Farmers Market and Midway restaurants team up to hold special event Friday evening, Aug. 19

In an effort to promote more local use of local food, the Woodford County Farmers Market and six Midway restaurants are cooperating to hold a special event Friday evening, Aug. 19, from 6 to 9 p.m. The Midway City Council approved a permit for the event tonight.

The market's Stacy Westfall told the council that farmers will offer samples of their products, and provide free samples to restaurants to prepare special offierings. She said two or three wineries are interested in participating, and the event may be ticketed.

The farmers market comes to Midway each Monday from 3 to 6 p.m. For the farmers market's Facebook page, click here.

Mayor and ex-mayor turned council member are at odds over incentive pay, meetings, emails

By Al Cross
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Amid talk of such big issues as tax rates and officials' compensation, the main action at tonight's Midway City Council meeting was between Mayor Tom Bozarth and Council Member Becky Moore, who preceded him as mayor and was elected to the council last year.

The council gave first reading to three ordinances, two to set property-tax rates (only the real-estate rate would change, rising 0.1 cent per $100, to 10.2 cents producing the same revenue as last year due to declines in property values) and one to create an incentive program that would give city officials accelerated compensation for receiving 15 hours of annual training from the Kentucky League of Cities.

After the council spent some time addressing Council Member Joy Arnold's concerns that the incentive schedule needed clarification, Moore said she wanted to make clear that council members make only $50 a month ($600 a year) and would not consider raising that salary, but would be able get $5,000 apiece in incentive pay over four consecutive years of training.

The incentives would be $500 for the first year of training, $1,000 for the second and $1,500 for the third. If all six council members received training each year for four years, the total cost in the fourth year would be $12,000. The ordinance says the payments would not be considered wages; Bozarth said after the meeting that is so they would not count toward retirement benefits; he said they will be taxable. (An early version of this story said otherwise.)

Moore said the council needs to make sure the money is in the budget. Bozarth said the money for next year is in the budget, the training would be voluntary, and "This is to be an incentive . . . to be more informed. We're all volunteers." City Attorney Phil Moloney said later that trained officials are less likely to get the city into costly trouble.

Bozarth said any mayor needing to cut expenses would cut the program. The ordinance would give the mayor the authority to approve city officials for training. Moore said that approval should also be up to the council. Bozarth said, "I don't see what the problem is." Moore said her request was not aimed at him, but made out of a desire for the council to keep tabs on spending.

Arnold said she could envision some future mayor ("she or he," she said) showing favoritism, approving one council member's training but not another's. Arnold, a lawyer, said she would rather have "regulatory language" on the mayor's power than have joint mayoral-council approval. But neither Arnold nor Moore made a motion to amend the ordinance, and it was accepted for first reading. Presumably, second reading will be held at the next meeting, on Aug. 15.

At the start of the meeting, as the council prepared to approve the minutes of the last meeting, Moore asked that minutes of future meetings reflect more of the council's discussions. Bozarth told her that the minutes are only required to reflect council action, but if she wants something in them, all she has to do is ask.

Moore did just that at the end of the meeting, after saying she finds it "weird" that council committees have met infrequently since she joined the council and Bozarth reorganized them. Bozarth replied, "There are some issues that are easier to take to the whole council." Moore expressed concern about business being conducted outside the committee system. With a committee meeting on the incentive plan, she said, "I think we would have had a lot of these questions answered." She asked that her concern appear in the minutes.

The discussion prompted Council Member Doris Leigh to give an informal report about her work as chair of the Cemetery and City Property Committee, the only panel to which Bozarth appointed Moore. Moore replied to Leigh, "I don't know what you're doing, and I'm on your committee."

Last week, after getting the preliminary agenda for the meeting in an email from City Clerk Phyllis Hudson, Moore sent two replies to all recipients, asking that three items be added to the agenda: a report on Fiscal Court redistricting, an economic-development report and discussion of points made by citizens at a forum the council held in May. For more on that, click here. As last night's meeting was about to end, Moore said, "Some of my e-mails were not getting answered," and after adjournment she directed a similar comment to Bozarth. The mayor threw up his hands and said, "I'm not getting into it."

Interviewed by email, Bozarth told the Midway Messenger that he set the agenda for the meeting, and "I had already addressed her requests with the agenda that was in place." He said "everything Ms. Moore had concerns with were fully addressed." The council heard a report from Chairman Brad McLean of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority, and Bozarth and Arnold agreed during the meeting that the public's May comments would be discussed at the next meeting. Bozarth said in his email that redistricting will be discussed "when that is approved by the court."

Council set to OK tax rates Monday; Moore wants to discuss points from May forum, other topics

Tax rates are on the agenda for the Midway City Council's next meeting, to be held Monday, Aug. 1, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

According to a notice from the city, the meeitng agenda includes ordinances on the tax rates for real estate and personal property; an incentive program for officials to get training related to city government; and the event permit for the Woodford County Farmers' Market.

As usual, citizens' comments will be taken before the agenda items are addressed. Anyone wishing to address the council "must request to be on the agenda and submit any information" by noon on the Wednesday before the meeting, according to the notice from the city, which also notes, "The agenda can be revised up to 24 hours before the meeting."

UPDATE, July 28: Becky Moore asked her fellow council members in an email if the meeting would also include, as she said Council Member Joy Arnold requested at the last meeting, a discussion of the points raised at the council's public forum in May.

In another email, she asked if Brad McLean and Charlann Wombles of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority could be added to the agenda to give "an update on EDA business" and invite Magistrate Larry Craig of Midway to talk about redistricting of the county Fiscal Court.

The Midway Messenger and The Woodford Sun, which receive email notices of the meetings, were on the distribution list for Moore's emails. They were sent Wednesday morning; the Messenger received no replies to either of them through midnight Thursday.

City Council won't meet Monday evening

The regular Midway City Council meeting set for Monday, July 18, has been canceled, according to a notice from City Hall.

Crossing work scheduled as extra track delayed again; street closing schedule changed twice

When new ties and tracks began appearing in the railroad right of way last week, Midway residents may have thought that the long-discussed project to add a track through town was about to begin. It is not.

R.J. Corman Railroad is about to replace crossings on the existing track, not lay the new one. Construction of the second track has been delayed until January 2012 because Corman crews "have been sent out west to repair tracks that were damaged by the recent wildfires," Mayor Tom Bozarth said in his column in tonight's edition of The Woodford Sun.

Bozarth also announced a closing schedule for intersections during the crossing-repair project, based on information from Corman that later changed. Then it changed again, after Bozarth raised concerns about Turner and Gratz streets getting work at the same time. Here is the closing schedule as it now stands, according to a release from the Transportation Cabinet:
Turner at Main: Sunday, July 17 through Tuesday, July 19
Gratz at Main and Dudley: Tuesday, July 19 through Thursday, July 21
Winter at Main: Monday, July 25 through Wednesday, July 27
Also, the crossing at Paynes Depot Road will be out July 27-29.

"Each closure is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and remain closed until 8 p.m. on the date of completion," the release says. "Appropriate signage will be in place to alert and guide the traveling public. All scheduled work is subject to change depending on weather, emergencies and other factors beyond the control of the Department of Highways. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet asks motorists to be aware of the work zone and to utilize safe driving habits when traveling near the work area."

7 students from Midway on dean's list at College

Seven students from Midway were named to the dean's list at Midway College for the spring semester. In order to reach the list, a student must be classified as full time and have grade point average of at least 3.6 for the semester.

Midway students on the dean's list are Jennifer Adkins, Nicole Humphrey, Ann Locke, Cara Platz, Anne Reichenbach, Leslie Ristaneo and Cynthia Wesley. Ten other students from Woodford County made the list. For the full press release from the college click here.

Water and Sewer Task Force to meet tomorrow

The Midway Water and Sewer Task Force will hold the latest in its series of special meetings at noon Tuesday, July 12, in the Piper Dining Hall at Midway College. All task force meetings are open to the public.