CITY OF UNION,
KENTUCKY
Regular
Business Meeting
MINUTES
CALL TO
ORDER
Mayor Don Kirby called the regular business meeting
of The Union City Commission to order in the Union City Building at 7:30 p.m.,
Monday, December 13, 2004.
Present: Mayor Don Kirby, Commissioners: Jonathan
Jennings, Gary McCormick and Wayne McClellan.
Greg D. Voss (City Attorney),
Kathy Porter (City Clerk/Treasurer),
Barry Burke (City Engineer), and
Randy Barlow (Union’s P&Z
Representative).
Visitors: Jim
O’Daniel; Tom O’Daniel, Matthew Franks; Tom Colgan; Willard Rusk; Andy &
Briana Rosen; Mike Trout.
MINUTES:
After reviewing the previous monthly meeting minutes
presented, Mayor Kirby asked for any comments or corrections. Mr. McClellan moved to dispense with the
reading of the minutes of November 8, 2004 and accept as presented. Mr. Jennings seconded the motion. Motion
carried.
TREASURER’S
REPORT:
Mayor Kirby read the Treasurer’s Report for the
month of November 2004. A motion was made by Mr. Jennings to accept the
Treasurer’s Report and seconded by Mr. McCormick. Motion carried.
BILLS FOR
PAYMENT:
The
bills for payment were reviewed. Mr. McClellan posed a question concerning
D.A.D.S., if the bills listed were the recommended ones that Mr. Burke had in
his report; City Clerk Kathy Porter responded in the affirmative. Mr. McClellan made a motion to pay the bills
as presented and Mr. Jennings seconded the motion. Motion carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Mayor Kirby read a letter dated November 5, 2004 to
City Engineer, from Jennifer Brown, requesting 15 MPH signs to be replaced on
Whispering Trail. The signs were
removed during the new construction.
Mayor Kirby conferred with Barry Burke on whether or not he had taken a
look at the area. Mr. Burke stated that
this issue would be covered later in his report.
Mayor Kirby read a letter dated November 15, 2004
from Kevin Costello, Executive Director of Boone County Planning Commission, in
reference to the term of Randy Barlow, City of Union Representative, expiring
on December 31, 2004. Mayor Kirby stated that this issue would be discussed
later in the meeting.
Mayor Kirby read a fax from Mary Shinkle, Boone
County Solid Waste Coordinator, in reference to Litter Abatement Program for
City of Union. The city is allotted
money from the state, which we elected to turn over to the county so that could
fulfill requirements to receive that money.
The main comments from this fax concerned an idea geared toward
obtaining cigarette filter receptacles to be placed at restaurants, businesses
and other establishments to reduce litter.
Mr. McClellan suggested that the city should talk with Ms. Shinkle
concerning her concerns.
Regular Business Meeting of Union City Commission
December 13, 2004 – page 2
Mayor Kirby read a letter addressed to Mr. Eddie
Johnson from Gregory Larison, P.L.S., concerning the cost of monument sites at
the Union-Rice Cemetery. Mr. McClellan stated that the submitted fee of
$2,400.00 is not unreasonable – that it is a good quote. Mayor Kirby asked for a motion to proceed
with this project. Mr. McClellan made a
motion to proceed. Mr. Jennings
seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Mayor Kirby read a letter that was copied to the
city, from Lee Duncan, Chairman, Boone County Urban Forest Commission,
addressed to Rhonda Whitaker, Area Manager, Cinergy/ULH&P, in reference to
overhead utilities. Mr. Burke stated
that unless the developers pay for the underground wiring, we are to proceed
with poles on the east side of the road.
There will be no cross-over, other than the original crossover that
Cinergy has to do from the transmission point over to the new poles on the east
side of the road. If any of the
developers want to draw power from that power source, they must tunnel
underneath the road; there will be no trenching or overhead wiring. Mayor Kirby stated that actually it was the
expense of running all the electric underground and they were not willing to
pay for that (which Mr. McClellan stated was $450,000 additional over and above
the cost of poles and wire), and they were looking to the city to pick up the
tab and this is not something that the city is willing to swallow. Mr. McClellan stated that we invited Drees
and Arlinghaus to participate but they decided that they would not pay for
underground wiring.
Mayor Kirby read a letter that was copied to the
city, from Barry Burke, to Phillip Trzop, General Manager, Boone County Water
District, in response to a suggestion from a citizen and our approval that our
city engineer write a letter to ask that certain visually unpleasing structures
including valves along Old U.S. 42 be painted.
Mr. McClellan stated that some other areas of the city had been painted
but had not gotten to us.
Mayor Kirby read an email from the Lancashire Times
which is an official unofficial website of the Lancashire subdivision. The hot
topic right now is the Boone County School Redistricting. Mayor Kirby briefed
the audience on the contents of the email.
There were good points made on both sides. Mr. Andy Rosen from Abbington Drive spoke on the transporting of
students as well as at which school the better education can be found.
Mayor Kirby read a letter from Joe Fricke, Customer
Project Coordinator for Cinergy CG&E, in reference to street lighting for
new U.S. 42 and Whispering Trail. Per
Mr. Burke, there is no scheduled time yet, but the light will be going in.
Due to the upgrading of the office copier, bids for
the old copier have been published but no bids have been received.
CITY
ENGINEER REPORT:
City Engineer Barry Burke provided Commissioners with a monthly report regarding 19 issues that had been addressed, completed or in progress since the last business meeting. These will be on-going issues and the ones needing to be addressed are underlined and in bold print.
Regular Business Meeting of Union City Commission
December 13, 2004 – page 3
Item # 1 - The
bills have been partially paid. Mr.
Burke stopped by the project site to find that a catch basin grate had to be
removed and replaced with the type shown in the plans. Curbing still needs to be looked at. There still is some holdback on bill payment
until project is finished.
Item # 4 - The concern is for the centralized sanitary sewer,
and the request for more treatment capacity.
Item # 7 - A
letter has been received from the planning commission relative to the Union
Village Pond. They are still searching for a site for the top soil/muck/silt
and coordinating efforts necessary to bring this about. In the meeting with the Highway Department,
David Jones indicated that he would participate in supplying some of the
material upsizing the pipe through the Nantz property as well as a 2X2 window
grade. The easement that will be
prepared for the Nantz property is also still holding up that project.
Item # 10 -
On Double Eagle Drive, thru an email from Jim Parsons, I was informed that
there were a couple of catch basins that were fixed which were a safety
problem. There is also a safety problem
with a storm sewer inlet along this same area. Benchmark was asked to perform this repair, which is still
pending.
Item # 11 –
There were requests from residents at 1284 and 1274 Mt. Zion Road regarding
excessive sedimentation from the Hampshire grading and storm water piping
erosion from Plantation Point. The Hampshire situation will be monitored more
closely and the Boone County Public Works responded to the problem at
Plantation Point.
Item # 12 –
A storm water/sanitary sewer complaint was received from Mr. Rosen of
Lancashire Estates. There has been communication concerning this erosion
problem. The District has been advised
concerning the condition of the sanitary sewer.
Item # 14 –
A request was received from a resident of 1798 Whispering Trail regarding
replacing the 15 mph speed limit signs that were destroyed during construction
of the new U.S. 42. There are two (2)
regulatory 25 mph signs as you enter the subdivision. There is a need to have the county install two more signs, one
going in and one coming out. Mayor
Kirby suggested leaving the two (2) 15 mph cautionary signs, which are opposite
each other near the middle portion of the street, for now.
Item # 15 -
Request submitted for re-mapping or new drawings for the city landscaping and
mowing contracts, which expired on 12/31/04.
Foppe is having a problem with digital data; may not be able to get the
maps in digital data.
Item # 16 –
Curbing which fronts 9681 Capri Court is badly deteriorated, which is damaging
the sub grade. It is recommended that the curbing be removed and replaced by
BCPW or a local contractor. In regards
to the complaint received from a resident along Natchez Trace concerning
difficulty of school buses to maneuver around construction traffic on both
sides of Richmond Road, the County Sheriff’s Department has been notified
regarding enforcement of the city’s no parking ordinance.
Regular Business Meeting of Union City Commission
December 13, 2004 – page 4
Item # 19 –
A complaint was received regarding situations along Hempsteade Drive, a catch
basin collapse at corner of Bayswater, and a traffic control sign down at
Cedarwood Drive. Boone County Public
Works and the sign division were called and responded to remedy. Mr. McClellan commented that he had
inspected Gunpowder Greens and that a good job was done.
PLANNING
& ZONING:
Mr. Randy Barlow, Planning and Zoning Representative had
nothing to report.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Mr. Tom Colgan, President, Townmark, Inc., spoke to
the commission about his interest in purchasing land in Union, and his needs
for the property. He submitted a copy
of preliminary drawings for the sites in question, 8.5 acres and 10.05
acres. He concerns are if there will be
capacity for him to participate in the treatment plant if he does purchase
property, if there is going to be a trunk line built, when is it scheduled to
happen and if he can tap into it to get to Kopser property where sewer
treatment plant will be. His two main
questions are what are his chances of acquiring the needed capacity, and does
his development company need to be involved to the point that he would upgrade
– rather than start at 125,000 gallons, they would start at 200,000 or
250,000. Mayor Kirby stated that we are
having these types of discussions with other developers as well; the problem we
are running into is that we are caught in the middle because property owners
have the land, developers want to come in to develop it, the sanitation
district is basically telling us to wait until the new sewer plant comes on
line and Drees and Arlinghaus are working with the sanitation district and the
state to get approval for this. We, at
this point, do not know exactly how big it is going to be initially or what the
time frame is. We do know that they
have initial site approval. Mayor Kirby
suggested that Mr. Colgan make himself involved in the process with the city,
county, and the sanitation district so that we can make sure that we can get
some sizing that is appropriate for this development. Mr. Colgan asked how he could get involved; Mr. Burke stated that
we could make reference to his request by letter over the Mayor’s signature
with all of the information we basically know.
The issue here is to try to coordinate with the sanitation district and
the developers and to sit down again with the district to see if there are any
options to not only relocate it to the north along that interceptor but also
take a look at the capacity issue since we have another developer interested.
Mayor Kirby read RESOLUTION NO. 2004-006
- A RESOLUTION APPOINTING RANDY BARLOW TO THE BOONE COUNTY PLANNING
COMMISSION. Mr. McClellan made motion
to approve the resolution and Mr. Jennings seconded the motion. Motion
carried.
Mayor Kirby read RESOLUTION NO. 2004-007 – A
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE INITIATION OF HAVING THE CITY RE-CLASSIFIED
AS A FOURTH CLASS CITY. Mayor
Kirby stated he has spoken to State Representative Paul Marcotte and State
Senator Dick Roeding, who are going to pre-file this bill this week, which
should speed up the process. Mr.
McCormick made a motion to approve the resolution and Mr. Jennings seconded the
motion. Motion carried.
First reading of ORDINANCE NO. 2004-008 – AN
ORDINANCE FOR THE CLOSURE OF MAPLE STREET IN THE CITY OF UNION, KENTUCKY. Mr. McClellan made a motion to approve
the ordinance and Mr. Jennings seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Regular Business Meeting of Union City Commission
December 13, 2004
– page 5
New Business
Mr. McClellan discussed entrance streetlights for Gunpowder Green. In January 2003, it was discussed to put up a streetlight at the entrance to the subdivision, which has yet to be done. A proposal from Cinergy was sent to us on January 8. We agreed to put in one light, and discuss the possibility of putting in two other lights. We will have to pay for the transformer, which would be $800.00. Everyone was in agreement to getting the light, and it was approved again.
Mr. Trout inquired about speed limit signs on new U.S. 42. Mayor Kirby stated that the signs are being worked on. Mr. Trout requested that the Mayor look into getting a speed checker in the meantime.
Mayor Kirby stated that what we do here on a monthly
basis, some of it is important and some of it is a matter of enjoying ourselves
and enjoying serving the citizens of Union.
He stated that we have a current commissioner, Jonathan Jennings, who
made the decision not to run again this past election cycle. Mayor Kirby stated that Mr. Jennings would
be missed for his contributions, especially in regards to the streetlights. Mayor Kirby read A PROCLAMATION HONORING
THE DEDICATION AND EFFORTS OF JONATHAN JENNINGS AS CITY COMMISSIONER OF THE
CITY OF UNION, KENTUCKY.
Mayor Kirby stated that when Willard Rusk was the city engineer, he took him around on a survey of the city, and as a new commissioner, the Mayor found this fascinating. The care which Willard Rusk showed, especially when it came to dealing with the citizens, because we pride ourselves in dealing with our citizens in a one-on-one way, and Willard always did that. Mayor Kirby read A PROCLAMATION HONORING THE DEDICATION AND EFFORTS OF WILLARD RUSK AS CITY ENGINEER OF THE CITY OF UNION, KENTUCKY. Willard Rusk served as City Engineer for the City of Union, Kentucky from September 16, 1996 until July 31, 2002.
ADJOURNMENT
No
further business came before the Commission; Mr.
McClellan moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p.m. Mr. Jennings seconded
the motion. Motion carried.
Signed this 13th day of December 2004.
APPROVED: ATTEST:
_______________________ _______________________
Don Kirby,
Mayor Kathy Porter, City Clerk