We got a full house tonight.

It's really great to see.

And I think most everybody is positive.

We don't have much negative going on tonight.

That's always a lot better.

So I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order.

On April 28th, 2026, and I'll ask the city clerk to please call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Present.

Commissioner Smith?

Here.

Commissioner Thomas.

Present.

Commissioner Wilson.

Present.

Mayor Bray.

Present.

I would ask Commissioner Wilson to do the invocation and will remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please pray with me.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you on behalf of all of us who are gathered here for all the many blessings that we have.

Thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work.

We come to you today asking for your guidance and support as we begin this meeting.

Please grant us wisdom as we make decisions on behalf of our citizens.

Okay, we have one proclamation uh tonight.

And this is Mental Health Awareness Month.

And uh Ashley Walters, are you here?

Yeah.

I think I've actually heard your name before at home.

So um this proclamation reads as follows.

Whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being, and whereas all people experience times of difficulty and stress in their lives and mental health conditions are real and prevalent in our community.

And whereas raising awareness and understanding of mental health can help reduce stigma and encourage individuals to seek help early, improving outcomes and saving lives.

So from there we'll go to uh city manager.

Um are there any additions or deletions to the agenda tonight?

Uh mayor and commission, yes, we have one deletion uh tonight.

It will be uh municipal order B.

Uh we uh need to uh pull that one from agenda and bring it back at a future date after we uh do some more uh investigation on that.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Uh now we have uh public comments, and we have three folks who are interested in um making public uh comments and the first one is uh Tamra Tracy.

Uh Tamara, if you would um come forward and if I go last year, I'm in a good mood, Tamara.

That's good.

Umina, Amina Watkins.

Yes, no, I never knew that.

Just uh if you would state your name, where your uh your address, where you live, yeah, and um, and you got three minutes.

All right, Amina Watkins.

Um, I live at 432 North Fifth Street in Lowertown.

Hello, neighbors.

All right, good evening, Mayor Commissioners and uh City Manager.

Before we talk about the future, we should remember our history.

In 1946, Dr.

Andrew W.

Morton Sr., a graduate of Maharry Medical College, returned to Paducah and opened his dental practice on the South Side.

For nearly 50 years, he served families as the only African American dentist in the community during a time when access to care was limited.

He brought dignity, confidence, and health where it was needed most.

Tonight we have the opportunity to continue what he started.

This project matters because it aligns with the South Side revitalization plan already underway.

But revitalization means little if the people who live there now cannot benefit from it.

Growth must include the residents who stayed, endured, and believed in Southside through every season.

The full vision includes more than dental care.

It includes access, opportunity, and essentials, like a grocery store.

Um, with the closing of Dollar General, many residents now have fewer options for basic needs and must travel further than they should.

I have had the privilege of working with Dr.

Hamilton and attending advisory meetings and helping organize a trip for the community members and Paducah Tillman students to visit Maharry.

Many had never heard of Maharry before.

They returned inspired, seeking careers in health care and higher education that felt possible for them.

That matters.

Currently, data shows dental access in our country is limited, and many providers do not accept Medicaid.

Too many people delay care until it becomes an emergency.

An elder who lived in Forest Hills, who died after an untreated tooth infection, entered his bloodstream.

No one should lose their life because basic dental care was out of reach.

So tonight I want to thank Dr.

Hamilton for his six years of determination and thank each of you for recognizing the value of this moment.

This is more than a building.

This is more than just an agreement.

This is more than just your vote.

It is access, it is opportunity, it is dignity, and it is hope.

And years from now, people may look back on this vote and say this was the moment Paducah chose to invest in South Side and the people who call it home.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amina.

Uh next up we have uh Leon Teen Garnett.

Did I did I get it right?

No thing.

Welcome.

My name is Leon Teen Garnett, and I'm Amina's big cousin.

So I live at 715 South 22nd Street apartment to in Elmwood Court, and I would just like to say, other than what Amina said, yes, it's very important because I get uh state medical card, and for 18 months I have not been able to go to the dentist.

No dentist here in Paducah will take my medical card.

I've called all over on my days off.

I've uh the closest I can go is to Lexington or Louisville, and they so backed up that they said call back in July.

So, yes, this is very important.

And I thank the NAACP because I was one of the people that got to go to a Maharry, and it's a very wonderful opportunity.

And me as a citizen here in Paducah, I feel that this is just like infrastructure or just like the sports park.

My health is important too, and I just pray and ask that you please consider that to for us to be able to have that care and not have to go 100, three, four, five hundred miles away just to see a Dennis.

Thank you.

Thank you, Leontain and uh Tamra.

Thank you, members of the commission and clerk.

Thank you for allowing us to be here and city manager.

Um it's taken a it takes a lot to get me out of the garden and to it to tear away from my windows.

And so um I I just say that because I want to stress the fact that um this Maharry Clinic is very important.

There are many things that make up a community.

Um health care facilities, housing, all that.

And this is just one part.

And what makes this one in particular um important is it's an is a way to tie um that health care facility to the community.

You are I think this crowd demonstrates that you've had that you that that connection is there, that buy-in is there, and that's a very big um uh barrier to overcome when providing facilities in a community that you're trying to rebuild.

Um, the only comments I want to add to my support and the fact that all these people support this is been done yesterday because dental care is critical.

Um, it goes to a person's self-worth, it goes to their nutrition, and it goes to their basic health.

So please support it, and if any way possible, support it more because it's definitely needed.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Tamara.

Um, I appreciate it.

And uh now we'll move to the I don't have any more.

I don't have any more comments.

Um I'm sorry.

What's yes, we got one more comment back there.

Did you fill out a Dr.

Koji?

Did you fill out a comment card?

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Um so we're gonna move to the consent agenda.

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

There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a board member so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately.

The city clerk will read the items recommended for approval unless one of our commissioners would like an item removed for separate discussion.

If not, then I would ask the city clerk to read the items recommended for approval.

Approved minutes for the April 14th, 2026 Board of Commissioners meeting.

Reappointment of Shirley Walker to the Forest Hills Village Incorporated Board of Directors.

Said term shall expire May 6th, 2028.

Reappointment of Edward Box to the Civil Service Commission.

Said term shall expire May 13, 2029.

Personnel actions, a municipal order, approving a contract with municipal and contractor sealing products in the amount of 51,000 for the pump station 5 pipelining project, and authorizing the mayor to sign all documents related to same a municipal order, approving change order number two with Jim Smith contracting for additional scope of work for the Paducah Riverfront Infrastructure Improvement Project for 41,974, and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents related to SAME.

A municipal order approving a contract with Terry Rechart, LLP in the amount of 75,000 to provide audit services for the fiscal year at ending June 30th, 2026, and authorizing the mayor to sign all documents related to SAME.

A municipal order adopting contract modification number six to the construction contract with A and K construction, reducing said contract by 119,800, updating the contract amount to 50 million 936, 790.92 cents, and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents related to SAME.

A municipal order authorizing and directing the city manager to initiate a request for bids for playground equipment and resurfacing at Cobb Park.

A municipal order authorizing and directing the city manager to initiate a request for bids for shade canopies for the Noble Park Pool and Tennis Courts.

A municipal order authorizing the mayor to execute an application for a Kentucky Fire Commission training facility grant and an amount not to exceed $50,000 to be used toward the design and construction of a four-story fire training drill tower for the Paducah Fire Department, accepting any grant funds awarded by the Kentucky Fire Commission and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents related to SAME.

I mean a support order authorizing the finance director to make payment to Mobile Communications of America for purchase and installation of software and the amount of $51,076 and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents related to SAME.

So moved.

Second.

Call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Okay.

The first thing on the agenda now is uh municipal order um approving the agreement with uh Hamilton Properties uh firm Maharry.

So I would ask the city clerk to please read uh the motion.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt a municipal order entitled, a municipal order approving a development agreement, phase one with Hamilton Place Properties LLC related to the Maharry Medical College development at 1034, Walter Ton Boulevard, and authorizing the mayor to execute all documents related to SAME.

So move.

Second.

Welcome, Carol.

All right.

Tell us about the project.

Tell us where we are and what are the next steps.

Well, it tonight's a big night.

We've reached a milestone.

And of course, um, you have the floor plans of the first building here before you tonight, as long as well as the development agreement.

Um, and this is for the first phase of the project.

And I'm gonna let Dr.

Eddie Hamilton come to the podium, and he's really the one that had the vision and pieced all this together.

And I'm gonna let him come up and talk and introduce the members of Maharry who will be his long-term tenant.

Thank you, welcome, Dr.

Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor Bray, and thank you, Commissioners.

Um, and Carol, thank you especially.

She's worked very hard on this project for some time now, and I've been very blessed to be able to work with her on this effort.

So uh thank you all for being here.

Um we are Paducah, and it's very impressive watching all the faces that are here.

Uh, this is historic, it's important, and uh we've we've we've come a long way.

Uh the Maharry Project is the creation of a talk I had six years ago with Mayor Bray when he was a candidate for mayor.

Uh he saw the vision of what Paducah can be and needs to be and will be, and under his leadership, we've been able to get to this point.

So this is phase one of a project that brings Maharry Medical College to Paducah in a significant way.

Maharry Medical College is one of four historically black medical schools in the country.

There's Howard uh University in DC, there's Moorehouse in Atlanta, there's Drew Medical School in Los Angeles, and then there's Nashville House Harry Medical College, which will be which will be recognizing as 150th anniversary this year.

Uh historic institution that has meant a lot to all of us.

Someone mentioned earlier, Amina mentioned Dr.

Morton, a graduate of Maharry.

His daughter was my babysitter when I was four years old on Moody Avenue.

So there's some real history here, real meaningful history here.

I want to thank those of you that are here who've been on the team for a while.

They're all back there.

We've got an army, and there's more in the waiting in the wings.

Uh you've got us have worked diligently and been persistent, couldn't have done this without you, and we're here now, and there's more to come.

Um Chad Byer from I5 Design is our architect.

He's in the back of the room.

Give him credit for putting together the amazing photo that you're about to see, and this floor plan was drafted by his team and also a gentleman from Henry Schein.

And so with me today are Dr.

Shere Farmer Dixon, who is the dean of the Maharaj Dental School.

Dr.

Farmer Dixon, can you stand for us?

And Dr.

Julie Gray is the associate dean of the dental school at Maharry.

Will you please stand?

And Dr.

Gray has been work working with me since the beginning.

Uh worn her out, but she's still got her legs are still working though, and there's more to come.

And next to Dr.

Farmer Dixon is Dr.

Raymond Wynn, who works here at Baptist Hospital as a radiation oncologist.

And he is a Maharry alumnus himself.

I found out tonight that he actually is a classmate of Dr.

Farmer Dixon.

So uh again, we're just coming full circle in so many ways.

So we're celebrating our 35th anniversary.

All right.

So with without further ado, I can't navigate the technology and let Carol do that for me.

He's got it right.

Okay.

At the corner of Caldwell Street and Walter Gipaton Boulevard is property that my family has owned for several decades.

It's set idle for a long, long time.

My father bought it, had no idea what he was gonna do with it, but he just bought it because he bought stuff like that.

And this building was originally the 10th Street Market, as far as I know, it was built in 1904.

Subsequently, it became at some point a liquor store.

And it's not that anymore, thank goodness.

And uh it's been sitting empty for a while, but we just chose to repurpose this building as the future home of a faculty dental clinic staffed by Maharry Medical College.

So we'll have a full-time dentist that lives and works in Paducah, but is appointed by Maharry in Paducah.

We'll also have dental hygienists there and dental assistants there at providing care for our residents, and we will see everyone, regardless of your ability to pay.

We will see you, we'll find a way to see you.

We're partnering very closely with Kentucky Care.

Uh as you all know, they provide care for the same population that we like to serve, but they don't do dental care, so we will be partnering with them directly.

And in this building, we will start with six operatories.

Uh the floor plan that we that was up previously shows six exam rooms, uh, three that are for the dentists and three that are for the dental hygienists.

We will reface this building and make it look like it's brand spanking new.

Uh, this is what we envision, it's beautiful, and around that will be other developments that will come later, but this is phase one, and we're very pleased and proud of where we are right now.

And I'm sorry I'm speaking to the to you all because this is for the community.

I should be spacing the people that have the authority to decide.

We can hear good.

But this is really this is really your thing for the community, and I'm just very pleased and proud.

And lastly, before and I and I need to sit down, I can't do this without reminding myself.

Didn't mean to do that.

This is for BA and Francis.

You all know that BA is my father, Francis is my mother.

So that's a big part of why we're doing this, and I thank you all for your support.

Thank you for your vote today.

Thank you.

Dr.

Hamilton, if I could just I I think the commission might be uh interested in the history of Maharry Medical College.

Uh, it's a fascinating history, how it got its start.

And I don't know who is most familiar with that history, but it would be good to just share that history with uh with the commission and the whole crowd.

I thank you for that, Mayor Bray, and I'd love to, and I'd like Dr.

Farmer Dixon and Dr.

Gray to come up with me because they know the story better than I do.

Dr.

Hildruth, who is the president of Maharry, could not be here tonight.

He had a recent medical procedure, but he loves to tell the story.

There is a Kentucky origin story to Maharry.

Um the gentleman that started this that's provided the funding for the school were German immigrants who were traveling through southern Kentucky when their salt wagon broke down in the middle of nowhere.

This is shortly after the Civil War.

So I'm gonna let Dr.

Farmer Dixon relate to you the more details of that story.

She she'll do better job than I could.

Hello everyone.

So continuing from where he's uh Samuel Maharry was uh a young gentleman who was passing through Kentucky and uh on his salt wagon and it broke down.

And so he was in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky, but in the distance he could see a small cabin uh with a light.

And so he went there, and there was the family of freed slaves that were there.

And he explained to them what had happened, and it was getting dark, and so they put him up for the night, and the next morning uh went with him, helped him get his wagon out and let him be on his way.

And he said, then for your act of kindness, uh I will repay your people uh for the kindness that you showed.

Unfortunately, history does not tell us who that family was.

But 50 years later, he and his brothers gave the seat money to start Maharry Medical College.

And so Maharry Medical College started as a um a division of Central Tennessee State uh college.

And then um it then evolved into Maharry Medical College.

And so in 1876 was the establishment of Maharry Medical College, and so we are celebrating our sesquicentennial 150th years of living out the motto of worship of God through service to mankind.

The dental school started 10 years later, so we are celebrating 140 years of making a difference in the lives of others, uh, one smile at a time.

And so we have uh we proudly say in the school of dentistry that 25 27 percent of the current practicing black dentists in the United States are graduates of Maharry Medical College.

And we instill in them as they come into dental school and as they graduate graduate of living out the model of worship of God through service to mankind and practicing in underserved communities.

And so approximately 80 percent of our graduates from medicine and dentistry provide primary care.

So they are uh providing to communities that others would not uh provide, as demonstrated by Dr.

Wynne, who who is who is here as well.

So that is the history of Maharaj.

So part of the magic here, I think when Eddie first called me six years ago.

I mean, and I was you know not an elected official, I was wanting to be elected, and uh so he presented this thought process to me about this, and uh curious enough, you know, I spent 40 years in pharmaceutical distribution, so I had actually called on Nashville General Hospital and was very familiar with Maharry Medical College.

So uh just uh the fact that uh you know I had some history, you know, was part of you know what got us started, and then of course, when I heard the story, you know, really about how Maharie started and the goals that I think myself and the commission have been trying to drive in this community, it was it was really a perfect fit.

And it's taken six long years uh to get us here, and we've had several start stops and different iterations, but uh today we're here.

Thank you.

So did the commissioners have any questions about anything?

Well, not a question, but I just have to say, you know, this is a powerful, powerful step forward for Paducah and our South Side, um, and really for the underserved in our community.

So um I look back at when I traveled with the community to Maharry, and I was just highly impressed with the staff and when I was able to meet with the board and just even the students there.

So I'm really impressed with uh Maharia Medical College and really looking forward to this progress in Paducah.

I'm gonna say this.

I'm really glad you mentioned your parents because uh many of us knew BA and Francis, and they were wonderful leaders in our community and example of leadership that you're continuing through with this.

So thank you very much, and thank you for mentioning them.

What a wonderful tribute.

Thank you.

I just appreciate also besides the health benefits which are fantastic, but just I really appreciate you guys also uh supporting the South Side Project, and this will be a linchpin for the South Side Project, and just thank you for everything.

Thank you.

Great.

I think I think as was stated earlier that I hope that this uh this is just a bolt today, but I do hope that this vote will lead into a whole lot of other things uh for the South Side.

So we really do appreciate uh your perseverance and appreciate the perseverance of all those who have worked with you.

This is a good day and a historic day uh for uh Paducah.

And we appreciate that.

And we're thankful for your leadership on from all of you.

Thank you.

So I have one more, if I could just ask an operational question because I know that you're gonna see all patients, and we know that Medicaid uh reimbursement for dentist um is you know subpar, you know, and that it's hard to get a dentist to actually take Medicaid.

And we know that the University of Louisville has a program out of WKCTC, and they're they've got a six-month waiting list, I'm told, and we'd heard uh the ladies say that uh same thing in Louisville.

So what's what's going to be different about here?

I mean, how are we going to operationalize the clinic so that people can get in?

Thank you for that question.

It's a very important question because we can't do it for free.

It's impossible.

It wouldn't not be a sustainable model if we were just going to serve everybody and not be reimbursed for the service we provide.

So we've got to find solutions.

Uh I have that same experience in my own practice over the last 30 years of practice.

You can find a way if you're if it's important and you are committed to that effort.

Now it's harder, it's harder than it should be, and there are systems in place and the barriers that are in our way, and our job is to overcome those, and so we will do that in a very creative way.

Um of the important things will be we can't do it alone.

We need the help of government at all levels.

We need city, state, and local government to support what we're doing.

And county.

And county.

Apologize for that.

We need support at every level, without a doubt.

And we'll make the case that what we're doing is feasible and it's impactful.

We have a feasibility study that's being updated right now by the University of Kentucky.

And they're also doing an impact study.

You'll get that by the end of May.

And that will provide us with some data that supports the need for the service and a way to make it financially viable.

We have started a nonprofit called Civic Pathways Group.

That is essential because we're creating what we call a public-private partnership.

So there's a need for access to funds that we otherwise would not have access to as a private entity by being a public entity as well.

So the not-for-profit civic pathways group, you'll be hearing a lot about that.

We've got to raise a lot of money to do that.

We've got to incentivize Maharia to come.

They're not trying to get here, they're willing to come if we support them right.

And so we have to incentivize them to come by providing low um income guarantees for their dentists, relocation packages, loan repayment programs, things like that.

So we will be raising a lot of money from a variety of sources.

We will also be participating in all the programs that are out there that we normally don't know about and don't participate in.

For example, under the previous this current administration, they passed a bill that includes the rural health transformation program, and we will be participating in that.

Because that's a significant amount of money that's coming to programs that are providing care to those who are who are being left out.

So the thing is we have to make sure we have the right levels of support to be able to make the case to include us in those uh programs.

There's money out there.

You just have to work really hard to get it.

But if we have the support of the community and the leaders in the community, we can garner that support and make this a model that's financially viable.

And I want to say this very clearly: you know, Maharry has a teaching mission that isn't always focused on on making a lot of money.

We have to be a profit center for Maharry in Paducah.

They can't come here and lose money.

They have to come here and be financially viable to sustain it and to perpetuate it and to do more because we need more than just the dental program here.

So again, luckily I've been blessed with 40 years of experience in health care and figuring out these these solutions to these kinds of problems.

Maharry's been a great partner to me in Nashville.

They're gonna be an even greater partner to me here in Paducah.

And believe me, we'll give you something that you can be very proud of, and we'll partner with all those other entities.

Dr.

Reese has already written us a letter of support.

We intend to train their students as well.

We've reached out to the University of Louisville.

We had a meeting with them, and we haven't gotten an agreement yet, but our intention is to have their students coming here.

I know Mary State is now getting interested.

I've noticed that since we showed up six years ago, this part of the state is getting more attention from other parts of the state that they used to not get, and that's fine.

We appreciate that attention.

We want UK and we want U of L here.

We want them here as partners.

This is a collaborative effort.

We are training a workforce of the future, and it's imperative that we recognize that.

Our young people need good paying jobs.

They need to own stuff, and so we have to be building wealth in the community that normally is left out.

So again, long-winded answer to your question, but we are very methodical and thoughtful about this process.

I think Civic Pathways Group is going to be that entity that provides a civic infrastructure that most communities are lacking, and the reason why they can't kind of figure this out and get past this.

And and lastly, I'll say this.

I tried this in Nashville with the previous mayor in Nashville, and they weren't really receptive.

So all praise to you, Mayor Bray.

Communities need to recognize you can't fix things by doing the same things you've always been doing.

You've got to do something that you've never done before to get a different outcome.

And so I ask you all to think about that as you make your decisions and the county as well, the state as well.

You can't do it with the current system.

You have to change the system if you want it to be different.

And we're here to be that change agent.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any more questions?

Uh from commissioners.

Okay, well, I would ask the city clerk to please call roll in.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson?

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

All right.

Motion passed.

Congratulations.

And then I don't know, is Chief Kyle going to cover it?

Okay.

Mayor Bray.

I live on 10th Street.

Ma'am.

I'm sorry.

That's I I apologize, but that's not appropriate.

I'll be happy to see you.

One of us will see you after the meeting.

So I would ask the city clerk to please read uh this municipal order.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt a municipal order entitled a municipal order approving a contract with Dell Health Consulting in the amount of $59,400 to provide psychological and organizational health support for the fire department and authorizing the mayor to sign all documents related to SAME.

So move.

Second.

Chief.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioner, City Manager, City Clerk.

Thank you all for being here tonight.

I just wanted to.

This contract is uh about uh some specific work that we are looking to contract with uh Dell Health Consulting for.

Uh as you know, we've the fire department's been through a couple of things over the last year or two, and we're looking to improve upon the relationships internally uh between the the management and the ranks in within the department, and this is a part of that process.

Uh we've kind of leaped off of the mental health process that was initiated by human resources a couple months ago.

We we invited uh Dr.

Jacobs in to do some preliminary work with us to kind of help us get a feel for where we were and steps that we needed to take forward, and what you see that tonight are the results of that.

Uh it's it's something very specific and very targeted uh for our organization specifically, and to improve the relationships between management and the rank and file, and keep us focused and going in the same direction and breaking down some of those silos even between divisions, even prevention and suppression and just working on the organization on holistically uh to help stabilize the organization and propel us forward.

So that's what we're hoping to accomplish.

Uh the target is a 12-month program.

Uh and then hopefully after we get through the end of that, uh periodically come back and continue that process.

But uh this is something very specific for us that I highly recommend that we do, and that will hopefully improve the operation of the department.

So what's it involve?

Dr.

Jacobs, would you mind helping me with that just a little bit?

Yeah, come on up.

She happens to be here tonight in support of mental health, but um I guess it's been about a month ago uh where we invited her in to sit down with the staff, uh, started with the chiefs, and she met with us all individually and collectively to talk about the issues that we're having within the department, and from that, we were hoping to garner some direction in things that we needed to work on from a leadership perspective and from an organizational perspective, and that's where I would like you to come in if you would.

Thank you.

Hi, brother.

Appreciate that.

Um, so this would include an organizational health assessment to start off with, and that um was initiated during our first um uh meetings with the chiefs, and then what comes from that assessment is an individualized targeted plan that will target mental health of the rank and file as well as leadership and development, and then continued cultural assessment.

So, from a clinical psychology perspective, making sure that we're targeting those changes within the organization as a system to um collaborate to de-silo and to move the mission towards what the fire department's mission is all together to move in that direction together as one.

So it's a six-month program to 12-month program, yes, sir.

Okay, and would you be talking to every person in the rank and file eventually?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Any other questions?

Other than one that had them.

Oh, I think it sounds like a good idea.

I mean, it's always good to have someone coming from the outside to look at things objectively.

So I think that's a great idea.

We we felt we really needed the objectivity uh with some of the events that we've been through, and uh she didn't know I was gonna punt to her here tonight, so I'm I'm glad she came in support of mental health, but she really came to support of me too, whether she knows it or not.

Well, she supported your mental health.

She did.

She did support my mental health.

So, yeah, we're we're uh we think it's gonna be a good thing and think we'll see some positive results out of it.

We asked for her, we asked for her to come and and do that with us to get a start, and uh really excited about the opportunity if you all will support it to moving forward.

Great.

Mayor and commission, as you all well know, and and uh I think the general public knows too is that our public safety uh team members go through a lot.

Um they show up on people's sports days, uh, but they take that home with them at times.

And so we you know it's something the police department has has gone through and is then we thought it was appropriate also to bring this into the fire department as well.

Okay, thank you, Chief.

Thank you.

That was a good explanation, and I better understand it, and I'll ask the city clerk to call roll.

Commissioner Henderson?

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

We have one ordinance to adopt.

Um it is a consensual annexation uh that we uh read a couple of weeks ago, and I'd ask the city clerk to please read it.

I proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled An Ordinance Extending the Boundary of the City of Paducah, Kentucky, by annexing certain property lying adjacent to the corporate limits of the City of Paducah and accurately defining the boundary of said property to be included within the said corporate limits.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

The City of Padookie hereby approves the consensual annexation of a certain tract of property contiguous to the present city limits located at 224 Berger Road and containing approximately 0.371 acres.

So moved.

Second.

Call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Sorry, was there any questions about this?

Okay.

Commissioner Smith?

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas?

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

And that's all the formal business that we have, and then we have a couple of discussion items.

Uh the first is a budget discussion, and then second of all, we're going to talk about mental health uh awareness month.

And uh so I would invite uh our director of finance, Audrey Kyle, to come up and walk us through this uh budget discussion.

Yes, sir.

Do you want me to wait to let them clear out I'll go ahead and I think good, I think I can go.

Okay.

All right.

Good evening tonight.

Uh we're gonna have a continuation of our budget discussions, and tonight's topic is general fund revenues.

Um as we did at the last meeting and when discussing um appropriations, we're gonna take a look at the current state in fiscal 26 before we look ahead uh to 27.

So when we speak about general fund revenue, 82 percent uh of what we are expecting for fiscal 26 is is comprised of what we call the big four.

That is payroll tax, insurance premium tax, real estate property tax, and business license.

I'm gonna touch on each one of these and where we stand budget-wise as we make our way through the fourth quarter of this fiscal year.

Okay, first of all, uh is property tax with the real estate.

The final deadline for second half bills was March 2nd.

So uh we have a very clear look at what this uh how this revenues performed this year.

This revenue is not only grown um by the four percent increase that was included in the rate calculation, but also has some additional uh revenue reflected through delinquent taxes that were c uh collected over this past year through the efforts of our revenue equity team.

And we do believe um as of March 31st, when that month was closed, our project uh budgeted projection of 6.7 million was achieved.

So we will meet budget on property tax.

Next is business license.

This has been a really interesting year for business license due to IRS disaster related relief penalty and interest were not assessed on 2025 business license filings, submitted through the federal filing deadline of uh November 3rd.

So as a result, filings and collections that would normally occur in fiscal 25 have been received in the current year.

In addition uh to the impact of that deadline in August 2025, um the commission passed an inflationary adjustment that was made to the gross receipts threshold on which the excess rate is applied.

So beginning in January 26, that threshold increased from 3.5 million to 5.13 million.

This will have a positive effect on what was previously a flat projection, but because the deadline just passed on April 15th, we do not know yet the full impact of that change.

But it's coming.

Insurance premium tax.

Uh year-to-date insurance premium tax collections are almost completely flat from prior year due to the historically unpredictable unpredictability of this revenue.

We take a really conservative approach when um budgeting this revenue.

So our current revenue projection of seven 7.2 million dollars remains unchanged from the previous year.

But we'll be close.

We'll be around around budget, around that $7.2 million expected.

And finally, the biggest of the big four uh revenues payroll withholding tax.

So based on our year-to-date numbers, we do anticipate meeting our revenue projection of 20.9 million.

So where we end in comparison to last year when the dust settles is going to come down to that last quarter and year-end accrual adjustments.

We do anticipate meeting meeting that projection of 20.9 million.

So as a whole, um, we we're gonna come out pretty close to what we budgeted this year, if not slightly exceeded.

So where does that put us for 2027 revenue projections?

The current general fund budget projection reflects a revenue estimate based on the compensating rate for property tax, real real estate property tax.

So as a reminder, the compensating rate is the rate that if adopted will generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year.

So because the calculation is based on assessed valuations as of 1126, that rate can differ from the current rate of uh 0.271.

The account, even though we're gonna adopt the compensating rate, will still reflect a small increase, which has been added for the continued efforts of our revenue equity team.

Business license, uh, as I mentioned in the earlier slide, the 415 deadline has just passed.

So we will not have a solid look at those results until we close April here in the next few weeks.

So at this point, fiscal 2025 data is still our most current point of reference.

A known factor that we are able to account for at this point is the second year of our five-year phase in for that inflationary threshold adjustment, and the threshold for fiscal 27 is going to be 6.76 million.

Insurance premium tax.

There are no indications that this revenue will increase over the next fiscal year, so we are continuing with a conservative flat projection figure for fiscal 27 of 7.2 million.

Finally, we have payroll tax.

Because of its significant significance to our revenue portfolio, how this tax performs drives where we are headed in terms of our flexibility, ability to expand services, and ultimately where we land in setting general fund appropriations.

This will be our second year in a row of projecting 3% growth.

Although this is a positive trajectory, it is it is modest and does not reflect any meaningful expansion to the tax base.

Additionally, this rate of growth is not sufficient to keep pace with the growth of expenditures.

So this chart shows the combined total of those four big four revenues and how they've grown since fiscal 2021.

The total of all four projected uh for fiscal 27 is just under 42 million, which is an increase of approximately 1.4 million.

This next chart shows the history of these combined revenues in comparison to total general fund expenditures.

Um I do want to make a note on fiscal 25 for comparison purposes that we did move the we had that fund balance spend in fiscal 2025, so I've removed that to strictly have operational uh budgets here.

So as you can see, the gap between the total appropriations and revenue is growing, but the next slide really shows kind of how that gap accumulates over time.

So I put this chart together to demonstrate what the graph what the growth gap is doing over time.

So instead of looking at straight dollar amount increases for each year for both revenue and expenditures, I gave a same base year of 2021, and we're strictly looking at the accumulation of of change in uh over the years.

So I did this to show that although the dollar amount of the gap um year by year may not look dramatic in that single year, but over time it's creating increased pressure on on the budget.

So as we enter into the final month of budget preparation, we have finalized revenue projections.

We've completed our departmental budget uh review, and now we're working to balance those service needs with the resources and finance and the city manager's office are meeting regularly at this point, and we're preparing for upcoming meetings with each of you.

What questions do you have?

So I have my budget meeting, my kickoff budget meeting with uh the team today.

So I think I got a good uh a good overview of where where we are.

Uh and I know that they're meeting with each of you all uh very soon, so you'll get a real bird's eye view.

But um but do you have any questions about uh this is kind of a high level overview of where we've been going and where we're headed.

So any any questions.

I just a comment.

And we have done some really big projects, great projects.

And so it probably timing's not bad to take a breather from some of the big type stuff.

So kind of so it everything goes in cycles and right.

And I think I think the the presentation that you guys are gonna see will you know will demonstrate that, you know, that you know that we do need uh you know focus on you know managing our expenses uh where we are now and uh make sure that we're taking care of everything, keeping um taking paying close attention to the general fund, making sure that we've got a proper reserve, uh, you know, which we do, but uh at the same time uh it's something that we have to take care of.

So this city's always um, as far as long as long as I can remember, has been fiscally strong, uh conservative in the way that we manage uh our expenses and our money, and uh I think that's something that all of us uh the mayor and all four commission commissioners can take a lot of pride in.

Uh you know, we can demonstrate to citizens that we you know we take care of their tax revenues and manage it properly, and uh so this budget process uh is definitely a part of that.

So we'll all be digging in.

Okay.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you all, and so now we have a discussion on mental health awareness month.

Uh, as Pam comes up here, I just uh I want to give credit for uh to uh Commissioner Ma'am.

Ma'am, you're gonna stay around so we can chat.

Sure, I'll be around.

Thank you.

Uh I want to give credit to Commissioner Reynold O.

Henderson who first raised the um uh the issue of mental uh mental health awareness to make sure that you know the city was looking at that, and so this has really been an extension of that work race.

So I just wanted to give credit where credit's due.

Pam.

All right.

Well, good evening, Mayor, commissioners, city manager, city clerk.

Uh got Stephanie Wilcox here to help support me as we talk about mental health awareness month.

And uh as you know, this has been a commission priority.

It started in 2023.

It was an action item under quality of life.

And since then, after that year, it has been a continuous improvement item so that we have focused on mental health awareness.

And as we're working on our messaging, we use the guidance of a nonprofit mental health America.

Um they used to be called National Association for Mental Health.

It's the nation's leading nonprofit for the promotion of mental health, well-being, and condition prevention.

So we really focus on their messaging.

They're the experts, not us, so we use their messaging to help us craft our messaging internally and externally.

And they actually started mental health month in 1949.

So this has been around for a long time.

And they have a theme every year, and the theme for this year is more good days together.

So that talks about how connection is protection.

If you're talking to one another, that does help in your mental health, and then it talks about what does a good day mean?

A good day for me may not be a good day for you.

So it could be a variety of definitions.

So you're always looking for what gives you the good day.

So over the month of May, I will be pushing out some social media posts, and I use their messaging.

This is one of their uh toolkit of social media that they provide, and this is one of the posts.

The good days look different for everyone.

You notice it's in green.

That is the color of mental health awareness, and you see the green out in the audience from our proclamation that we had earlier.

A lot of folks wear the green or a green jacket.

And then they also do something that uh seeing a lot of emails this year for the Bell SEAL.

It is actually a recognition, a national recognition that they provide.

They started it in 2019 to recognize employers who actually focus on workplace mental health.

Um, they have a comprehensive application.

It is uh quite comprehensive.

Looked into it.

37 questions.

A lot of the questions are yes or no.

If you say yes, opens up a whole other list of questions.

So it is uh very comprehensive and it has several essay responses.

I think about eight essays that you have to submit for this.

The categories are workplace culture.

It gets into your benefits that you provide.

Caring beyond compliance.

So what are you doing beyond your benefits?

And then it just talks about holistic wellness.

So the questions are in one of those four categories.

Once you submit your application, you receive a score.

The score goes up to 100.

And then it's very similar to like a say a high school grading scale.

You can get a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum designation if you do basically like a C or higher.

So that you do get a score.

So this year we decided to apply.

I worked with human resources department, Stephanie Wilcox, McKenzie Murphy.

We worked together to put together the application.

So drumroll.

We got a gold.

We got the gold seal.

We were just so close to the platinum.

So we did get the gold designation.

We just got that information back just uh not too long ago.

And our our score was an 89.

And we have a summary report that compares us to the last year's applicants right now.

And that last year there was about 1,200 other employers that applied.

And so we do have our first report.

After they get all of the 2026 applicants in, we'll get another report that compares us to this year's applicants.

So in those four categories, I'll quickly go through, and I don't know if Stephanie wants to help me out onto some of these.

And our workplace culture category, all the questions we were able to answer yes and check all the boxes.

We got a hundred in that section.

And those questions had to do with do you ask for employee feedback?

Did you do a survey?

Yes, we did.

Um do you have a wellness plan?

Yes, we have wellness plan.

We have employee assistance programs.

Uh we provide a leadership academy for our supervisors, our leadership team that teaches them about mental health awareness that teaches them about legal things that you need to consider.

Uh we have a good compensation policy and market rate compensation.

We have professional development opportunities.

So all those categories we were able to check.

Yes, we're doing these things.

The second section was the mental health benefits.

And those categories had to do with do you offer health insurance that covers mental health that covers substance abuse?

Yes, we have that.

Do we have the employee assistance program?

Yes, we do.

Do we have sick leave that can be banked for short-term disability?

We sure do.

Um do we have long-term disability insurance?

Yes.

And think we're comparing ourselves to other employers too.

Do we hire part-time employees?

Yes, we have part-time employees, and we help them navigate their benefits and health insurance.

So we had a 77%.

So, what's our opportunities there?

Our opportunities, one of the questions had to do with paid parental leave.

So that was one of the things that we could look into.

And then another question had several things under it about the part-time employees.

Do you provide benefits to part-time employees?

So those are some opportunities for review.

The next category, caring beyond compliance.

It had questions about do you have practices to support employees who may be recovering from substance abuse?

And so we have our different plans.

We educate about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

We have FMLA.

We provide return to work procedures for somebody who may have been away for a different reason and needs to come back or transition back.

So we do provide that.

We have procedures for reporting accidents and incidents.

We have a policies of how you report things.

They're asking questions of do you have policies in place to take care of your employees?

We have procedures for responding to, say, a critical accident.

We have procedures in place for that.

And then we also communicate major organizational changes to employees.

And one of the examples is last year we had some changes in our health insurance premiums.

We had communication that went out about that.

So we did communicate those big changes.

It had about uh the opportunity would be expanding more education on substance use, substance use disorders, and ways to support employees who may have a substance use issue.

In the last section that we got, uh 81% was the holistic wellness.

Um it focused on do you have an insurance committee or committees dedicated staff working on this?

Well, yes, we do.

We have a human resources department, we have an insurance committee of different employees who come together and talk about these things.

Do you provide mental health trainings?

Yes, we do.

We've got several that uh Stephanie's gonna talk about in just a second that we're gonna be doing with our employees.

Do we support work life balance?

Yes.

Yes, we have financial education seminars, we do health and nutrition education, we have gym reimbursements, we help folks who want to prepare for retirement.

We do volunteer opportunities for our staff, and we have significant wellness credits.

So we do provide those things.

And another question had to do with paid time off.

We have significant amount of time off when you start looking at holidays, a personal day, vacation, sick leave.

We do provide uh uh quite a bit of time for our employees.

The opportunities in which we didn't get the full 100%.

Um use the some of that time off for their health and wellness.

That would be uh an opportunity.

Um, one of the questions had to do with remote working, a more flexible uh employment.

It's a little bit difficult at times with a uh a workforce of a government, but it could be something to be reviewed.

It even wanted more uh mental health trainings.

It said expand upon that, and it also mentioned something about peer support and mentoring if you have folks that need a little bit with their mental health concerns and need some peer support.

So that's the the sections of our gold bill seal.

Do you have any questions for me or Stephanie?

Because we're gonna be looking through this to see next year, they'll pull everything that we did and we can reapply.

Well, I just want to thank you and your uh your team for the kind of energy and the kind of resources that you all have place uh in this, and not not just for uh mental health that has gone bad, but we want mental health to stay well.

Stay well, and I think that that's important too.

And of course, I was interested um and um to see how we can bring that 77% up, and you've already given us some opportunities, so I look forward to following where we are.

Yeah, I pulled all the questions where we didn't check every single box, and so we pulled it together, and it's actually a fairly short list of questions when you look at it.

So we we did quite well.

Yeah, so thank so thank you.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for this initiative.

So I'll quickly go through the external awareness that we're going to do over the next month, and then I'll let Stephanie talk about the internal awareness.

We are gonna celebrate this Bell Seal.

There will be a news release that's going to go out tomorrow in a social media posts.

Uh, we have the proclamation earlier in the meeting for mental health awareness.

City Hall will be illuminated green for the month of May.

Uh, there will be the social media campaign that um focuses on uh the mental health theme for this month of more good days together and some news releases, and we do have our annual contract with uh PATS.

We have two wraps on two different buses for 988.

That is the crisis uh lifeline.

It's a suicide and crisis lifeline that you can call if you're in need of talking to someone, but it's also if you have a friend or family member that you're worried about, you can call and talk to the counselors and they'll help you find ways to support that friend or family member.

So the 988 hotline that was a new story out that was just a few weeks ago about how it has more people that are calling it.

So it's the word is getting out about it, so that's great.

It's just three numbers, just call them and you can talk to somebody, somebody that'll help you through your crisis.

Now, Stephanie, I'll turn it over to Stephanie for what we're about to do internally.

Good evening.

Um, this year we are going back to the t-shirts.

I know last year we tried to change it up and everybody asked where their t-shirt was.

So we are going back to the t-shirts.

We will include the Bell Sill Award that we received on those, and it will focus on that theme as well.

We are still doing the educational seminars, and I highly recommend um if you're available to attend some of those, Dr.

Jacobs puts those on for us.

This year on May 6 will be returning to work after mental health leave and fostering a supportive workplace culture.

On May 15th, it will be um stress management and understanding the impact of perception on workplace interactions, and on May 21st, shift work and work life balance because we do have a number of employees that work shifts.

We you know, we have employees here 24-7.

Something that we are adding this year is a supervisor specific session, so helping supervisors be more aware and um fostering these work environments.

So that will be something new this year.

That one will be on May 27th here at City Hall.

Any questions about those?

We do tend to keep our policies updated and um go through those areas where we fell short to see how we can make improvements.

I'm sorry, I was just saying it looks great.

That's all I it is.

I I just had one thought that as we get into our shirts, uh I want to recommend that we all have shirts like uh Commissioner Thomas.

He seems to have a shirt for every day of every color.

So I won't be like him.

Green shirt for you for May.

How many different colors do you have shirts at don't?

I probably a lot.

I have long sleeves, I have short sleeves, got jackets.

All alone dumb.

I'll add, I paid for it myself.

Most of it.

Uh Stephanie Pam, thank you very much.

Um, mental health awareness is uh really been.

I mean, again, we've focused on it more.

It's it's really been a bigger, a bigger focus in the last five years.

It really kind of exploded during COVID.

Uh we recognize this.

Um, and um so uh this is a continuation of uh commission priorities.

So um and Dr.

Jacob Sclott, great, great to have you on board helping us.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All right, thank you.

City manager, any comments?

None this evening, Mayor.

Commissioners, none this evening, Mayor.

I may just say one uh real quick.

Um me and Rebra Henderson were both able to go down to Richmond, Kentucky for KBC's local elected officials spring summit.

Um and it covered things like AI and government justice system.

We got a rundown of the budget of the state from minority leaders on the Senate and the House, and um just a thank you to the community for allowing us the opportunity to do things like that to grow as leaders, um, and just it was some great information that we were able to get at that summit.

So Kentucky Black Caucus.

Local election.

Local elected officials, black caucus for local elected officials.

So mayors, commissioners, and there were state representatives and a senator there.

Okay, so yeah, yeah.

Was the mayor of Bargetown there?

Yes.

Well, no, but the mayor, I don't know that the mayor of Barstown was there.

Richmond.

But Richmond, yes, Mayor Richmond was was present.

Okay.

All right, thank you, Commissioner Thomas.

Anyone else down here?

Okay.

Um we um we do have an executive session tonight.

Uh we will not be taking any any action afterwards, and I would entertain a motion from our city clerk uh to move into that.

A proposed motion of the board of commissioners to go into closed session for discussion of matters pertaining to the following topics.

Proposed or pending litigation is permitted by KRS 61.810 subsection one C.

So moved.

Second.

Call roll.

Commissioner Henderson?

Aye.

Commissioner Smith?

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas?

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Thank you.