Paducah Board of Commissioners Meeting - February 24, 2026
Paducah Board of Commissioners Meeting - February 24, 2026
The Paducah Board of Commissioners met on February 24, 2026, for a regular meeting. The agenda included a presentation from the Tree Advisory Board, adoption of two ordinances (rental occupancy and mid-year budget amendment), introduction of two ordinances (911 parcel fee amendment and Lumos Fiber telecommunications franchise), and an executive session. All votes were unanimous.
Tree Advisory Board Presentation
- Jonathan Perkins, Chairman of the Paducah Tree Advisory Board, presented an update on the board's activities and goals for 2026. The board has eight tasks, including promoting urban forestry. They identified seven goals: creating informational newsletters, assisting with the tree voucher program (which received over 600 applications, with approximately 400 qualifying), supporting the "100 Trees for 100 Years of Noble Park" initiative, implementing a "tree price tag" concept to quantify trees' financial value, pursuing Level 1 arboretum accreditation through the Morton Arboretum, continuing participation in Earth Week celebrations, and improving board visibility at events. The board also celebrates 34 consecutive years as a Tree City USA.
- Mayor Bray and Commissioner Smith expressed support for the board's work, with Commissioner Smith noting the importance of replacing aging trees. Commissioner Thomas inquired about fruit trees in the 100-tree program; Perkins explained that fruit trees require ongoing maintenance and may be better suited for smaller projects.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda was approved unanimously (5-0). Items included:
- Approval of minutes from February 10, 2026.
- Receipt and filing of documents and personnel actions.
- Municipal order authorizing application for a $25,000 FY2027 highway safety grant from the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety for officer overtime.
- Municipal order authorizing a request for proposals for a historic structure report for Hotel Metropolitan.
- Municipal order authorizing a $44,650 contract with Tyler Technologies for upgrade of public safety servers.
- Municipal order authorizing participation in the Kentucky League of Cities Workers' Compensation Trust.
- Municipal order authorizing application and acceptance of a $30,000 Kentucky Heritage Council certified local government grant.
Adoption of Ordinances
- Rental Occupancy Ordinance (Repeal and Replace Chapter 42): Adopted unanimously. The ordinance requires annual registration and permitting of rental units, with a $50 per unit fee (max $500 per owner). It includes a moratorium allowing existing units to register without fine by January 1, 2027. Inspections will occur annually with possible self-attestation. Mayor Bray thanked Deputy Chief Greg Cherry for working with landlords to refine the ordinance.
- Mid-Year Budget Amendment (Ordinance 2025-06-8847 Amendment): Adopted unanimously. The amendment adjusts revenues and expenditures across several funds: Capital Projects Fund (+$425,337 revenue, +$675,337 expenditure), Radio Fund (+$211,000 expenditure), Investment Fund (+$100,000 revenue/expenditure), Grant Fund (+$252,950 revenue, +$2,950 expenditure), Health Insurance Fund (+$500,000 revenue/expenditure), and Insurance Fund (+$88,600 revenue/expenditure).
Introduction of Ordinances
- 911 Parcel Fee Amendment: Introduced (first reading) and moved to second reading. The amendment clarifies fee application from "occupied" to "occupiable" parcels, reclassifies medical facilities as commercial, includes residential storage structures and government public housing units in the residential classification, and establishes formal appeal procedures. Jeff, chairman of the 911 administrative board, and Chief Laird explained that the changes aim to reduce appeals (fewer than 10 in the second year, down from ~50 in the first year). No new fees are added; adjustments include rounding to nearest dollar and CPI indexing.
- Lumos Fiber Telecommunications Franchise: Introduced (first reading). The 10-year non-exclusive franchise allows Lumos Fiber of Kentucky (joint venture with T-Mobile) to construct and operate fiber infrastructure. Representatives Grace Simrol (Director of Market Development) and George Kemp (Director of Construction Relations) presented plans: approximately 80% underground construction, phased build-out over three years starting in areas near Heartland Church, The Grove, the mall, and Lone Oak. They emphasized customer service, price competition (e.g., 2 Gbps for $70/month), and property value increases. Commissioner Smith raised concerns about visual blight from aerial fiber and disruption from construction. Kemp assured robust communication and restoration practices. Commissioner Thomas noted the need for service in underserved areas. Simrol expressed openness to input for phase two.
City Manager and Commissioner Comments
- City Manager recognized Taylor Morsing, Assistant Recreation Director, for receiving the "Extra Mile Award" from the Tennessee River Line for his work on that committee.
- Commissioner Wilson highlighted collaboration among West Kentucky educational institutions (UK Engineering, Murray State, WKCTC, city and county schools) to create certifications for workers, especially for new industry.
- Mayor Bray emphasized that safety preparations for the 8th of August celebration and the surrounding area are ongoing, with initial meetings held and more planned.
Executive Session
- The Board voted unanimously (5-0) to enter closed session to discuss future sale/acquisition of real estate, proposed litigation, and a specific business entity proposal (KRS 61.810 exceptions). No action was anticipated following the session.
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar approved unanimously.
- Rental occupancy ordinance adopted unanimously.
- Mid-year budget amendment adopted unanimously.
- 911 parcel fee ordinance introduced (first reading).
- Lumos Fiber franchise ordinance introduced (first reading).
- Executive session approved unanimously; no action taken afterward.
Meeting Transcript
Everybody and welcome. Um I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order on February twenty-fourth, twenty twenty twenty twenty-sixth, and ask the city clerk to please call role. Commissioner Henderson. Present. Here. Commissioner Thomas. Present. Commissioner Wilson. Present. Mayor Bray. Here. So I would ask Commissioner Wilson, please to do the invocation, and then we'll remain standing for the pledge of leaders afterwards. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you on behalf of all of us who are together here for the many blessings that we have. Please grant us wisdom and be with us as we make decisions on behalf of our city and our community and our citizens. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. Okay, first up, we have a uh presentation from Jonathan Perkins Junior. Uh and he's going to give us an uh an update on the tree advisory board, which uh we reformulated this last year and of which uh Jonathan is the chairman. All right. Thanks for being here, Jonathan. Well, thank you all for for hosting me, even though I'm now required by ordinance to to present an update to you. So um so I'm Jonathan Perkins. I am the chairman of Paducah Tree Advisory Board. Um one of my fellow uh board members, Bonnie Koblitz is here, and then Amy Clark is also our liaison, I guess, to the city is her title for that. Um but we're just here to update you on kind of what the tree board has been doing, what it's challenged to do and what we would like to do in the near future. So um you're able to hear this well. So again, our board is made up of of uh six members, including Amy Clark and Bonnie. Um we have a utility representative who is here, or excuse me, who is on our board um from Paducah Power Service, and he is a great liaison for us to what happens in our town with respect to utility overhead utility pruning. So he's he's a good resource to have on there. Um Jenny McCormick and Tyler Sanderson, who are citizen members of the board, and um Tyler is a new addition this year. Um according to our ordinance, this was one of those things that was updated and amended this year. Um we've been given basically eight tasks. Um one of the most important and probably the biggest thing that puts me in front of you all today is that we are as a board challenged to promote urban forestry. So that being our entire ecosystem for lack of better words of the trees, any of the plant material, even technically you break it down to wildlife and things like that that are around us and ours and and throughout our community, but we predominantly think of trees when we think of our urban forest. So it's the very big and obvious sign of what we got. Um looking at what we're doing and hope to do, you know, it was pointed out to me that you know, really I need to think about your all's commission priorities, and um, so digging into that a little bit. There were two that really stood out that we really fit into, in my opinion. That would be the quality of life and the continuous improvement priorities. Um, that being uh quality of life being with respect to trees and how they affect our communities, how they affect us both socially, emotionally, uh physically, and then also on the continuous improvement priority side, trees affect storm water, which a lot of people don't think about, but um, if we didn't have the trees that we have, we'd have a lot more water running across our land, running in our sewer systems, overcharging our our existing infrastructure, and so trees are one of those things that continue as they get older and bigger, they actually increase in their value as a resource and as a uh form of infrastructure, so very important. 2026, we've kind of uh tried to establish a list of goals that we've never really thought about in the past. Um, usually we've kind of kind of had some really informal thoughts on things that we might like to do. Some things are are some of these goals are things that we have uh participated in in the past that we'd like to continue to participate in. Um but uh there were seven goals that we identified specifically for this, and it's in your handout too. But um goal number one, and as it relates to our commission priorities here, is not really recreating but reinstating and and creating new content for an informational newsletter that we've tried to put out. Uh Pam Spencer has worked with us in the past. We did one newsletter or uh service announcement, if you will. I think it was in 2025, it may have been the end of 2024. Um, but we'd like to look at doing more of those for the public on topics like I've listed some examples that we'd like to explore, but things like responding to lightning damage.
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