John McDaniel and Liles Taylor challenge Magistrate Linda Popp in Tuesday's Democratic primary

By Sarah Ladd
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The first turn in the race for Woodford County magistrate from the Midway district is the primary election on Tuesday, in which one-term incumbent Linda Popp faces challengers John McDaniel and Liles Taylor.

McDaniel and Taylor had the race largely to themselves for several weeks, as Popp dealt with the illness and death of her husband, Ray Popp. He died April 5 at the age of 64, and she said in an ad in this week's Woodford Sun that his passing was unexpected. "Now I am looking forward to getting out to see as many of you as possible," she said.

Linda Popp (2014 photo)

Popp did not attend the April 26 Chamber of Commerce forum and did not participate in the Sun’s questionnaire. Her announcement of candidacy, which the Sun allows candidates to run as news at any time, appeared in this week's paper though the filing deadline was Jan. 29.

The Midway Messenger could not reach Popp for comment despite repeated telephone calls, a Facebook message and three visits to her home, the last one including delivery of a letter seeking an interview.

Liles Taylor
(Photo provided)

The winner of the primary will face Republican Joseph Greathouse of Midway in the Nov. 6 general election.

Taylor, who is Greathouse's next-door neighbor on Cottage Grove, is political coordinator of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, the state federation of labor unions. He has been a field organizer for the state Democratic Party, chief of staff for the state House majority whip and deputy chief of staff to Crit Luallen when she was lieutenant governor.

McDaniel, a former city and county police officer, is in his second year on the Midway City Council. His term ends Dec. 31. He says that if he loses the primary, he plans to run again for the council, the filing deadline for which is in early August.

John McDaniel
(Photo by Sarah Ladd)

McDaniel said in an interview that he is running to give the district stronger representation: “Linda Popp is not as dedicated as Larry Craig,” whom she defeated in 2014. “You would see him out at 2 or 3 in the morning, doing whatever it took,” McDaniel said, adding that Craig was highly involved in community events and attended council meetings regularly, but “We never see Popp at council meetings.”

The letter that the Messenger left at Popp's home Thursday afternoon included McDaniel's quote, unattributed to him, but she did not respond by the letter's deadline of 5 p.m. Friday.

Taylor told the Messenger, “My candidacy is not in opposition to Linda. But I will say that I want to grow upon her work."

Taylor, 31, said at the Chamber of Commerce forum that he is running because of his love for the community. "It is a tremendous place to raise a family," he said. "I want to continue to have a small-town community." While taking steps to strengthen the county, he said, he wants to maintain the tight-knit atmosphere that already exists.

McDaniel, 68, said at the forum that he agreed with Taylor's comments about the community. "We live in a pretty special place," he said.

McDaniel said he hopes to be a liaison between the city government and county governments, which have sometimes been in conflict. He said he would attend council meetings and work on more open communication and coordination between the city and county.

Future plans and a different worldview

Among Taylor's stated goals is increased transparency through online access. He wants to see public forums streamed online and give the public online access to documents such as the county budget. He told the Sun he would have “regular, advertised times of availability within the district.” 

McDaniel, asked by the Sun what he would do to bring transparency, said “I don’t have any agendas, such as using this position to run for a higher office. I will have an open-door policy to anyone who wants to talk to me. I will not be afraid to ask questions and insist on answers.”

Taylor told the Messenger, “I currently have no plans to run for any other office, including higher office. My only future plans are to continue to work hard: knocking on doors, making phone calls, and hopefully earning the opportunity to serve the people of our community.”

The two candidates agree on several issues, but their worldview is different, due to their 37-year age gap. McDaniel looks to his life of experience for guidance, and Taylor looks to the future.

Taylor said, “I’m proud of the experience I’ve accumulated in my 31 years. … I’m honored to have the support and wisdom of several community leaders from different generations, including great public servants like Carl Rollins [a former mayor and state representative] and Doris Leigh,” a former council member.

McDaniel has had a long public and civic career. He said he was a co-founder of the Woodford County Arts League, president of Midway Renaissance and the Midway Business Association, and a founder, 45 years ago, of the festival now called the Midway Fall Festival.

His history involves three and a half years spent in prison for selling drugs. He told the Messenger in 2012 that he began selling part of his pain-medication refills because he didn’t want to become drug-dependent and needed money, then concluded that drug users “were going to get the stuff from somebody,” so he began selling other drugs – and got caught. “I never did drugs myself,” he said in 2016.

"I've been very open with all that," he said this month. "That's probably the very reason I'm back here." 

After McDaniel's sentence ended in 2000, he threw himself back into civic activities and was named Midway Citizen of the Year in 2003. In 2015, then-Gov. Steve Beshear restored his rights to vote and hold office. In 2016, he ran fourth among seven candidates for the six council seats, getting more votes than two incumbents.

One of McDaniel's goals is to get Midway back into the county's recycling program, now that the county program can accept glass. "That is something we have to look into to see if it's advantageous for us," he said.

Taylor said he wants to focus on the county budget. "The most important responsibility of the Fiscal Court is crafting a budget that meets our community’s current needs, while investing in solutions for tomorrow," he said. "I will strive to set budget priorities that carefully balance vital investments in public safety, education (early childhood, K-12, & post-secondary), infrastructure, senior services, public health, middle-income housing, parks and recreation, competitive wages for county employees, and economic development." 

Taylor said he wants to show strong leadership in finding better solutions for alleviating traffic in Versailles without sending more traffic down Midway Road, US 62. "I had classmates that died on Midway Road growing up," he said. "It's a really dangerous road and it's really important that we come up with a safe solution for Woodford countians that does not increase traffic, particularly truck traffic, on Midway Road."

McDaniel said he has been interested in the traffic problem for a long time and agrees redirecting traffic down Midway Road would be a disaster. “We have been discussing this in council meetings since 2013,” he said. He usually attended the meetings; he is the Sun's Midway correspondent.

Popp said in her Sun ad, “I will continue to stand up for YOU and bring YOUR concerns to the forefront.” She wrote that she would continue to make Woodford County a “better place for your residents and children to live and prosper. I will continue to be YOUR voice.”

Last week's council meetings: A drama in 2 acts

ANALYSIS By Dick Yarmy
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The March 21 Midway City Council meetings unfolded like a drama in two acts. Act 1 was an example of city government at its best. Act 2 showed the strain and tension of two factions reaching to understand each other.

Act 1: More than a dozen citizens, including downtown merchants, joined council members and Mayor Tom Bozarth as Joe Grider of HMB Professional Engineers (at right in photo below) brought the plans for the downtown railroad improvements and the Midway streetscape to life at a special outdoor meeting.

Grider, looking like the Pied Piper, led the contingent along points he had pre-marked on the cement showing each construction phase planned by the city and R.J. Corman Railroad Group. His crisp narration was occasionally interrupted by questions from merchants, interested citizens and council members. (Photo by Dick Yarmy)

Although the basic plan has been public for some time, Bozarth called the special meeting and walkthrough to highlight the latest changes to the project, such as scrapping the original plan to demolish two walls on the north end of East Main Street.

Public notice of the special meeting was posted and the mayor telephoned merchants, potentially affected by the changes, to avoid possible misunderstandings.

Grider detailed the nine areas where existing walls, curbs and sidewalks would be removed, and described the six construction tasks involving walls and columns. Changes in parking spot dimensions, which could affect storefront businesses, were covered in detail. Accessibility to the area will be improved with the addition of sidewalk ramps allowing wheeled access to the street.

The streetscape diagram is available as JPEG photo file here.

Grider explained the project scheduling in relative terms. The city can begin its construction only after Corman has completed its work, and Corman’s schedule has yet to be announced.

As different construction tasks were detailed, questions came from the crowd, such as: “Who’s paying for that?” Grider said the city will spend $53,000 on streetscape while Corman spends $700,000 on railway improvements.

The project plan was clearly explained, the interested parties were informed and the city government achieved its goal of keeping interested parties up to date.

The curtain dropped on Act 1.

Act 2, the regular council meeting, added some drama. After routine business, the council began a lengthy debate fueled by new council members’ concerns about communication, access to information and citizens’ involvement in government.

Different understandings between the three new members and holdovers (the three other members and Bozarth) surfaced when new member Joy Arnold discussed a proposed meeting designed to share the council’s goals with the public and solicit additional goals.

Holdover member Doris Leigh questioned the need for the meeting, citing the council’s retreat at the Holly Hill Inn Feb. 12, when members and Bozarth met with a facilitator to establish goals for 2011.

“We already decided our goals at the Holly Hill meeting,” said Leigh, who suggested the council accomplish those goals before taking on new ones.

Arnold replied, “I’m not sure the public is aware of our goals.”

“We represent them,” Leigh responded. “They tell us what to do.”

As the discussion continued, the lines of communication appeared to connect, and all members agreed to the purpose, content, format, location and time of the meeting. It will be held at 6:30 p.m. May 2 at Midway Baptist Church.

But the tension built again, as Council Member Dan Roller introduced a memo with nine suggestions for holding more productive council meetings. Again, the new members and holdovers took opposite positions, and the main point of disagreement was access to information.

Roller asked for more detail to be included in the packet sent to council members to prepare them for council meetings. He also called for a document to track pending projects and proposals that have been acted on in the past year.

Bozarth, left, said any information needed would be provided when requested by a council member. “If you want something specific, just ask,” he said. (Photo, from earlier meeting, by Dick Yarmy)

Roller said information pertaining to the council’s business is “guarded” rather than open. “It’s not our business, it’s the public’s business,” he said. “Most of the suggestions we’re making are for having more productive meetings going forward.”

Roller suggested the packet information should also include the individual committee reports and scheduled meetings. When Bozarth said he saw no need to include detailed schedules and actions of the committees in the packets, Roller asked, “You’re opposed to informing the public?”

Council Member Aaron Hamilton said, “It’s all open. They can come to a committee meeting, if they want to; they don’t have to wait for a report. We send a notice out, and anybody can attend –– anybody.” By law, council committee meetings are public.

New Council Member Becky Moore, who preceded Bozarth as mayor, said a more complete and detailed agenda would serve to inform and engage more citizens, because the agenda is published on the city’s website.

Council Member Sharon Turner expressed support for the current agenda content: “It’s been the same the last four years as it was the two years before that,” she said. “You put on there what you know –– when you know it.” Bozarth was mayor the last four years.

The differing points of view between the new members and holdovers continued during a discussion about providing the news media with the council packets in advance of the meeting.

Bozarth said he saw no need for that, saying that if journalists want something, they can ask. He said the city is following the state open-records law.

Phil Moloney, the city attorney, left, said the city uses the three-day delay the law allows for a response to minimize costs and conserve city clerks’ time. (Photo, from earlier meeting, by Dick Yarmy)

Moore suggested that the reporters present be asked if they needed the packet to do their jobs. Bozarth asked this reporter’s opinion, specifically on receiving an advance copy of the complete packet.

“I would ask for what I needed,” I replied. “We’re not bashful.”

The discussions included other topics, such as operation of the council’s email system, including date stamping; the ability of city clerks to be informed of council decisions to answer citizens’ inquiries; and the possibility of developing a more comprehensive city calendar that would include holidays, city events and anything requiring a permit.

After the meeting, this reporter asked Roller for a copy of the memo he read during the meeting. He suggested I fill out an open-records request, or see the mayor. Bozarth, hearing the conversation, offered to email me one. Roller then handed me his copy, ending Act 2.

In phone interviews the next day and the day after, two council members opined on the meeting.

Moore said part of the problem is the appearance of secrecy: “We’re doing public business in a public place; having people wait for information makes you suspicious.”

Asked what changes she’d like to see, she said, “An elected official should be able to go into City Hall and get what they need immediately. I feel the information is guarded. We should review the current policy.” She added, “The new council members want to know what’s going on because people ask us.”

Turner said their constituents are well informed.

“I can’t get in or out of the grocery store without someone saying ‘What’s going on?’ . . . If you can’t answer to their satisfaction, you can be sure they’ll show up at a council meeting,” she said, adding that communication has improved.

“I’ve worked under both mayors, and I don’t know why some folks think it’s different now. It’s been more open in the last four years than in the previous six.” Moore was mayor for about six years.

“Everything I’ve wanted to know –– when I’ve asked, I’ve been provided with,” Turner said. “Everyone is doing what they can do –– we’re not in it for the money, we’re in it for the love of Midway.”

On that point, Moore agreed. “The information will come, now that we’re asking for it,” she said.

Council approves budget for 2010-11; city won't appeal attorney general's open-records decision

The Midway City Council adopted the city budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 at its regular meeting Monday night. For a copy of the budget, as an Excel spreadsheet file, click here. For a PDF version, click here.

Mayor Tom Bozarth declined to release a copy of his proposed budget while the council was considering it. In a case prompted by the Midway Messenger, Attorney General Jack Conway ruled that a proposed city budget becomes public once the mayor presents it to the council. However, Conway's ruling does not become final until June 19, 30 days after it was issued.

UPDATE, June 10: Bozarth says the city will not appeal the attorney general's decision to Woodford Circuit Court.

Attorney general says city budget becomes public when the mayor gives it to the city council

Ruling in a case originated by the Midway Messenger, the state attorney general's office has ruled that a proposed city budget becomes public once a mayor submits it to the city's legislative body. But unless the City of Midway forgoes an appeal and releases its proposed budget for the year beginning July 1, the decision will not affect that document.

The Messenger first requested the proposed 2010-11 budget after Mayor Tom Bozarth gave it to at least some City Council members, those on the Finance Committee, which discussed the budget peripherally at a meeting in April. Bozarth declined to release the document at that meeting, saying the state Open Records Act exempted proposed budgets from disclosure.

Kentucky Citizens for Open Government, through Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson, appealed to the attorney general, adopting the Messenger's argument that a document should become public once discussed at a public meeting of a public agency. Attorney General Jack Conway did not accept that argument, but did rule that once a mayor proposes a budget to a council, it becomes public.

"The proposed budget must be made accessible to the public when it is submitted to the City Council pursuant to KRS 91A.030(7) because it constitutes statutorily required final action of a public agency, in this case, the Mayor of the City of Midway," the decision said. "At this juncture, the budget forfeits the preliminary character it enjoyed while it was in preparation and is no longer a draft," one exemption in the law. For a copy of the decision in PDF format, click here.

The decision overruled decisions made under then-Attorney General Ben Chandler in 1996 and 2000. However, it may not have immediate effect, because it does not gain the force of law until the 30-day appeal period has run. Bozarth told the Messenger today that he and City Attorney Phil Moloney "will discuss what we are going to do over the next few days." The council is scheduled to adopt the budget on second at its next regular meeting on June 7. The appeal period ends June 19.