encroachment permit for the parking space it occupied. Farmers Michael Greathouse and Carissa Arnold asked for a permit to set up at 112 S. Gratz St., saying they would set up the wagon immediately after the Fall Festival until Nov. 1. The council granted the permit.

The city recently aided The Homeplace at Midway by donating $5,000 a 12-passenger van that cost $25,000. The van made an appearance at the meeting, and smiles were shared between council members and Homeplace employees and supporters.

S. Elkhorn Creek at Weisenberger Mill, 11:45 a.m. today

Let's hope that big piece of deadfall makes it over the dam before too long.

County opens part-time ambulance station in Midway

Woodford County Road Department employees are installing drainage tile around the building to keep it dry.

After years of asking, Midway finally has a local ambulance for emergency medical services. The old Woodford County Fire Department building on Leestown Road has become Station 3 of the county ambulance service. The need became greater with employment growth at Midway Station.

"It was needed in the north end of the county, and it helps everybody," County Judge-Executive John Coyle said, noting the presence of an elementary school and a growing university in the town.

For now, the Midway ambulance is staffed part-time. Emergency Medical Services Director Freeman Bailey said it is assigned to the Midway call area 12 hours a day but is based in Midway only from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, which covers the heaviest call times in the area.

Bailey told the Midway Messenger that said EMS is "working diligently" with the county Fiscal Court to analyze call volumes and costs before expanding staffing. He said the service usually gets one to three calls a day from the Midway call area, north of Old Frankfort Pike.

Because the building is now occupied on a regular basis, the county Road Department is installing drainage tile to prevent flooding problems that plagued the facility and helped prompt construction of a new fire station and training center just west of town on Leestown Road.

Skies brighten briefly, but more rain is on the way; governor declares statewide emergency due to floods

The rain slacked off and the sun came out briefly this afternoon, but it is forecast to resume tonight and continue through tomorrow, so a flood watch is in effect for the area until 7 a.m. Sunday.  South Elkhorn Creek was running heavy over the dam at Weisenberger Mill at mid-afternoon. Commercial weather projections call for the heaviest rain Saturday morning and Saturday night, with a chance of thunderstorms.

UPDATE, 6:40 p.m.: Gov. Matt Bevin declared a statewide emergency in response to continued flooding. The order enables state resources to be mobilized and made ready to assist cities and counties should they be needed, a press release said. Bevin has also activated the state’s prohibitions on price gouging to protect consumers.

Mayor says he's disheartened by county's ending of emergency-management talks; flood issues discussed

By Paige Hobbs
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The Midway City Council meeting Monday night focused on emergency management. The agency’s budget and the joint mass notification system, Everbridge, were at the top of the list. The council also discussed issues raised by recent flooding.

Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said he was sending the proposed emergency management budget to the council’s finance committee for review before asking the full council members to make a decision. The negotiations between the City of Versailles, Woodford County, and the City of Midway were ended last week by the fiscal court, which wants more money for the program.

Funding for the program has been debated since last summer. Under state law, Midway has until July 1 to establish its own program or form a joint program.

Vandegrift said it was vote of 5-4 last week in fiscal court that ended the negotiations, thus telling Midway it must pay an extra $200 a month or start its own program.

“The five who voted to basically say ‘This is it, take it or leave it,’ they believe they are doing what is right. . . . However, I want to give a special thanks to Magistrate [Linda] Popp, our magistrate . . . Magistrate Gill, Magistrate Dotson, and Magistrate Gardner, who by voting against that meant ‘Let’s keep negotiating’,” said Vandegrift. Popp was at the council meeting.

“So I’m giving a special thanks with the caveat that I do believe that the other five are doing what they believe is right,” Vandegrift said. “But I believe we are trying to form a new relationship with the county and we’re trying to say ‘Let’s negotiate and talk.’ And that vote is a little disheartening. Because what it told me is that we’re going to stop talking. That’s not the way I think the City of Midway wants to do things, personally.”

Vandegrift said the finance committee will review the budget and the options and report back to the full council during a budget workshop on April 14.

System offers alerts about emergencies, weather, community happenings

In a related matter, Vandegrift said the county and Versailles have already signed into the joint agreement for the mass notification system, Everbridge. Midway’s contribution to the program would be $1,430. Versailles has agred to pay $4,390 and the county has agreed to pay $7,842,

Everbridge, for which only 5 percent of Midway residents have signed up, allows citizens to opt in for alerts about emergencies, weather advisories and warnings and other topics via text messages, email, social media, telephone calls and other methods. Citizens have the option to exclude certain alerts and times, except for tornado warnings. They can sign up at www.woodfordalerts.com.

Council Member Libby Warfield asked what could be done to publicize this program more.

Deputy Emergency Management Director Drew Chandler, representing the local Emergency Planning Committee, said the committee had already spent $5,000 on a public service campaign, including newspaper advertising that has not been completed, to get the word out. “We are taking a proactive approach,” he said. 

Vandegrift said, “It is a good program; I get these calls before any other notification. Why we can’t get people to sign up, I don’t know.”

Council Member Sarah Hicks suggested making signups available at the library.

Chandler said the dispatch center has more than 10,000 phone numbers in its 911 database.  Despite the low opt-in rate, Chandler said dispatch can still make emergency notifications to almost all residents, and the opt-in system for additional alerts can reach 200 phones in a matter of minutes.

Vandegrift noted that Midway is not set up for that function. Chandler said, “If we can get the customer data base in an Excel format (a software program used to organize data) . . . that can be done for Midway,” said Chandler.

Assistant City Clerk Diane Shepard expressed concern about sharing citizens’ cell-phone information to fill in the database. “If we take someone’s cell phone number here we promise we won’t give that out and we won’t use it for anything,” she said. “I think they should be the ones that opt in. That’s the reason we haven’t provided that information to you all.” (Shepard was filling in for City Clerk-Treasurer Phyllis Hudson, who was absent due to the death of her sister.) 

Chandler agreed that if a cell-phone number is given, the confidence in privately sharing that information should not be violated. No cell phone information given in confidence will be shared with the data base unless citizens choose to do so themselves, he said.

Emergency Management Director Keith Slugantz said he wanted to go ahead and build the database so citizens could sign up to get alerts on their cell phones. 333-0046

Flooding raises issues

Vandegrift noted that due to the flooding last week, two fences were knocked down by the debris carried by floodwaters in the dog park. The park, which was privately funded and built through an Eagle Scout project, is owned by the city.

Hicks said the park isn’t in the healthiest location. During heavy rains, “It becomes a muck pool,” she said. ”It’s not the best location because it doesn’t have drainage. I want the dog park to be replaced but would like for us to re-think the location.”

Vandegrift offered the options of putting the park in the city budget or seeking private funding. “We’ll get on it and weigh our options further on down the road,” he said.

Warfield brought up another issue raised by the flooding, asking why the fire department does not help citizens pump water out of their basements when it floods. Council Member Steven Craig said that it could be a liability to do so, and that the fire department does not have the proper equipment.

Council Member Daniel Roller said, “I think it could be great if they could provide safety information.”

Council Member Bruce Southworth suggested having the fire chief and water and sewer superintendent attend council meetings once a month to provide updates.

In other business, the council passed a motion by Southworth that Midway Station developer Dennis Anderson pay for a city inspector to review infrastructure for the housing development he is to begin in part of the failed industrial park this year.

Southworth told the Messenger after the meeting that in Anderson’s development of the Green Gables commercial area on the south side of Interstate 64, some valves were not installed and some of the pipes weren’t three feet deep as required.

The council adopted a motion by Warfield to donate $250 for supplies and staff time for the Main Street Clean Sweep program to be conducted by Bluegrass Greensource on Earth Day, April 22.

The non-profit environmental educational organization is offering the program in 17 cities across Central Kentucky. Environmental Educator and Volunteer Coordinator Ashley Bryant-Cheney said there are 14 staff members working on this event and they are expecting 1,000 participants.

“I think this is a very good program,” said Warfield. “If you get children involved in picking up litter, hopefully, when they become adults they won’t be throwing down litter. . . . They will remember the next time they think of throwing something out of the car.”

The 17 cities participating are Midway, Versailles, Nicholasville, Wilmore, Harrodsburg, Burgin, Frankfort, Cynthiana, Georgetown, Lancaster, Richmond, Stanford, Winchester, Paris, Stamping Ground, Irvine, and Sadieville. More information can be found at bggreensource.org.

The council scheduled four meetings for next week. The Cemetery and City Property Committee will meet Monday, April 13, at 6 p.m., to continue discussions about the wooded area along Lee’s Branch at the foot of Gratz Street.

The Finance, Ordinance and Policy Committee will meet Tuesday, April 14, at 2 p.m. to discuss a draft fairness ordinance with city attorney Phil Moloney.

A budget workshop will be held Tuesday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. There will also be a progress meeting for the Higgins Street water project Wednesday, April 15, at 10 a.m.

Flash floods raise streams; creek threatens restaurant

South Elkhorn Creek was so high at 11 a.m. that there was only a hint of the Weisenberger Mill dam.

Severe weather dropped a significant amount of water into the Midway area last night and this morning. The rising of South Elkhorn Creek seems have caused the disappearance of the Weisenberger Mill dam. Later in the day, water rise and blocked the road.

The creek covered Old Frankfort Pike (KY 1681) at the Faywood bridge and was threatening Rachel's Kitchen, WKYT-TV reported. The road was also blocked a short distance to the east, just across the Fayette County line. See comments from area residents on this Facebook page. UPDATE: The restaurant prevented flooding with sandbags at its front door.

A man who answered the phone at the Woodford County Road Department at about 12:15 p.m. said he had not heard of any roads closed by high water. The man declined to give his name but said water levels in the area were dropping. However, rain returned and other road closures were reported in the late afternoon, including Leestown Pike (US 421) at the eastern railroad underpass in Fayette County.

The National Weather Service posted a flood warning through 2:45 p.m. and a flash flood watch until 8 p.m. The weather station at the Lexington airport reported that 3.37 inches of rain fell there between 2 and 8 a.m. For further updates, the station webpage is here.

The weather service said thunderstorms are expected in the area well into the afternoon. Some storms could be strong to severe including damaging winds, isolated tornadoes and even hail. --Rashad Bigham

City council adopts 2011-12 budget by 4-2 vote

The Midway City Council approved a budget with $912,912 in spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1 by a vote of 4 to 2 last night. The "no" votes were cast by Becky Moore, who failed in her effort to give the county planning and zoning commission the extra $5,291 it wanted, and Joy Arnold, who objected to the format of the budget "as not being clear and obvious on its face."

Moore suggested that the city had the money for the planning commission, noting that the $1,127,990 budget presumes a carry-forward balance of $215,078 at the beginning and end of the year. City Clerk Phyllis Hudson said, "That's all of our assets. It's not cash." Mayor Tom Bozarth said he tried to estimate revenue low and expenses high.

While the budget calls for spending only 81 percent of the available resources, it also anticipates $60,000 in revenue from sale of the old sewage treatment plant, just as last year's budget did, to to avail. Bozarth said after the meeting that the prospective buyer remains the same but has had other priorities. To view the budget ordinance, which was passed in the format of an Excel spreadsheet, click here.

The format confounded Arnold, right, who wanted the document to reflect the extra $6,000 that the city plans to give the Versailles Police Department to cover higher fuel costs under its contracts to patrol the whole county. Because the spreadsheet lists appropriations only in general categories, not the detail seen in the draft budget the council discussed, reflecting the change would have required a new first and second reading of the ordinance, City Attorney Phil Moloney said. To view the more detailed draft budget, click here.

The extra $6,000 will come from the $15,000 "contingency" line item in the general part of the budget. Arnold said all police expense should have its own line item because it is such an important public service. Council Member Sharon Turner sympathized with her, but said listing all the line items "would take up a page in The Woodford Sun," in which the ordinance must be published. Bozarth said the monthly budget report to the council will track police expenses, but Arnold said that report "makes very little sense because of its setup."

The budget includes more than $26,000 for the planning commission, which has asked all three local governments for more money because the decline in real-estate activity has left it with less fee income. The county provided the extra money requested of it, but Versailles did not, even though it rasied taxes. Council Member Dan Roller said he was concerned that cuts at the commission would lead to fewer housing inspections and enforcement actions against substandard properties. "There are certainly more of those than there are new properties," he said. Bozarth said the council could reconsider the commission's request "if they're having trouble."

In other second and final readings, the council approved changes in the floodplain zoning ordinance and a measure establishing local hours for bars and restaurants: 10 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. The council gained the authority to set hours different from the rest of the county when the legislature made Midway a fourth-class city.

2011-12 city budget, floodplain zoning and closing-hours ordinance on Monday council agenda

Final adoption of the city budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is on the agenda for the next Midway City Council meeting, set for 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 6.

Other second readings on the agenda are ordinances on closing hours and floodplain zoning. All city council meetings are open to the public.

City officials say county left them no choice but to approve emergency-management agreement

By Tilly Finley and Meg Quigley
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

At tonight's City Council meeting, council members and Mayor Tom Bozarth were forced to make a decision that none of them found appealing.

On a 3-2 vote, with Bozarth breaking a tie, the council voted to accept the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with Woodford County and the City of Versailles to establish a countywide disaster emergency preparedness, response and recovery program.

The council's concerns were political and monetary. Bozarth said the two cities should have a say in appointment of the joint emergency-management director, and Council Member Sharon Turner noted, among other things, that money paid by Midway would buy equipment the county would own. “We had fair questions that were asked and not addressed,” she said.

Because the state requires the city to have an emergency director, which would be more expensive than sharing one, and since County Judge-Executive John Coyle had refused to change the proposed agreement, Bozarth said, "We don't have any choice." The proposed city budget for next year, distributed at the meeting, includes $6,480 for the city's share of the director's pay, based on $4 per person counted in the 2000 census.

County Emergency Management Director Keith Slugantz, who presented the agreement to the council, said the city "will have a say in the appoinment" of the joint director, but Bozarth said the actual appointment would be made by the county. He said the disagreement had nothing to do with Slugantz, but told him, "You know how politics are. Politics change." County and city offices are on next year's ballots.

Bozarth made clear to Slugantz that the city would pay its part on a monthly basis, and only if invoiced by the county. “We have had some issues in the past and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request,” the mayor said.

Council Member Aaron Hamilton made the motion to accept the agreement. Doris Leigh joined him in voting yes, while Turner and Diana Queen voted no. Soon after Bozarth broke the tie, Council Member Sandra Cooke arrived. She said in an interview, “Out of necessity, I would have voted yes. ... Right now we have no other option.”