Council discusses fire truck, other equipment, salaries; Bozarth agrees to line item for overtime

By Taylor Norberg

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The Midway City Council debated the city’s salaries and money for equipment upgrades, such as a new fire truck and mower, on April 28 at its second workshop meeting to discuss Mayor Tom Bozarth’s proposed budget.

 

Council Member Bruce Southworth addressed concerns about salaries, a new fire truck and other equipment upgrades in the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Among Southworth’s main concerns was overtime pay: “This year’s cemetery budget is for $61,517 in salaries; what we actually pay is $48,300 in salaries.  That’s $13,217 that go unnoticed.  Do we need that much extra in salaries?”

Southworth said when he was working for the city, the salaries never changed.  “In water, sewer streets cemetery and City Hall, there is $45,952 extra … That’s a lot of money to me.”

Bozarth said “It’s a cushion to use” if needed. City Clerk-Treasurer Phyllis Hudson said most of the overtime is incurred by the water department.

After discussion of some other budget items, Bozarth told Southworth that he and Hudson would put expected overtime expenses into a separate line item, “like you asked.”

                

Before that, Southworth brought up Bozarth’s request for a new fire truck to replace one that is 42 years old.  The other truck is 10 years old. Southworth questioned how many fires required both trucks. Bozarth replied, “Well, all it takes is one fire, Bruce.” 

The city’s 2013-14 budget contained a contingency of $205,958, which is a surplus of extra money carried forward to the next budget.  Bozarth made clear in the first council budget meeting his desire to use contingency money for a down payment and finance the rest through the state.

Council Member Grayson Vandegrift said the truck is a public safety issue. “We can do this now, we have some cash to put into it," he said. “It’s a good rate and we have the money.”

Council Member Sharon Turner, who like Vandegrift is running for mayor, agreed.  “I would hate to be the one who calls in [a fire] and that’s when they have an issue” with equipment, she said.  “It’s a public safety issue, like Grayson said.”

Bozarth asked city worker Terry Agee to discuss the need for equipment upgrades, such as a fourth mower.  Agee explained that they usually carry four mowers and the sewer plant keeps one.  The Bobcat residential mower that they have was going through too much wear and tear so they passed it on to the sewer plant.

The sewer plant already has a “grasshopper” mower which is old and not very useful anywhere.  Based on this information, the plan is to trade in or surplus the grasshopper and purchase a fourth mower.  “We really need that fourth mower,” Agee said. “We would have four and they would have one, the way it’s always been.”

The proposed 2014-15 cemetery budget contains a new $5,000 appropriation for a mower.  The proposed $15,700 for upgrades in parks, up from $3,000 in the current year, includes $7,500 for a mower upgrade.

Agee also explained the need for a new trailer for the mowers, which are serviced regularly in Lexington.  “We have these mowers on a program with Central Equipment where we take them up there at the end of the fall and it benefits us to have them serviced,” Agee explained. “With the trailer we have, we make three trips to Lexington every year with that.  If we got this new trailer, we could make it in one.”

The council agreed that it would be a beneficial upgrade. There is $2,500 in the proposed 2015 street budget specified for the trailer.

The proposed budget also specifies $4,889 to repair the street department’s leafbox. Southworth questioned that, but Agee said the bottom has significant rust.  Turner agreed: “You can see when it’s blowing leaves in and all the dust blows out.”

Council Member Daniel Roller added that there may be an intake problem.  “The way the intake is on that, the designer that they’re talking with now is talking about the technology has increased since they built that one.” 

Southworth suggested that if the leafbox is replaced, “scrap it. Get the money out of it.”

For more on the budget, see the next item.

Council agrees to give city employees a 3 percent raise, sets aside $10,000 for donations in next year's budget

UPDATE, May 9: A special meeting of the council has been called for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 13, to continue budget discussions.

The Midway City Council wrapped up its preliminary deliberations on Mayor Tom Bozarth's last budget Monday night by deciding to give the seven full-time city employees a 3 percent raise and dealing with the often difficult issue of donations.

The council deferred decisions about donation requests from the Francisco's Farm Art Festival, the Woodford County Chamber of Commerce and other groups, setting aside $10,000 for such contributions in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Soon after the council took up the donation issue, Member Grayson Vandegrift suggested a catch-all line item for donations, instead of individual amounts, noting that they are hard to predict individually and that Midway College might seek another $1,000 for lectures.

"I think that's a good idea," Bozarth said. "that doesn't limit you if somebody comes with another cause." At another point, council members noted that they can always amend the budget.

Vandegrift suggested allocating $7,500, but Bozarth said that would be "a little short," so Vandegrift moved for $10,000 and the other members agreed. "If I had a vote," Bozarth said, "I'd vote yes, too." The mayor presides over council meetings but can vote only in case of a tie.

Bozarth said he would put the revised budget into the form of an ordinance and present it for first reading at the council's next meeting, May 19. "I think it's been a very good process," he said. "thank you all." He is not seeking a third four-year term; Vandegrift and Council Member Sharon Turner are running for mayor.

The council also inspected the new handicapped ramp on East Main Street and heard first reading of a long-discussed ordinance to set new policies for adjustment of water bills that are abnormally high because of leaks on the property owner's premises. The ordinance, the original draft budget and other materials in the council's meeting packet can be downloaded as a 3.2 mb PDF here.

Midway College photo gallery

Midway College is Kentucky's only women's college, founded in 1847.

Photos by Erin Grigson, University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Click on any images for a full-size version and immediate access to the rest of the gallery. 

Second group of students from Panama studying at college under agreement with Panamanian government

President John Marsden and his wife Margaret gave a welcoming
reception at their home, Pinkerton-Rouse Place, in March for the
second group of Panamanian students, 26 of them. (College photo)

By Bridget Slone

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

A second group of students from Panama is studying at Midway College, under an agreement the college signed with a Panamanian government agency in December.

Under the agreement, the Panamanian government awarded scholarships, including tuition, room and board, for Panamanian students to study at the college, according to Ellen Gregory, the college’s vice president of marketing and communications.

The college said in a press release that it hosted Sonia de Luzcando, general director, and Itzel Hubbarb, chief international cooperation officer of Panama’s Institute for Training and Development of Human Resources, on campus for a tour, strategy meetings and an official signing ceremony.

The first Panamanians to arrive on campus under the partnership was a group of eight teachers and three school administrators, according to the college’s director of multicultural and international Affairs, Rosa Ponce-Sanabria.

“The teachers were on campus four weeks and the administrators for six weeks,” Ponce-Sanabria said. “They attended education courses with the help of an interpreter and have now returned to Panama to put their newly acquired skills into practice at their schools.”

The second group to arrive was students who are participating in a college readiness program, which began in March and goes through mid-December, Gregory said in an email.

The students previously attended a center funded by the Institute for Training and Development of Human Resources. Through this center, the institute provides room and board to students from rural 

areas who would otherwise not be able to regularly attend school, Gregory explained.

She said all the students were selected because of their strong academic background, and at this point 26 scholarships have been funded. “We anticipate this to be just the beginning of a long relationship going forward,” she said.

Council returns part of Midway Station to industrial zoning; Shell station spurred more development at I-64

By Dylan Russell

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Longtime industrial zone in purple; new industrial outlined in purple

Midway Station may not be all for naught after all. Without debate on Monday, the city council approved potential developer Dennis Anderson’s request to rezone 43.5 acres of land on the north side of the property.

What was once zoned as industrial, then residential is now industrial again, because the Woodford County Economic Development Authority has prospective industrial buyers for the tract, which could create hundreds of jobs.

Midway Station is visible across I-64 from the Shell. (Photo by Dylan Russell)

The Interstate 64 interchange has already seen some development recently. Late last year, a Shell station and convenience store opened on the former Weems property on the other side of the interchange, now known as the Green Gables development, owned by Anderson.

The success of the Shell station showed the viability of property and helped get the ball rolling on Midway Station, Anderson said before the April 10 meeting at which the Woodford County Planning Commission recommended the rezoning.

Anderson and city officials have said there is a synergy to the two tracts: The convenience store created a nearby where Midway Station workers could eat and shop, and helped attract McDonald’s Corp., which has received approval for a restaurant on the site. That will make the interchange even more attractive to business and industry, they say.

In March, Anderson told the Messenger, “We have been aiming for big brands that say, ‘This is a for-real location.’” Mayor Tom Bozarth has said that a McDonald’s would be a good thing for the development.

The Shell station sits right off I-64 and is easily visible to interstate traffic. Many cars flock off of the interstate to get gas and food such as biscuits, fried chicken, pizza and other quick bites to go.

Working behind the front register this week was Melissa Wilson, a Midway native. Asked whether the business attracts mostly local or highway travelers, she said, “We have both. I’m a local, and we needed this store.”

Brandy Howard, a Frankfort native and nurse at the University of Kentucky, stopped to get gas on her way to work Tuesday.

“I forgot to get gas earlier, so I stopped here since it is right off of the interstate,” said Howard.

Many license plates of cars getting gas were from different counties, so there is plenty of highway traffic. McDonald’s would provide interstate traffic with a nationally known place to eat close to the gas station, and could draw people into Midway.

The grand prize of the development is a hotel. A gas station and a McDonald’s would bring Midway that much closer to obtaining a hotel, which Bozarth has said is a primary goal of development for Midway.

A hotel nearby could bring more people into Midway and make the town more of a gateway for Woodford County, which has bed and breakfasts but no hotels – and thus little revenue from the lodging tax that is used for tourism promotion.

So, the Shell Station may have been a big stepping stone for the interchange area, playing a pivotal role in helping make something out of Midway Station, perhaps making the city's “failed industrial park” a success after all.

Pipeline plan is halted, but area landowners remain wary

By Kayla Pickrell

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The halting of a proposed natural-gas-liquids pipeline that would stretch across Kentucky and through part of greater Midway left some landowners relieved but wary.

“The general feeling is that everyone is cautiously optimistic,” said Corlia Logsdon, creator of www.StopBluegrassPipeline.us. “We do feel that the announcement is good news for those of us who were concerned about our families, neighbors and our homes.”

The Bluegrass Pipeline, planned to run from West Virginia to the Gulf Coast, posted a statement from representatives Bill Lawson and Michael McMahon saying that the project is on indefinite hold. The reason given was because the customer base for natural gas liquids on the coast was not large enough to build on the planned route. “Bluegrass Pipeline appears to be a project that’s ahead of its time,” they said.

Part of a Q and A on the pipeline website said, “While we are not investing additional capital in this project at this time, we continue to seek customers for this project and still believe the Bluegrass Pipeline project is the best long-term solution in the marketplace for moving this resource to market.”

If Bluegrass Pipeline does not exercise its options for easements within the three-year term of the option, the easement will expire.

In late March, a Kentucky judge ruled that natural-gas-liquid pipelines cannot use eminent domain to obtain land rights from Kentucky landowners. The Q and A said that ruling, which is being appealed, did not affect the decision.

Opponents rallied against the pipeline, while supporters stood strong for the benefits it would grant them and their communities. Those who granted easements to the company were given non-refundable money and will not be asked to return it, the pipeline representatives said.

The pipeline has closed its local offices, but Lawson and McMahon said they want to maintain a close connection with Kentucky communities: “We value the relationships we have built and plan to stay connected to the communities, providing updates on the project as needed and keeping an open door for continued dialogue.”

Logsdon and those in her organization, Stop the Bluegrass Pipeline, do not believe the war is over.

“We will be safe for a little longer,” she said. “However, we also believe very strongly that this project could be revived in the future and that we cannot stop working to get safeguards in place to protect Kentuckians' property rights from corporate abuse of eminent domain by companies that are not in public service.

“Clearly, we have much work to do, and I am confident our group will continue working to protect our natural resources that we all depend on for life and livelihood.”

The pipeline representatives wrote, “We spent more than a year listening and talking with communities all along the route. We learned much about each and every community we interacted with.  That is why we know that this project while ahead of its time is needed to advance the manufacturing revolution in this country, which is creating thousands of jobs and advancing energy independence.”

'Time to Talk' event set for tonight has been postponed

Tonight's “Time to Talk” event, sponsored by the Woodford County Alcohol and Substance Abuse Policy board, has been postponed due to the inclement weather that is expected to arrive in Versailles this evening. Many of the event’s speakers are emergency personnel and others are traveling some distance to speak at the event. The ASAP board said these presenters' safety and the safety of those in attendance "is of the utmost importance, therefore we are postponing the event to a later date, which will be announced soon. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."