Owner of 116 E. Main St. begins outdoor renovation

Ness Alamdari of Lexington took a rest Tuesday afternoon after helping a worker put up a scaffold in front of his historic but condemned building at 116 E.Main St. Alamdari is under orders to repair the building by Oct. 31 or risk having it torn down as a safety risk. He told the Messenger the outdoor work was preceded by some interior work.

Messenger's latest print edition has several new stories: water quality, features on people and businesses, more

Download a 5 MB PDF by clicking here.

The Midway Messenger is primarily online, but publishes a print edition twice a year, with stories of lasting interest, including some that haven't appeared online yet. The latest one, being distributed in town tonight and Tuesday, has several stories that you haven't seen before.

We covered the Midway mask project at several junctures, but now we wrap it up with a start-to-finish story, aggregated by University of Kentucky student Emmanuel Flemister and boosted by Editor-Publisher Al Cross's interview with Amy Bowman of Midway Makers Market, who came up with the idea.

Also on the front page is an illustration leading you to a story inside about the water quality of the streams of Midway: South Elkhorn Creek and the town tributary, Lee Branch. UK student Lauren McCally looked at the latest water samples and interviewed people about the streams, which are getting cleaner.

UK student Madison Dyment has a knack for feature stories, and the print edition has two new ones: about former Secret Service agent Danny Smith and the Freedman's saddlery shop, which has only one other location: Toronto. As luck would have it, Maddi is a Canadian from near that city.

Some previously published stories have been updated, such as the one on the new Weisenberger Mill bridge (with a drone photo offering a fresh perspective) and UK student Hayley Burris's report on the latest outbreak of the disease that causes Thoroughbred mares to lose their foals.

On the last spread of the print edition, we republish a story and some photos from the Midway Chalk Day for Racial Justice, and recount other examples of how Midway became in the national movement for racial reckoning that has seized much of the nation in the past month.

The print edition is available at the post office tonight and Tuesday morning, and will be distributed to City Hall, retail stores and restaurants on Tuesday. It is free of charge.

City won't be reimbursed for vouchers, so mayor says council should consider an even bigger grant plan

The vouchers must be spent at local businesses by Tuesday, June 30.

By Aaron Gershon and Al Cross
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

State officials won't reimburse the city the $40,000 in coronavirus relief money it sent residents to spend at local, non-franchised businesses, further opening the way for direct grants to the businesses, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift told the City Council and the news media Sunday.

"While this does not put us out any for the first round of vouchers, since it was funded by our economic-development surplus, it clearly could reshape your thinking on the second round," the mayor said in an email. (The city did not have to make a $40,000 interest payment this fiscal year on the Midway Station industrial and commercial park, thanks to lot sales there.)

"While I think this decision . . . does not account for the fact that a voucher program can help create new long-term clientele in our own city," Vandegrift wrote, "it does open the door wider for a small-business grant program, where we could conceivably use up to $80,000 to boost our local small businesses."

Vandegrift had suggested a grant program to reach more businesses, but the council informally voted 3-2 this month to use federal relief money to do two more rounds of vouchers. When retailers said they needed grants or many of them would go out of business, the mayor said he would propose grants in place of a third round and named a committee to work out details.

The committee (Council Members Stacy Thurman and John Holloway and City Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Foster) is scheduled to meet online at 5:15 p.m. Monday. Vandegrift said its plan and the options would be discussed at the July 6 council meeting.

To help the council decide, he pressed for an answer on reimbursement from the state Department for Local Government and the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who sponsored the $2 trillion Coronavirus Relief, Aid and Economic Security Act.

"Despite the fact that the language in the CARES Act and the spirit of the law clearly indicate such a program should be eligible," the mayor wrote, "DLG decided after a brief review that it was not eligible." Vandegrift, who earlier said he was 75 percent sure of reimbursement, said he has asked the DLG for an explanation and is waiting for it.

He said DLG's Jennifer Peters wrote, "We appreciate your innovative thinking and applaud your efforts; however, after discussion with the review group, this has been deemed ineligible for reimbursement." McConnell's staff said he favored reimbursement, the mayor wrote, but "They have informed me that the state is the ultimate arbiter of the federal money."

Vandegrift told the council, "I am sorry that I couldn’t present you with the most reliable information sooner than now, but we all know we have to act fast when people are struggling and businesses are threatened. I do hope that if the U.S. Congress decides to add $2 billion more to our staggering national debt, that they hammer out a few details better and create an appeals process that allows imagination to enter the fold."

The John Soper era ends at EDA and Midway Station; mayor calls the last six years 'an incredible turnaround'

Economic Development Authority Chair John Soper discussed
Midway Station at a Midway City Council meeting in October.

By Al Cross
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The long, down-and-up story of Midway Station entered another chapter Friday as John Soper stepped down as chair of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority and was succeeded by Michael Michalsin of Midway.

Soper, a former banker, has overseen the revitalization of EDA's industrial and commercial park and led the agency into development of an adjacent area, both of which have turned it from the city's main liability into its key source of revenue.

"When I became mayor, Midway Station was pretty much empty," and the city and the county owed more than $5 million on it, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift told the EDA board in its online meeting. "There was a lot of talk that Midway Station just needed to be sold at the courthouse steps," in foreclosure, which would have been "a disaster."

"Instead, through John's leadership" and the rest of the board, the park has reduced the debt to $2 million, gained seven clients and 10 projects with more than 500 jobs, including the city's largest employer (Lakeshore Learning Materials, which is adding a second building and 100 more jobs) and The Journey, a church that will have a day-care center, which is "a huge get for us," Vandegrift said.

The city's occupational tax on wages and net profits has allowed the city to cut property taxes over 30 percent and reduce sewer rates 25 percent, the mayor noted. And the sale of lots in the park saved the city a $40,000 interest payment this year.

"When John took over as chair, they couldn't pay a bill," Vandegrift said. "And now they're telling us we don't have to pay some of our bills ... because they're paying them for us, like the interest payment on Midway Station. It's an incredible turnaround."

The mayor said he was glad Michalsin is willing to be chair, and told Soper, "I think your legacy will be carried on."

Michalsin said he was willing to take the job on an interim basis, since the board's mission may evolve as it and the three governmental bodies decide how to move on from a paid chairman.

Arranging that role in late 2016 prompted a brief clash between Soper and Vandegrift at a City Council meeting, but the relationship between the pro-development Soper and Vandegrift, who has a large preservationist constituency, evolved into a partnership that worked.

Soper said Vandegrift played a key role in making Midway Station a success by agreeing to borrow $450,000 for a larger natural-gas line to serve the property. He called that "one of the greatest decisions that's ever been made in Woodford County" because it ensured that Lakeshore would come. "That deal was going to evaporate that day if you did not make that decision."

Soper said he is proudest that "We never lost a big deal." He took one last opportunity to promote the Edgewood development in Versailles, which is tied up in court, but after Vandegrift complimented him, Soper said, "We don't have to look like Georgetown; we don't have to look like Jessamine County, and I've never wanted us to do that."

Among the actions the board also took Friday were approval of a deed giving the city ownership of the lot where its only functioning water tower stands, and a deal in which the city will gain control of 38 acres along Interstate 64 to serve as greenspace, "which I think will help us control what the industrial park looks like," Vandegrift said.

The city would get the property in return for forgiving $500,000 to $750,000 of debt owed to it by the EDA, most of which is for the gas line but not all of which is considered collectible. Soper said the city would take over mowing the property next year.

Future development: Renewed interest in property at Midway Station could force the board and the city to decide to allow a larger development than would be allowed under the current property plat and street system.

Kyle Johnson of Lexington, one of the EDA's real-estate agents, said one prospect is looking for 30 to 40 acres for a 100-employee distribution facility, which would require "dealing with roads" and lots that are now zoned for retail business.

"We don't turn any deals down until they don't make sense," Johnson said. "Something big like that, we definitely would want to bring Grayson in." Other prospects include one that is interested in 10 acres but would add only 10 to 15 jobs, and a meatpacking operation that is "probably a longshot."

The Messenger asked the agents about Creech Services, which bales horse-stall muck and ships it out of state. The Lexington firm is looking for a location closer to horse farms but wants assurances that it would be allowed in Midway Station under an anti-composting restriction placed on the property after Bluegrass Stockyards tried to relocate there 13 years ago. Senior real-estate agent Matt Stone said Creech was trying to work out a deal with Keeneland.

Planning and Zoning Director Pattie Wilson reported that White Dog Trading, which is building bourbon warehouses and an office building in Midway Station, will have a permanent pool of water in its necessarily large drainage-detention basin. "It'going to be an amenity," she said. Soper said the firm's office building "will be a compliment to Midway Station," and its four warehouses will produce much revenue, mainly for schools, from taxes on the aging whiskey.

Soper also complimented Wilson and her staff, saying "You guys move at the speed of business . . . You treat everybody fairly who comes into that office . . .Your all's agenda is just good planning."

Water bills can be paid online by credit card Wed.

Midway water customers can pay bills online by credit card for a fee, starting Wednesday, July 1.

Mayor Grayson Vandegrift had decided to make the change, but the timing had not been decided. He announced in Friday in an email to the City Council and the Midway Messenger.

"There will be a link on our homepage at meetmeinmidway.com," the mayor wrote. "Once the customer clicks on the link, the portal will guide them through the very simple process."

Online payments of less than $150 will incur a $2.50 service charge from the vendor who is making it possible. Those over $150 will be charged a fee of 2.75 percent. " We as a city collect no fees for this service," Vandegrift said.

Customers can still pay at city hall or by mail, "but we’re very happy to add a new service for our citizens convenience," Vandegrift said.

'Midway to Love' movie airs at 9 tonight on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel (that's a correction)

Boyfriend and girlfriend reunited take a walk through Walter Bradley Park in "Midway to Love."

Railroad Drug and Old Time Soda Fountain closes
at 6 p.m., but not in the movie, featuring Daniel Stine
as Mitchell Sims and Rachel Hendrix as Rachel August.

Many small towns provide settings for motion pictures, but it's rare that one becomes the first word in the title, and "Midway to Love" makes its american debut tonight at 9 on The Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel.

Hallmark originally passed on the independently produced film, directed by Taylor Mill, Ky., native Jeff Day, in early 2019, but about a year later decided to buy it, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. It is playing in Canada, Spain, Italy and France.

The film tells the story of a therapy talk show host who lives in New York City, Rachel August (played by Rachel Hendrix), whose life is turned around when she visits her hometown of Midway to make a big career decision and reconnects with her old boyfriend, Mitchell Sims (Daniel Stine), and is caught between her career and love -- midway, as it were.

Day told the newspaper that Mayor Grayson Vandegrift and the town opened their arms to the movie, and “Midway just was the perfect setting for it.”

Midway Messenger Aaron Gershon, a native of the New York metropolitan area, has been assigned to write a review of the movie.

McGrath leads Senate primary race in Woodford with last-few-days absentee ballots still to be counted

McConnell, McGrath and Booker (CNN image)

Amy McGrath of Georgetown appears to have won Woodford County in her bid for the Democratic nomination to face Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Counting all ballots received through Tuesday, County Clerk Sandy Jones said McGrath has 2,180 votes, just over half the total, to 1,424 for state Rep. Charles Booker of Louisville, 319 for Lincoln County farmer Mike Broihier and 76 for former state auditor Mary Ann Tobin of Irvington, who ran a limited campaign.

Woodford was one of the few counties to report all votes received and counted so far. Fayette and many other counties are not releasing results until Tuesday, June 30, though a state law requires results of each precinct to be posted at the polling place. Most counties had only one place for in-person voting Tuesday, and also offered absentee voting by machine.

"These totals include all absentees that were received through yesterday, June 23, mailed ballots and in-person voting," Jones said in an email. "By order, we are to continue to count all absentee ballots that are postmarked June 23 up to and including Saturday, June 27. There is also a subsequent addition to totals that will be added with a deadline of Monday, June 29 at 4:30 that includes all ballots that have been cured." She said she had issued 7,475 absentees and had counted 6,878 through Wednesday.

The State Board of Elections, chaired by Ben Chandler of Versailles, says it will release the final totals on Tuesday, June 30.

Many counties released Tuesday's in-person vote, some added the early machine absentees and a few, like Woodford, released all votes received and counted. The Associated Press gives McGrath 28,238 votes, or 43.9%; Booker 24,172, or 37.6%; and Broihier 3,981, or 6.2%. AP estimates that one-third of the expected vote has been counted, but that seems unlikely because more than 880,000 absentee ballots were mailed out. The Washington Post estimates that only 10 percent has been counted. Its statewide count has McGrath with 24,837 votes, or 44.7%; Booker with 21,405, or 38.5%; and Broihier with 3,165, 5.7%.