Good afternoon, everybody.

It is five o'clock, straight up and down.

So I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order on October 2nd, 2025, and ask uh our city clerk to please call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Present.

Commissioner Smith.

Here.

Commissioner Thomas.

Present.

Commissioner Wilson, present.

Commissioner Mayor Bray.

Present.

I'll ask Commissioner Thomas to do the invocation, and we'll remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

We praise you and we thank you.

We thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it is one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And whereas City Government Month calls on city officials to get involved in their local schools and in educating and engaging elementary school students in city government.

Now therefore, I, George P.

Bray, Mayor of Paducah, Kentucky, hereby declare October 2025 as city government month.

And just as a quick follow-up to that, since I've been elected since I got elected the first time.

I've been in many elementary schools, uh talking to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.

Um just trying to educate, I get the craziest questions about uh, you know, people, these kids like to ask the mayor, you know, the first one is like, how old are you?

And uh, you know, I mean, it's just some, you know, kids will say the darndest things, right?

I mean, but I I will have to say it warms my heart, and I know that uh Commissioner Thomas has been to an elementary school, maybe um I maybe all of us have, you know, but you know, this um uh recognizing a city government month is something that's very important for our our kids, you know, as they are getting educated in the elementary schools and understand uh the importance of government.

Mayor, one of the questions I got was are you older than I am?

Am I older than you?

Yeah.

What'd you say?

I said absolutely.

You should have taken the fifth.

Okay, um tonight we have a presentation uh from Todd Blovin Blevins.

Hi, Todd.

Hello, Mayor.

Who is uh Kentucky State Director?

Uh State Affairs for the Humane World for Animals, which is formerly known as the Humane Society.

Yes, sir, it's a very long name, uh, especially when you add the formerly to it.

But you can think of me as the state director for the National Humane Society.

Okay, great.

Well, it's great to have you, and I know that uh uh Todd has a presentation and he wants to talk about something that he's that he's uh pitching to all of us commissioners uh so I turn it over to you.

I do.

Uh am I able to let's see, have you got this uh Claudia?

Or I was just gonna put it in the full mode here before I kind of get underway.

Um First Mayor, I actually want to uh I want to throw a little bit of a curveball because I myself am a former uh practitioner of local government.

Um so I am a former assistant city manager for a small town called Yorktown, Indiana by Muncie, if you guys know where that is.

Uh it we had about 10,000 people, but uh needless to say, fan of local government and the civic process, so thank you all for what you do.

Uh but now in my current role, uh, yes, as you said, I am the Kentucky State Director for an organization called Humane World for Animals.

Uh and I'm no stranger to Paducah.

I've run into chief layered at probably the past four or five police chiefs association conferences because one of the things we do is animal cruelty training for law enforcement, because as he will tell you, they are not getting that in the academy.

So we try to offer that as a as an auxiliary training so that everybody uh when when you run into animal cruelty out on the street, you're you're able to uh to to do you know something about it.

So uh but tonight I'm here to talk to you about an entirely different topic, and that is uh retail dog and cat sales.

So I guess I'll just dig into it here.

So as the mayor said, uh here to talk to you all about uh specific ordinance that we would like you all to consider, and that is to prohibit the retail sale of dogs and cats in pet stores and outdoor venues, like flea markets, parking lots, etc.

So why do I have these two parts underline retail sale and dogs and cats?

Is I want to emphasize a couple of things right off the bat.

So, one, when we talk about retail sale, we're talking about the actual sale of a dog or cat, not when, for instance, the Humane Society, and you're gonna hear from Tracy here in just a little bit, partners with a pet shop to have their adoptable animals in the store.

Uh, we're talking about the actual sale of the dog or cat for you know a thousand dollars, two thousand dollars, whatever.

Uh, I will go ahead and tell you all right off the bat that you do not have a store in Paducah at the moment that is selling dogs and cats in this way.

Uh so you you may think, well, why you know why is this a pro why are you coming to us now and I'll explain why?

But uh another couple things I want to emphasize right off the bat is we are just strictly talking about dogs and cats here, not fish, not birds, not hamsters, not guinea pigs, so on and so forth.

It's a very targeted measure.

And the reason that we do this is to get at the puppy mill problem.

Uh and I'll explain more about that as we go here too.

And one last thing is that uh this ordinance would not impact breeders that sell directly to the public.

So I don't know if any of you all have pets, but I know it's common for a lot of people to go on site to a breeder and buy directly from that breeder.

Uh that would still be perfectly uh you know legal under even if you all were to pass this ordinance.

Uh so we are not anti-breeder, we're not anti-pet store, but this is a targeted measure that has been done in plenty of places to try and combat the puppy mill problem.

So speaking of other places, uh you can see on the screen here, more than 500 municipalities have done this now across the country.

And here in the Commonwealth, there have been half a dozen.

Uh and it's really kind of picked up steam since 2021.

Etown was the first city to do it.

Then, as you can see, Frankfurt Lexington, and this is alphabetical, but Frankfurt Lexington Little Radcliffe, right next to Etown, and then Campbell County became the most recent and the first county to pass this measure.

And then, as you can see, eight states have done this statewide, and I'll highlight a couple of those here in just a second.

But the reason they do this is to combat the puppy mill problem, but also to protect their local consumers, and I'll explain more about that here in just a second.

And as I already mentioned, the good news in Paducah is that you don't have to worry about any existing businesses being impacted by this.

It's strictly a preventative measure.

Um, and you're gonna hear more about the partnerships with the local humane society here in just a second.

So there we go.

So uh I touched on this already, but but why are we coming before you uh with this proposal?

And as I said, it's about it's about the puppy mill issue.

So this is a little hard for you all to see, but uh the left graphic says that since 2020, the number of commercial breeders licensed to sell to pet stores has dropped almost 15%.

And the reason we have all those dogs on there is is obviously to show the green dogs represents the uh the that many fewer breeders that are selling to pet stores, but it's because the if if to link to the graphic on the right, what we have seen through USDA data, because the USDA licenses any breeder that wants to sell to a pet store.

So we rely on USDA numbers to get an idea of the scope of the problem.

So a decade ago, the average, keep in mind the average USDA licensed breeder had 87 dogs on their property.

Now I know that's kind of hard to imagine, right?

You may think of somebody that has a litter of golden retrievers once or twice a year, but these are facilities that are far away in the middle of nowhere in places like rural Missouri and Indiana and Ohio, and I'll show you a map about that in just a second.

But it that was the number 10 years ago, 87 breeding dogs per facility.

Now that number is down to 57.

So it's a much more manageable, we feel number.

Uh but but more importantly, when you look at that uh the second blue box, it says that 32,000 fewer dogs are suffering in puppy mills uh as a result of this decrease.

So you might be thinking, okay, well, 87 to 57, what you know what led to that.

And the answer is that it's these kinds of policies uh in large part.

So in 2020, there were 339 of these ordinances on the books and three state laws, and currently, as we speak, there are 513 ordinances and eight state laws.

So it's having a measurable impact, and uh, and that's that's the primary reason that we go about this is to try to combat the puppy mill problem.

And here in Paducah, you guys don't have obviously 87 breeding dog facilities right here in city limits.

So the reason that we come to you with this proposal is because the easiest way for Paducah to address the puppy mill issue is at the market, that is the pet shops that these breeders sell through.

Now, as I said, puppy mills are only part of the problem here.

Uh, and the first thing that I'll tell you about, and we're gonna show you is that it's all too common that dogs and cats that are sold in pet stores are sick.

Uh, and the reason for that is that whenever these puppies are picked up, and kittens do, but primarily puppies, when they are picked up from these puppy mills in again, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, they are transported by brokers.

So, what a broker will do is they will make their first stop, they'll pick up some puppies, they'll go to the next breeder, they'll pick up some puppies, they'll go to the next breeder and pick up some puppies.

If one of those puppies is sick, then all of the puppies that are crammed into that transport van are gonna be sick by the time that they arrive at the store just because of the conditions of of the transport.

So, again, it's it's very, very common that that uh the puppies that are sold in this way are sick.

So, Claudia, if you can, I'm gonna ask you to try to pull up Jasper's store here, just to give a visual of what I'm talking about.

And and while she's doing that, I'll give a little background.

Um thank you, Claudia.

If so, Jasper, who is the uh the the little black and white dog on the left.

This is at a puppy shop up in northern Kentucky in Florence.

Uh the pet shop is called Pet Land.

This was in 2019.

Uh an under we had an undercover investigator that was just trying to figure out well, what is going on at this store?

Uh, because we'd received so many complaints.

So what you're about to see is Jasper's story from the time that he was brought into the store to the time that he was sold.

Are they also gonna be tested for Barbara?

Not really.

Not one puppy that came in and had to.

They could have hosted that they were on a quarantine.

They could have just been on it.

Trying to help us prove that Ketland is putting pick animals up her sale that they know have had contentional illness.

And that haven't been getting proper veterinary treatment.

Okay, let's go.

Okay.

Oh my gosh.

I did see a little blood in the diarrhea.

This puppy has a diarrhea.

I heard you thought.

Yes.

Um that's not getting rid of that.

Okay, it is point 002% chance of getting came to the factor from a puppy.

My gut feeling was that I was told what I wanted to hear.

His spine is sticking out, his ribs are sticking out, he is skin and bones.

Thank you, Claudia.

Um, so that was our former name, you can see there that the mayor was alluding to.

But uh, I want to emphasize again that Jasper's story is not isolated by any stretch.

We have an entire team that keeps track of these kinds of complaints because we have an online form that people can share can submit to us uh whenever they are sold a sick puppy like this, and uh my colleague Courtney is in the audience, she can tell you that we receive hundreds, hundreds, if not thousands every year.

So uh so that was Jasper, and Jasper is representative of the sick puppy issue that's all too common in this.

But that's not the only problem.

Um we often see predatory lending in these stores.

So uh many of these puppies, including Jasper, are sold for thousands of dollars.

Uh it it's all too common that they're sold for thousands of dollars, because what'll happen is the stores that that facilitate puppies in this way will purchase them from the breeder, mark them up many times and sell them for multiple thousand dollars.

And so you can to put a fine point on it, you can see a couple examples that we give here.

Um I'll go with the second one first.

So somebody in Georgia, uh Georgia consumer, had said that their puppy was supposed to cost 2500.

That was the sticker price.

But because this consumer was not able to buy that puppy at the 2500 sticker price, she had to take out a loan.

And to go back to the first point there, uh, it's all too common that the interest on these loans is just exorbitant.

So there was a family in Iowa that was charged a hundred and eighty-nine percent interest on a loan.

So that's how you wind up with to go back to the Georgia example.

The sticker price is $2,500, and when you include the loan, uh it costs $7,000.

So very, very real financial consequences, consequences from this practice.

And then the video touched on this a little bit, but just to talk about some of the public health concerns with the uh the puppy mill uh pet store trade.

So from the CDC directly, this is active on their website, but it's a statement that they issued in November 2024.

It says that some strains of Campylobacter have spread to people through contact with dogs, but especially pet store puppies.

So again, multiple reasons that we try and address this, and that we actually that we uh advocate for these kinds of measures, like the one that I'm bringing before you tonight.

So to talk a little bit more about why Paducah, uh we've got I'm I'm a visual guy, I don't know about you all, but uh I've got a map to show you uh why this this could be uh a problem in Paducah in particular.

So the red states are those that have passed those state laws that I talked about that say statewide uh pet shops that have puppies and kittens in store have to partner with the shelters or rescues and can't retail sell them.

Uh the green states are more important for what we're looking at tonight, and that is the states that again, based on the USDA numbers are the highest concentration of puppy mills, uh, and especially Missouri.

I'll show that in just a second.

But the green states are the ones that we that are the major puppy mill states.

So then those blue arrows show all the different ways that these puppy mills are are bringing their dogs into Kentucky.

Uh and then lastly, the little do not symbols are those cities that have passed these kinds of measures already.

So we've got the half dozen in Kentucky highlighted, or at least with the little the little symbols on them, and you all are the black uh map icon down there on the bottom.

So I talked about Missouri, it's very hard for you all to see, but what's in that uh light green box is that Missouri is home to seven more than 700 of these kinds of breeders.

I mentioned Missouri because Missouri is the puppy mill capital of the country, and you all are our closest major city to Missouri.

So that's why we feel that it could be a particular problem uh in Paducah if one of these stores were to come into the city.

But I want to talk a little bit about the good news that is going on currently, and again, this would not be impacted at all.

This this measure would actually encourage these kinds of partnerships that we're about to tell you about.

So I'm gonna ask my good friend Tracy Phelps from the Mercracken Cutting Humane Society to come up to talk about the partnerships that they have with Pet Smart and Rural King.

Good evening.

Um we we work with Pet Smart charities.

Um we have they have kiosks for cats in their um stores, and we're fortunate enough to be able to use three of those kiosks to place adoptable cats and kittens.

Um we also go for monthly, sometimes bi-monthly um adoption events where we take dogs and we educate people about you know pet ownership.

Um they're at the store either inside or you know, out on the the front sidewalk.

Um we do National Adoption Week.

Um they're doing those three times a year now where it's a week-long event, um, and we're set up there every single day with adoptable animals.

Um Rural King has had us come out for monthly things too.

They also have um some special events that they'll do, you know, like they'll celebrate in Paducah a store opening in another state just to tag into their you know festivities, and they'll have us come out and set up.

Um and it it doesn't just help us get animals adopted, but it helps us be able to make contact with people and talk about the importance of adoption, first of all.

And again, I'm not against breeders.

Um I think reputable breeding has a fine place.

Um, but we've seen some of these puppy mill puppies that he's talking about.

Um all of our animals when they are adopted out, they are all brought in, they're vaccinated, they're spayed, neutered, microchips, they're up to date on all of their vaccines, including rabies if they're old enough.

Um we do have an in-house vet that checks everybody out.

So if we get a puppy from someone that may have come from somewhere, maybe it is a puppy mill puppy, maybe not right here, but it came from one, um, we can have a vet check it out.

We've we've seen several puppies come in with parvo and we quarantine them, um, we treat them when we can.

Um so we're not passing on those sick dogs, and we're not we're not adding to the problem by turning out unaltered animals as well.

Everything leaves my facility, spayed and neutered, so it stops with them.

Um so those those are things that you know we we really like doing.

Um so I pulled some numbers.

Um for 2024, we had 894 total adoptions, which was significantly down from years past, and that's just because we also have a contract where we hold animals for animal control.

Um, and I'm sure you guys are aware we've had a significant court cases in the last couple of years that we have to hold and just sit on the animals until the end of the court case.

So our intakes overall have been way, way down, which means our adoptions are gonna be down as well.

Um but for 2024, the 894 total adoptions that we had, the Pet Smart monthly um adoptions and also the National Adoption Weeks and anything special that they've had, um that makes up about 20 to 25 percent of our adoptions.

So it it's a pretty good chunk.

You know, overall, um, we we do pretty well.

Um, and each time we're out, we're we're educating people.

Not everyone adopts from these things, but we talk about the importance of you know, don't support the puppy mills, you know, it's just it's it's horrible all the way around.

It's horrible for the people that get those sick animals, and it's horrible for the the animals as well.

So thank you for being here.

Sure, sure.

Thank you.

So as you heard, uh, these kinds of partnerships are a significant, significant um chunk of what uh the Humane Society is able to get adopted out of their doors.

And I do want to give one other shout out to uh the stores that are doing it the right way.

So again, this is rural king, but some of you all may be familiar with uh the Sheriff's Office Pause for the Cause or Pause for Acause, I forget exactly what it is program, where they will go into the store on a particular day, encourage people to make donations, and then they share those donations with local shelters and rescues.

So Rural King is housed the sheriff's office for I forget how however many years now, but you can see the amount of donations that they've taken in.

So again, doing it the right way, and I want to emphasize one more time that these kinds of partnerships would not be disrupted at all uh by you all passing these or this ordinance.

And again, to to emphasize it one more time, this is uh a preventative measure, which is why we wanted to come to you now, because uh I can tell you all from experience.

I I work statewide in all 120 counties.

Um, and any time one of these puppy shops come in, they bring a whole host of problems with them.

And so those include things like uh bringing in more dogs and cats from out of state uh when we've got plenty of animals in the community already.

Tracy will tell you the first that they they have been uh struggling for a while just with the local population of animals, and so the problem is only worsened when you're bringing in more and more of these pets from other states.

Uh we talked about Jasper.

Um you obviously don't want to have your constituents being sold sick animals that would then require an in many cases an intensive amount of veterinary care.

So uh related to that passing this ordinance now prevents you all from having to deal with some of the other uh problems that I mentioned with this trade that is the predatory financing, that is the uh disease transmission and things of that nature, as well as I can tell you that once one of these shops come in, a lot of people begin to complain about the the practices that they do.

And who do they come to?

They come to you all.

And again, I know I've I've worked in local government.

Uh the buck often stops uh with you all.

So you want to save yourself that hassle.

And then finally, again, uh no none of the pet shops that operate in the city now are do uh operate in this way where they are selling dogs and cats in this way.

So doing this now uh prevents you all from having to uh address you know a business a business practice that is going on in the community.

Um because I know that no council wants to to you know be seen as anti-business or anything like that.

So doing this now makes sure that you don't have to worry about that either.

So with that, uh Mayor, I don't I hope I didn't take up too much time on your agenda tonight.

I know you've got a lengthy agenda, but I'm happy to answer any questions.

I'm sure Tracy would be happy to come back up with any questions.

Um thank you all so much for the time.

Todd, I I we uh we all appreciate you being here, and when it was first presented to me, you know, I thought it was something that that everybody should listen to.

Uh and if you had any discussion, any concerns about moving forward with an ordinance um uh I don't know how many of us have cats and dogs, um, but certainly we know how important our animal population is uh to our constituents.

So uh discussion why Todd's here.

I I guess I just have one question.

Has this been brought up to the state level?

Because I saw other states have banned it statewide.

Why hasn't Kentucky done so?

Yeah, um no, it is not, it is not uh happen at the state level, Commissioner.

Um, and to be honest with you, I don't anticipate that it will.

Uh the reason that I say that is uh I talked about this being the best lane that the city can fill.

Well we've actually tried to focus on at the state level is the breeding standards at at the breeders, because we have a lot of breeders in Kentucky.

We're not one of those major puppy mill states, but we do have plenty of backyard breeders.

Um but even that measure to try to establish basic standards that that those breeders have to follow, it it hasn't gone anywhere.

I mean, we've had legislation introduced, but it's never moved.

So given that they haven't moved that, I wouldn't expect that they would move this.

If there's there is a business that's uh has cats that I think.

Yeah, the cat cafe.

Is that what you're speaking about?

Yeah, that would all still be fine.

Yeah, because they and and Tracy can speak more to that if needed, but um, but no, my understanding is that they uh historically have partnered with rest local rescue groups, like I think McGangsters had some puppies or excuse me, kittens in there at one time.

And the intent of the cat cafe is the is kind of like the pet stores is to try and get animals in a highly visible place where a lot of foot traffic is coming in.

Because a lot of people are going to the cafe, right?

They're just coming in for a cup of coffee, and maybe they come out with a cat.

That's the whole cat cafe business model, but those are coming from rescues and shelters too.

So that one wouldn't be impacted.

No, ma'am.

What about someone then you you talked about um someone that breeds a dog to sell?

Yeah.

From their home or whatever is a business.

That still stays as to the yes, ma'am.

Okay, I just want to reconfirm that.

Yeah, the only uh I I f I most of my comments focused on the pet stores.

Like I said at the beginning, the measure would also prohibit those uh Walmart parking lot sales, flea markets.

I know that's been a problem in Paducah before because I've been tagged by multiple people on Facebook showing, oh, look, here's another place in at the Walmart parking lot selling puppies for $25 a pop.

Um Tracy talked about that they spay and neuter their animals, they vaccinate their animals before they leave the building.

I can tell you in many cases, the up the I don't even want to say operations, the folks that are setting up in that way, they're not doing that.

I mean, it's just about hey, how can I make a quick 50 bucks, whatever?

Um so those would be prohibited, but but no, a breeder that's selling, like if you came to my house and I had a litter of puppies that I wanted to sell you, we would still be able to do that.

Anyone else?

Uh so here's a 64 million dollar question.

Uh, why only six cities?

Why only six?

That so, to be honest with you, Mayor.

It's uh I I'm reminded of the Twain quote.

Uh that is if the apocalypse comes, I want to be in Kentucky because everything happens 20 years later.

Um I think it's fair to say we have a tendency on any public policy to move a little bit later than a lot of places.

So uh that's that's all I can give you.

Spoken by who uh true whoosier.

I but I believe he's a Missourian.

Uh actually I've been to his hometown, Hannibal, Missouri.

Um, but uh but no, that's that's the best I can give you.

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you very much for being here.

Thank you for being here, and uh, we know how important uh these issues are, and we will take it under advisement and figure out next steps.

Last thing, Mayor, if if uh I I live in Richmond, Kentucky myself, but I'm more than happy to come back down if uh you get into first reading or something and you you think what I do have a question about it.

I'm happy to come back down.

Okay, very good.

Thank you all.

And mayor, also I know one of our human rights commissioners, Kimberly Yates, she's very active in animal advocacy, so that's a good reference here in the city as well.

Yeah, for sure.

You know, Kimberly's all about it.

Oh, yeah.

So I just want to make uh some really brief remarks and give you um, I wish it was a more definite uh but an update on the new ALOF hotel.

So um the the contractor, uh the developer has finished all of their plans and submit them submitted them to the state of Kentucky.

So all of those plans have been finalized and they're at the state under waiting for final approval.

Um secondly, there uh we are waiting on there's one other issue that we're waiting on with the Corps of Engineer, Corps of Engineers.

We don't expect any issues or problems, it's just that everybody moves slow, and a lot slower than what we would like uh for it to move.

But we are pushing hard uh internally, both with the core and with our developer and with the state of Kentucky.

And so we have begun begun to talk about the possibility uh of a groundbreaking.

Uh but uh we don't want to schedule that until we know for sure uh that we got everything finalized.

But we are still moving forward.

I know there's a lot of questions out there.

Why is it taking so long?

What the heck's are wrong?

You know, is the hotel still gonna happen?

You know, all these things.

So we are definitely still moving forward.

So with that, I will move on to the consent agenda.

Items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the Board of Commissioners and are enacted uh by one motion and one vote.

Uh there's no separate discussion on any of these items unless one of our board members saw requests, in which event we remove that item from the consent agenda, and it would be considered separately.

So the city clerk will read the items recommended for approval unless somebody has something that they have a question about.

If not, Claudia?

Approved minutes for the September 15, 2025 Board of Commissioners meetings, receive and file documents.

Reappointment of Jonathan Perkins and appointment of Tyler Sanderson and Bonnie Koblitz to the tree advisory board.

Said terms shall expire October 2, 9 uh 2029 and July 26, 2029, respectively.

Appointment of Lisa Humphrey to the Board of Adjustment to replace Jim Chapman who resigned.

Said term shall expire August 31, 2026.

Appointment of Jim Chapman to the Paducah Planning Commission to replace David Morrison, whose term has expired.

Said term shall expire October 2nd, 2029.

Personnel actions, a municipal order authorizing the mayor to execute an amendment to the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Administrative Services Agreement.

A municipal order authorizing the purchase of radios and accessories from communications international in the total amount of 273,121 dollars and four cents to be used by the parks engineering and public works departments and authorizes the mayor to execute all documents relating to same a municipal order approving an employment agreement between the City of Paducah and Police Officer Travis Counts and authorizing the mayor to execute same and municipal order authorizing a contract with Motorola in the amount of 237,420 and 22 cents to reprogram existing radios for the police department and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents relating to same a municipal order accepting the bid of Linwood Motors for sale to the City of Paducah, one SUV for use by the Paducah Fire Department in the amount of 43,902, and authorizing the mayor to execute a contract for same a municipal order approving a fleet maintenance motorized equipment and emergency apparatus service agreement with the city of Wycliffe, Kentucky to provide fleet maintenance services at hourly rates and authorizing the execution of all documents related to same.

A municipal order accepting a community development block grant in the amount of $583,46 and authorizing the mayor to execute all required grant award documents.

A municipal order accepting a federal emergency management agency assistance to firefighters grant in an amount of $51,818 for the Paducah Fire Department and authorizing the mayor to execute all required grant award documents.

So moved.

Second.

Call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Okay, we have one municipal order tonight, and it's uh kind of exciting.

Um, and it's for the purchase of some property for uh a new police station at some point in the future.

And I'll ask the chief to come up and tell us about it.

Good evening, everyone.

Um, the property that you're looking at there is 3047 Jackson Street here in Paducah.

Um, as you guys are aware, we've uh been negotiating on that piece of land um for several months.

Uh the city manager and I have been diligently trying to uh find a new location to for the police department.

Uh as you know, our current facility is in dire need of uh really to probably be torn down.

Um lots and lots, several million dollars to to make repairs on it, um, as well as we've outgrown the location as well as the facility.

So um any other questions about that.

I know we've discussed it uh a few times.

Yes, we've uh we have discussed it, and um just uh for anybody that doesn't uh see where it is on the map.

It's um it's where the old modine manufacturing uh plant was.

It's actually right across Jackson from whole of course, of course, accident park.

Yeah, but I was trying to remember what hole it's I think it's number 12.

I have no idea about that.

Just let me get through what I'm trying to do here.

So it's just right across from the golf course and um uh right down the street from Paducah Middle School, um, you know, ideally located in the west end.

Um, with access to all highways and um so yeah, it was the the best uh really evaluated location uh with the amount of acreage that we believe is is necessary um for future uh needs for the police department as a continues to grow.

And we do believe that we have clean environmental that's what I was gonna say.

Um Mayor, this this authorization is contingent upon all environmentals uh coming back, also appraisal coming back at the of the valuation uh to be appropriate and uh no findings of specific of significance that would detour us that, but there are some um some outs should those arise, then we're not committed to fulfill uh this this motion tonight.

And we did start phase one environmental last week.

Okay, very good.

So I just make one other comment.

I mean uh we've we purchased some property and torn out a couple of houses right next to the fire station right down the street from this piece of property.

So there's a good possibility and you know, a strong possibility in the years to come.

I don't want to say, you know, how many years, but uh we'll have a new fire station as well as a new police police station.

And when I go around the country and and travel to other communities, you see you see communities that are growing, and you know they're growing because they are replacing their facilities.

They, you know, you you'll see a new police station, a new fire station.

You know that that's a community that's growing.

Uh and it can and a community that's taken care of uh it's community to make sure that we've got you know the late latest in facilities and that we're replacing our facilities.

And so I think this is uh this is very exciting, you know, for us in the future.

I know uh Brian, you've been uh you've been bending our ear about the need for a new facility for for some time.

It's the number one priority.

All right, besides keeping the community safe.

Yeah, thank you.

Any other uh questions or thoughts from anybody?

Congratulations.

Call roll.

I proposed motion of the board of commissioners to adopt a municipal order entitled a municipal order authorizing purchase of real property located at 3047 Jackson Street, Paducah McCracken County, Kentucky, and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents related to same.

So moved.

Second.

Now call roll.

Commissioner Henderson, aye, commissioner Smith, aye, Commissioner Thomas, aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye, Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Okay, we have two ordinances to adopt uh tonight, um, both of which is the second reading, uh so I'll ask the clerk uh to to read the first one.

If if there's any questions, we'll go ahead and vote.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled an ordinance granting a non-exclusive franchise to e-ridder communications LLC to operate and maintain a cable system within the corporate limits of the City of Paducah, Kentucky, pursuant to the terms and provisions of the Paducah Ordinance for Regulation of Cable Communications and approving and authorizing the mayor to execute the franchise agreement between the City of Paducah, Kentucky and E Ritter Communications LLC.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance authorizes the mayor to execute a termination of telecommunications franchise agreement and a non-exclusive cable franchise agreement between the City of Paducah and E-Ritter Communications LLC.

Said cable franchise agreements shall be for a term of ten years and be in accordance with the terms and provisions of Chapter 22 cable communications of the code of ordinances of the City of Paducah, Kentucky.

So move.

Second.

I I question or actually it's uh concern, not necessarily about this, but we've got all these companies coming in wanting to expand the the fiber.

And there's a lot of activity going on in the city.

There's also a lot of wires being strung on the poles.

I mean, uh I know that's maybe more of a Paducah Power thing, but you know, at some point there's a limit to I mean when you drive along the street and the sun's hitting the wires, I mean there's just a lot of wires up there.

It's it's an eyesore, and it's like how many fiber optic companies do we need.

Are these companies putting it in?

Are they guaranteeing to put it in all over the city?

Are they just putting it on the west end where people have the money for the you know what I'm saying?

What what is that maybe something I'd like to learn a little more about?

And sadly I don't know enough about it, but it seems like there's a limit.

You know, if we've got five or six fiber optic companies on those poles, what happens another five or six come in and do we you know I don't and that's again it's probably a Paducah power thing too.

So I mean I know that they follow specific guidelines before they would allow as Michelle coming up to address that.

Okay, so has that been a topic of conversation?

Yes, and actually I talked with Paducah Power today um a little bit about that, and they said that there's really only only so many uh so much infrastructure they can fit on the poll, and so there's always kind of a race to see who can get on the poll first.

Um at a certain point they have to look at poll extensions or getting new polls or going underground, you know, the companies do.

So um they were talking a little bit about how they manage that.

Um we have to be very careful though about not showing preference over one or another, and that's why it's non-exclusive.

But um those poll attachment agreements are with um Paducah power, and you're right, there is only so much room, and at certain point they have to get new polls or go underground in the right of way.

I don't know.

It just seems like there needs to be some sort of policy as a community on how you handle that because anyone that comes in and wants to string.

You know, I might there are.

I mean, I know they have guidelines there that are used.

I mean, I'm yeah, go ahead.

No, they do.

We we talked a little bit about their guidelines to Commissioner Wilson's point, um, a little bit about uh of their guidelines and the industry strength standards and things that they follow.

But I know in my neighborhood they they are big there's a crew that just moved in and started digging underground uh without really any notification to or that there were a lot of no b neighbors that felt like they didn't get any notification about it and they didn't know what it was, and I guess they were digging in the right of way, so they didn't have to give it's it was not a city issue.

Right, right.

That's correct.

Another area is of course they're stringing it along the polls, and that just it just seems problematic uh in the long run.

I mean there's a lot of construction going on everywhere in our community for for all of that.

Has that come up at a Paducah Power board meeting policy and how that's handled?

I mean, is that something you could bring up at a board meeting?

Well, I mean I could or I could I could ask them to come and address that if you would like for them to uh they do talk about it when they're giving someone permission to do it.

Yeah, it's just not it's not automatic that they uh that a company asks to be able to go on a poll and then just because they asked they they give it to them.

That's there's certain to your point there's there's guidelines and stuff that have to be met, and then the I'd just like to understand why.

Sure, Buzz, you know Corey Hicks really well.

I mean, you know, he's just started Paducah Power.

I'm sure he'd be he'd be a great one for you to talk to, and maybe you could come back and you know tell us all about what either that or let me know, and I'll ask them to come okay and address it.

I really want to handle it.

I don't think we have any.

Right.

Yeah, but no, we'll be glad to look into that you know further when we talk about it.

Okay, thanks.

I think we're good.

Thank you.

Real call.

Call roll.

Call roll, please.

Commissioner Henderson, aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas, aye, commissioner Wilson, aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

And I'll ask the city clerk to please read uh the last ordinance to be adopted tonight.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled an ordinance repealing and replacing Article Six, Urban Renewal and Community Development Agency of Chapter 35, Community Planning and Development of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Paducah, Kentucky.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance repeals and replaces Article 6, Urban Renewal and Community Development Agency of Chapter 35, Community Planning and Development of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Paducah, Kentucky, to establish the urban renewal and community development agency separately from the Paducah Planning Commission and to set the powers, authority, composition terms, and meetings of said agency.

Was that me?

So moved.

Second.

I was still reading it.

Sorry.

Um yeah, I was saying do you make will you make those appointments then?

Yes, we're working on it right now.

We are we thought we would have them ready for tonight, but um we had a little glitch at the end, so uh I'm thinking they may be ready for the October 21st meeting.

Okay, so we're working very hard on that.

Right, Carol.

Yes, sir.

Call roll, please.

Commissioner Henderson, aye, Commissioner Smith.

Aye, Commissioner Thomas, aye.

Commissioner Wilson, aye, Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Okay, we have three ordinances to introduce, and I'll ask the clerk to read the first one.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners introduce an ordinance entitled an ordinance amending chapter 20, section 20-23b of the code of ordinances of the city of Paducah, Kentucky, so as to delete that portion which states that body piercing below the waist shall be prohibited unless performed by a physician license to practice medicine in the state.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

The city's ordinance is in conflict with the Commonwealth statute.

Therefore, this ordinance is being enacted to amend that portion of the city's code, Section 66-93B, so as to delete the language relating to body piercing below the waste.

So move.

Second.

This is one of those ordinances that I really didn't want to have to read.

So this is just to follow state guidelines.

Exactly.

It it would have to pass it.

Yes, it we we okay.

We we found that our existing ordinance was in conflict with state law, and so that that part of it is being amended to repeal the section that's in conflict.

I just wanted to be on the record that Commissioner Henderson introduced the ordinance.

That would be in line with so without further ado, we'll move on to the second uh ordinance to be introduced.

Um city clerk.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners introduce an ordinance entitled an ordinance revising the existing remote workers incentive program.

This ordinance is summarized as follows the remote workers' incentive programs shall be revised to include self-employed persons who can show evidence of self-employment and to provide a $5,000 cash incentive payable as follows.

$2,500 upon establishing residency in the city of Paducah and $2,500 one year after the first installment is paid.

A move.

Second.

Nancy, you look very nice tonight.

It's great to have you here.

Thank you.

It's good to be here.

And basically, we're not doing a lot of changing as far as the incentive goes, other than changing the way it is given.

On average, incentives right now that the uh average worker receives is 4800.

So the amount of incentive is basically going to stay the same.

And the but the big change is uh including provisions that will allow self-employed people to apply for the incentive.

19 percent of our applicants have been turned away because they're self-employed.

That's 125 people that we have turned away, and we think that it's a good idea to include those and maybe get more people in Paducah.

And and if I'm that this is the recommendations uh that we got from Make My Move, some of the changes.

Yes.

Uh, as you all recall, make my move is the company that does this for lots of cities, and so they see what other communities are doing, and so they made these recommendations and uh and I think it makes a lot of sense.

So how simplified and also by with this change, the city will see a return on their investment quicker as well.

So how many people have taken advantage of the program?

Or do you have that?

Yes, we have 26 now, and we have 19 yeah, 19 that have made have had an offer.

Uh rate uh 37 percent of our offers have are actually moved, so that could be an additional seven more, possibly by the end of the year.

Well, that's great.

How do we can I'm sure we do promote it to get the word out to because I had a realtor call me just recently that didn't know about the program and they were working with people moving in from out of town.

So can we get word to the realtors possibly or that's a good point?

We could maybe target them.

I think they would be good because they do work with people moving in from out of town.

We also had a realtor contact us about wanted a presentation on the the new app.

You know, and um, and she was talking about the possibility of uh, you know, doing a presentation before all the realtors.

So maybe we could uh you know follow up and request that somebody present at a realtor meeting coming up in the next two or three months and maybe present this and just give them an update on some of the things going on in the city.

Okay, I do because you know our realtors out there, to your point.

I mean, they are the front lines.

I mean, they see people that are thinking about moving in the community before any of us do a lot of times.

So we really need to equip them with the right information.

So and I'll be happy, Carol.

I'd be happy to participate in that.

I mean, you know, work with you or whatever.

I'll reach out.

Okay.

Okay.

Very good.

Thank you, Nancy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now I will ask uh the city clerk to read the final ordinance to be introduced tonight.

A proposed motion of the Board of Commissioners to introduce an ordinance entitled and ordinance amending ordinance number 2025 068847 entitled and ordinance adopting the City of Paducah, Kentucky Annual Operating Budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 by estimating revenues and resources and appropriating funds for the operation of city government.

This ordinance is summarized as follows that the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June June 30, 2026 as adopted by ordinance number 2025 068847 be amended by the following reappropriations.

So vote.

Second.

Audra.

Good evening.

So that pretty much uh stole all my thunder.

That's really all there is to it.

Uh I'm here tonight to present this budget amendment in conjunction with the acceptance of the CDBG award for 583,406.

Uh this follows the URL's approval of the consolidated plan.

We sent that to Hyde, and that plan was approved.

So now we have uh grant agreement for this federal fiscal year.

And these are federal funds, right?

Yes, this is a direct award.

Okay, and that's to the city for us for our expenditures.

For yeah, to the past three.

No, it is for us uh under the uh adoption plan that you did for the areas that primarily benefits low to moderate income individuals.

There's uh provision of that, and it allows us to get the direct appropriation from the feds instead of having to go through the state for the small cities CDPG program.

Any questions?

Okay, I think we're good.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Uh the final item on the agenda tonight is a discussion item.

Um, I think we we had asked that Chief Laird, who uh along with others is been responsible to implement the new 911 project.

Um we went through a lot uh you know to get an interlocal agreement with the county.

We've been uh we've been hard at work, uh, and I know that people are wondering where we are, Brian, and how much longer it's gonna take us, and so we're looking forward to your update.

All right.

Um things are a little slow today.

Yeah, um, what I want to talk about is a little bit of the ongoing work that that's been going on.

Um, kind of let you know what we've been doing and what the future holds.

So, most important thing is we've been having weekly meetings for the last several months.

All the project managers uh that are involved with communications international, who's the vendor with federal engineering who is our consultant, as well as city and county staff.

We've also been working with the other departments to finalize their radio purchases, so that is city and county departments, volunteer fire agencies, city and county schools.

Uh we have radio equipment that is currently being delivered.

Uh, we've also been organizing training for our dispatchers as well as the end users with it being a new radio system.

You know, we're doing all of this prep work just to make sure that whenever everything gets installed, we're we're ready to move as fast as we can.

Uh and then tonight you guys approve the final uh purchases that we need to make and reprogramming of the radios for uh engineering parks, um police department radios as well.

So the financial side of it, I think this was what the the years of the holdup was is how are we gonna pay for it and what we're gonna do.

So right now we are about 55 percent of the project has been paid out.

So the way that's done is it's set up on different milestones, and so whenever the the company gets uh a certain portion of the project completed, then we pay them a certain amount of money.

We don't pay it all up front.

Um there is a milestone payment that's being made right now that's included in here that consisted of uh testing of all of the equipment.

So the equipment was built in Texas, and then we actually sent someone there to verify some of that along with federal engineering.

They they went along with us, and then we went to Florida to where they actually put the system together in a warehouse and make sure that it functions appropriately and everything is tested.

And so it's passed all of those.

And so some of the things that we've gotten done, you guys have approved tower leases to expand the system from the one system that we're operating off of now, one tower, to five towers.

We've upgraded the phone system as well as the radio recording systems that captures all the radio transmissions, all the phone calls.

And again, this is just that internal prep work that we need to do to where we're ready to roll whenever the system is finally installed.

Um two additional new dispatch workstations were installed as well, and that is in preparation of just any uh future expansion that we need internally within the dispatch center.

The pre-installation testing that I mentioned was done in August, and then uh tower site inspections were completed last week.

So we had the consultants from Federal Federal Engineering were here as well as communications international as well as our local project managers, and they went out and looked at all of the tower locations to make sure that the work that they said was being done has been completed.

So this is an example of some of the work that's been done.

This is located there at 510 Clark Street at the 911 center.

So they basically had to clear out an area, pour some concrete pads.

Had to bring a big crane in to drop in one of the uh shelters where the equipment will be housed at.

You can see their 911 tower there in the background, and that's what it looks like today.

So uh the shelter, it has a generator, and there's also a propane tank on site.

That way, obviously, in case of emergency, we can continue to operate.

And so that is really what has gone at every single tower location that's out there.

Um a couple of them already had existing shelters, so we were able to just to put the we'll put the equipment in there.

Yes, sir.

So those are HVAC units on that.

Is it to keep the equipment cool?

Yes.

Or and I guess humidity down, so they run all the time.

Yes.

Thank you.

And how long will the with the generators, the propane, how long how long uh if you were out of how long we keep it going?

At least 72 hours.

I think it may be a little bit more than that.

Um the current one runs 72 hours and it runs off diesel.

Okay.

Um, so I think that that this one would run at least 72 hours in that time frame, give or take a few hours.

Probably depends on the load of how busy it is.

So if the air conditioners are running, it's gonna draw more power, utilize more propane.

Um biggest question is what's next.

So uh the antenna installation um will start taking place on all of the tower locations this month.

Uh radio equipment is set to be installed in the 911 center and at the in those shelters that I showed you uh starting in November, along with some initial testing.

Training will start taking place around that same time period, and then the the go live date is expected in the January-February time frame.

Uh additionally, after that, we will be holding back five percent of the payment to and you guys approved that change order um a couple meetings ago, I believe.

And what that's for is uh they do final testing to make sure that it reaches the uh minimum of 95% reliability that needs to be done with all the leaves on the trees, and so it's going in, it's being installed, all the leaves are gonna be off the trees, and so we everybody and can consulting with our consultant federal engineering, they recommended that adjustment as well as communications international, and so that final testing won't take place probably till May is an estimate.

It makes a lot of sense.

Okay, so January, February, go live.

That's the plan.

Hopefully, before maybe they can get it done before.

Um, we'll be running parallel systems for a little while, and then uh they'll have to do some work on our tower uh once the all the systems are up and running.

Um they're gonna take about a I think it's 75 feet off of the existing tower that's here at the 911 center, and that kept us from having to do some structural repairs to it.

It's very good, and it's um much needed and long awaited.

So we are hoping that the current system holds out just a couple more months.

So yeah, we appreciate the update.

And uh while you're up here, I just want to give a shout out to um our 911 manager uh today.

I was copied on an email from one of our Lonoak fire chiefs uh questioning sort of uh I'll do my best to explain it, but questioning the timing on the calls when different uh agencies were called and sort of on a particular situation.

Um I'd be happy to share it with you.

But so he was kind of calling out, you know, saying uh he didn't understand shouldn't agency this particular agency be called before this one and sort of just laying it out and questioning our 911 manager about it.

Well that took about I don't know, three hours, three or four hours, and uh the reply was extremely well documented.

Uh and I just wanted to give a a shout out to her.

Uh managing 911.

I mean it it certainly made me feel really confident that our 911 folks are on top of their game.

They are they're doing a fantastic job, typically uh exceeding any of the national standards significantly when it comes to uh call response, getting telephone answered, getting calls dispatched out, and that particular call was um sent out in I think 43 seconds.

I think it was 43.

So they're uh they they do a fantastic job for a very very stressful job.

Yeah.

And we're all very proud of them.

So please pass that along.

Okay, that's uh the last thing on the agenda.

If we have any city manager, any comments?

Uh mayor and commission, just briefly, uh as everyone's well aware, the the federal government is in shutdown mode, and we've had some inquiries already about how does that impact city services, and so just want to reassure the community uh that uh we don't see at this time that that's going to have any impact uh directly to us.

Uh now we do, and you've even approved several things tonight that are federally grant funds.

Uh so it may be some delays in getting those coming in, but uh financially we're in a place that we're not uh while we we go after seek and and and you know leverage our local dollars with those federal dollars.

Uh we're not in a place financially that we have to rely so much on federal dollars that it would impact our services.

And so uh we don't anticipate seeing any any reduction in services related to the federal shutdown from the local side.

What about the build grant construction?

That still continues to to move forward, and so we've you know we've got uh federal funds, uh, but we've also got uh grant funds and stuff that we're paying in on that.

So I also had another question not related to that.

But what about the building on uh third and third and Jefferson?

Uh that is a privately owned uh property that uh fell in disrepair, and the uh uh the property owner uh chose uh to remediate that repair by demolishing the building, and they've been working with the state on that.

So I that's a question I've been getting a lot.

So the landowner paid for the demolition of the building.

Hundred percent.

Thank you.

I don't think people understand that.

Yeah, they don't know.

But that's unusual in a way.

It does fall to us a lot, so that's good to know.

Uh you know, that was a that's been a tough situation to manage.

Um it's a building that you know, many people uh, you know, you know, looking at it, there's a lot of history in that building.

Uh, you know, we don't want historical structures to come down.

I mean, we always want to try to find a better use for them.

Uh but that building, uh, like building like like happens with buildings, it was too far gone by the time we got to it.

Now we are going to introduce some sort of ordinance here, you know, that's going to address empty buildings.

Uh we've been discussing that.

Uh it's something that we as a city need to get ahead of uh and not allow people to buy buildings and just sit on them for a couple of years without making any improvements, roof falling in.

I'm not saying that that's what everybody does, but but there's been many instances of that, and so uh, you know, we're gonna do our best to get get out ahead of that.

So um Commissioner Thomas, any comments?

No, not today.

Commissioner Henderson?

I have many comments, but I'll keep them to myself.

Okay.

What's your comments?

So move.

Second.

Call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas?

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson?

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.