Call this meeting to order.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Um I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order on July 14th, 2026, and ask our city clerk to please call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Present.

Commissioner Smith?

Here.

Commissioner Thomas.

Present.

Commissioner Wilson.

Present.

Mayor Bray.

Here.

I would ask uh Commissioner Ronaldo Henderson to do the invocation and then we'll remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Father, we do love you and we do honor your name.

You're such a great God, and you're greatly to be praised.

And so now, God, we thank you for the privilege of being able to call upon your name.

As we share today, Lord God, we pray that you'll be in the midst of this meeting.

We pray that you will guide our thoughts, that you will guide our understanding.

We pray now, God, that you will cover this commission, cover those who are employed here, cover our city in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to this side of the United States of America and to the Republic, for which it stands.

Okay, we have no public comments tonight.

I'll move right to the consent agenda.

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

Personnel actions, a municipal order authorizing the mayor to execute a lease agreement between the city of Feduca and the Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Corrections for lease of the facility located at 400 South Sixth Street.

A municipal order authorizing the finance director to pay Clean Earth Incorporated in an amount of $58,000 and 76 cents for the disposal of household hazardous waste and electronic waste collected during the City County 2026 cleanup day.

A municipal order authorizing the mayor to execute a memorandum of understanding between the City of Paducah and the Commonwealth of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Department of Highways, and the amount of 101,000 for the Levin Avenue Resurfacing Project.

So moved.

Second.

Call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith?

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Okay.

We actually have have five ordinances to um to enact tonight to vote on and enact.

I'll uh many of them, several of them are related.

But um I'll let the uh city clerk read the first one.

We we read both of them the first time a couple of weeks ago, and we'll see if there's any questions.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled an ordinance amending chapter 126-69, mobile home parks and 126-79 qualified manufactured homes of the code of ordinances of the city of Paducah, Kentucky.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance amends the Paducah zoning ordinance to replace references to mobile home parks with land lease communities, update applicable development standards and revise regulations for qualified manufactured homes to comply with KRS 100.348, effective July 1, 2026.

The amendment allows qualified manufactured homes in residential zones where single family homes are permitted, subject to applicable performance and compatibility standards.

The planning commission held a hearing on June 1st, 2026, and forwarded a favorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners.

So moved.

Second.

Are there any questions on this?

The first three ordinances that we are enacting tonight are all related.

Uh we talked about it a couple of weeks ago.

So if there's no questions, I'll ask the city clerk to call roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith?

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas?

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Go ahead and read the second one.

City Clerk.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled and ordinance amending chapter 126-102, low density residential zone, R1 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Paducah, Kentucky.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance amends the Paducah zoning ordinance to update the R1 low density residential zone by requiring an all new single-story homes to have a roof pitch of at least 512 and a permanent foundation.

The amendment is intended to maintain neighborhood character and ensure compatibility of qualified manufactured homes as permitted under KRS 100.348.

The Paducah Planning Commission held a public hearing on June 1st, 2026, and subsequently forwarded a favorable recommendation that the City Commission approve the proposed text amendment.

So move.

Second.

Comments?

Ready to vote.

Call roll, please.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Read the next one, please.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled and ordinance amending chapter 126-103 low and medium density ranch to control zone, R2 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Paducah, Kentucky.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance amends the Paducah Zoning Ordinance to update the R2 low and medium density residential zone by requiring all new single-story homes to have a roof pitch of at least 512 and permanent foundation.

The amendment is intended to maintain neighborhood character and ensure compatibility of qualified manufactured homes as permitted under KRS 100.348.

The Paducah Planning Commission held a public hearing on June 1st, 2026, and subsequently forwarded a favorable recommendation recommendation that the city commission approve the proposed text amendment.

So moved.

Second.

I believe we're ready to vote on this one as well.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

So the next ordinance has to do, we also talked about this a couple of weeks ago.

It has to do with the an article, state or state law related to procurement.

So I'll ask the city clerk to read it.

A proposed motion that the Board of Commissioners adopt an ordinance entitled.

An ordinance amending chapter 2 administration article 8.

Finance and procurement.

So moved.

Second questions.

We good.

Call roll, please.

Commissioner Henderson.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas.

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

Last ordinance we're going to approve tonight is our agreement with this with the professional firefighters, local 168.

And we have a group of them here tonight.

Thank you very much for being here.

And I'll ask the city clerk to please read the ordinance.

A proposed motion of the Board of Commissioners to adopt an ordinance entitled an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Paducah and Professional Firefighters of Paducah, Local 168, International Association of Firefighters.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance authorizes the mayor to execute an agreement with the professional firefighters of Fadooka, Local 168, International Association of Firefighters.

This agreement will become effective July 1, 2026 and expire on June 30th, 2029.

So moved.

Second.

Discussion.

I'm glad that we're doing this tonight and appreciate you all being here.

I think we all appreciate the service of the fire department and what they mean to our community.

And we know we can trust them.

We know that they have the best interest of our city at heart and in mind at hand, and we appreciate that very much.

So thank you all for your service.

Absolutely.

I tell any of them, any of them that'll listen to me, you know, how damn proud I am, you know, as mayor to have all of y'all outrepresent me.

So I've said it before, and that's that's how I feel.

So call roll, please.

Commissioner Henderson.

Aye.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas?

Aye.

Commissioner Wilson.

Aye.

Mayor Bray.

Aye.

And so you and uh Matt would come forward here.

We'll do the official signing.

Um there should be two copies there and one for you to uh to sign, and then once we have that, uh we'll have the rest of the fire department to come up behind them and we can get a group photo.

If you want to the others we didn't at a meeting then we'll invite uh any of the department to come up and so we behind if you'd like uh to stand behind of the commission also if you want to join behind the the mayor and Matt for the photo, and then we have a group photo there.

Let's go there too.

Big picture.

All right, thank you.

Okay, we have we have one ordinance to introduce tonight, and I'll let the city clerk uh read it and explain it.

A proposed motion that the board of commissioners introduce an ordinance entitled an ordinance granting a non-exclusive franchise for a term of 10 years for a telecommunications system within the confines of the city of Faduca, Kentucky to Winstream KDL LLC, a unity company pursuant to the terms and provisions of Chapter 108 telecommunications of the code of ordinances and approving and authorizing the mayor to execute the franchise agreement and all other documents related to the same.

This ordinance is summarized as follows.

This ordinance accepts windstream KDL LLC, a unity companies bid and grants a non-exclusive tenure telecommunications franchise in accordance with chapter 108 of the code of ordinances authorizing Windstream Unity to construct, operate, and maintain telecommunications facilities within the public rights of way, subject to the city's regulatory standards, fees, and oversight requirements.

So move.

Second.

This is we have had several different telecommunications franchises come before the city commission over the past few years.

This one, um, they are currently operating within the city of Paducah.

They are built out.

This used to be uh windstream is well how you all will probably know it.

Um but they have merged with a company called Unity.

Um, and so this is a telecommunications franchise with Unity to um bring them in line with our current telecommunications franchise ordinance.

Uh they do not have any plans for additional build-out right now in the area.

They primarily uh service the entirely service commercial uh businesses and hospitals.

Um they currently aren't serving any residential and they don't have plans to in the future.

Um so tonight we have here with us James Galvin.

He is the construction manager for Unity, and if you all have any questions, he's happy to answer those for you.

Let you off tonight.

All right, she's she's spoken, so I guess I can have some questions.

Well, I did, but she just said she was gonna let them off.

No, thank you very much for um uh you know for uh coming in compliance, you know, with the city's ordinance.

We appreciate it very much, and uh um and let us know if you plan to build out because you know competition makes the world go round.

So if you plan to build out more, let us know.

I'm sure if you guys ever need to do something.

Well, I got a call this week actually from somebody who was not happy with their uh provider, and uh and they're not on a list to be built out, so um, there's probably some pockets of opportunity out there.

But but thank you very much for being here supporting your company.

Okay, we move here uh to a discussion item.

Um Greg Gubert, uh okay, Melanie actually is going to give us an update on the bill grants.

Very exciting.

Um, the riverfront development project.

Thanks, Melanie.

Commissioners, manager, Cindy Clark.

I'm back.

So we are gonna have one more update.

We are at the end of the road, believe it or not.

It's so exciting.

So we're gonna look at um where we were the last time I was up here, which was in April.

Believe it or not, it's been three months.

Um, and see where we're at now.

So this is what we saw in April down at the foot of Broadway, the Christmas tree opening.

You can see they had started some of the concrete work in that area.

And as of last week, now these changed from day to day now, but this was last week.

You can see how much uh work they've done.

They've gotten a lot of the concrete in to finish the path out toward the foot of Broadway opening.

They will have they've got seat walls in, and they've started putting in the uh landscaping.

So they'll finish out the papers, and this area is almost finished.

So as we move down, we saw the the grand staircase coming down out of the um Christmas tree opening.

We saw where they were gonna put up the letters.

Um, and so there they are, the Port of Paducah letters.

So we were really excited to see those, and I thought they turned out great.

Um so we're right there, Christmas tree opening once again, coming down the staircase with the Port of Paducah letters, and they will be backed by greenery.

So you'll be able to really see them.

They're gonna really pop there as uh as the plants mature and fill in.

You spell Paducah wrong.

Later much.

Never.

Maybe you got me sliding.

I've looked at them so many times, surely not.

Um I just wanted to kind of showcase how the um design for the top of the staircase is gonna mimic the design that's within the current city block uh pavilion area.

So we've really tried to coordinate and bring all of this together so that when people come down to to enjoy our riverfront, that we're pulling them into downtown Paducah, and they're seeing that continuity.

So this is kind of this is our goal.

This is what it's going to look like, and I hope you can really see it coming together through the pictures now.

I mean, you can really tell we've got the seat walls in, there's the port of Baduca ladders, the staircase going down to the the pier.

So it's really it's starting to look like these beautiful pictures that we've had so far.

Um, so in April, this was where the pier was at.

You can see they were they were uh driving the last uh 48-inch piling down there on the end at that time, they had all of the um pierce sections in except for the very last one in this in this picture.

But now as you can see, looking from Jules Park up the pier, we've got all the pilings in, we've got the fenders, we've got the cones on the top, they've done all their closure pores, and they're starting to do the pores for setting the handrail post.

So we are we are getting there.

Um, it's gonna be very nice, and it is going to really to be something.

We had the HR uh brownwater engineer was in last week, and he would we were asking about it, and he's like, he had never designed.

I don't know if this is a good thing to say, he had never designed exactly this type of of structure.

So he was like, you know, we were real, they were really excited and they put a lot of effort into this.

So we may end up everybody coming to Baduca and wanting what we have.

So uh he was very he was very pleased with the construction uh of the of the pier.

So we were glad to hear that.

So moving along, this is Schultz Park.

Now I know this rain that we've had has caused people a lot of problems, and I recognize that, but it makes this look so good with this green grass.

So you kind of see how it all is gonna flow together.

You're looking back toward the foot of Broadway, the pier coming out through Shilp's Park, and then you can turn and you can see this would be like from the river.

You're looking at the revetment that steps up to the seating area that steps up to the amphitheater.

So I just I'm really pleased how this is all coming together, and all of these um elements are really gonna look good and really display Paducah well to uh people that are visiting.

So in April we looked at the amphitheater that they had put the sod in the amphitheater, so it was looking really good.

They were still working on the pavers down here, but now they've got all the pavers done, they've got um all the trees.

You can see how the trees are starting to fill in, it's really starting to look nice out there, and then the back of the uh amphitheater area toward the flood wall.

Yeah, it's kind of a weird angle, but um second street, Harrison Street here.

So you're you're seeing all this this area where they're starting to work.

And if you go down there right now and you walk in the Harrison Street exit or entrance and you turn right, this is what you're gonna see.

So they've got sod down, they've got this really nice um stepping stone type path, some seating areas with trees, so you're gonna have shade, be able to go back there and sit and have lunch or read a book or any number of things.

So we're just real excited about how it's looking.

And we looked at this in April, so this is the compass rose.

This is really the center piece of the whole commons area.

Um, it's really very detailed, very tedious and time-consuming work on the uh subs behalf of doing all this concrete work.

But that's what it looks like now.

It's completely finished.

Uh, all of the all the pavers are in.

Um the this is uh base asphalt, so it'll have a another coat of of the final asphalt once everything's finished.

They're working back here in this area right now with sod and getting all the uh different furnishings and things that are gonna be there, and one of those is picnic tables.

So we've got picnic tables out there.

I've already seen somebody down there using them when we were down there.

This is the transient boat block.

So if you get off the transient boat docks and you walk up and you're looking, and there's gonna be picnic tables right there for you to use.

Um so as it as it all fills in, it'll be nice.

But like I said, I have seen someone down there already using it.

So as we move on toward the the uh convention center up to the top screen, this was in April.

You can see they've got done all the dirt work and a lot of concrete work and a lot of really twiggy trees.

So now, thanks to all the rain, we have a a lot of um volunteer grass, but all that volunteer grass is going away.

But all that volunteer grass is going away.

Um we are putting down sod.

We have put in a irrigation system.

You can kind of see the lines where they've run the irrigation system.

And so to help keep this up, I mean, just this amount of space trying to keep it watered on really dry summers is would be impossible.

And you can see up toward the top coming out of the executive boulevard opening, you can walk straight out, and that's another set of picnic tables right out there.

And we've got our two Greenway Trail uh shelters for uh riders or walkers on the greenway trail if they need to take a break and get out of the sun.

But it's gonna be nice.

If you'll notice there in the middle where the crane is, they're setting the pedestal in the circle here.

They're setting a pedestal, a limestone pedestal for our um monument uh display.

This was the um historic chain that was uh given to or was donated to the city by the DeSmooks family uh that was used on one of his ships, and there's the marker that they had.

Um we're gonna have it cleaned now that that it's been set and all, but it's right there beside the the marker and under the light, so you can you can really see it nicely.

So this that's our goal.

And I really feel like we're we're getting there.

I really think you know that it's really gonna it's gonna really look nice and it's gonna be a uh a definite uh asset for Paducah going forward.

It looks beautiful.

Sure does.

Absolutely.

And so right now everything's on a track, the commons area, which is kind of the I call it the it's the park area.

We call it the commons area.

End of July, they should be putting those last finishing touches on it.

The excursion pier and plaza, we're looking at the end of August, and then grand opening in September.

When do you think the the first cruise ship uh would be able to use the pier?

Uh as soon as it's finished, it'll be I mean the the last thing will be the the railings.

I don't I meant to look and I don't remember what the next the first scheduled one was.

I want to say October.

October.

Okay.

That's what I was thinking just right off.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because I know I had looked at it at one time, but I'd be good for all of us to know when the first ship comes in.

Sure.

You know, and using the pier for the first time.

That'll be exciting.

Yeah, we might want to greet them down there.

Yeah.

Jump on.

Questions?

Any?

No.

No, it looks like it looks great.

Thank you for the update.

You're welcome.

Thanks.

Looks great.

Okay, that's all that's on the regular agenda.

We do have an execu executive session.

Um we do not expect to take any action coming out of the executive session.

So I'll uh ask the city clerk to please read.

I proposed motion of the board of commissioners to go.

I had a comment.

Oh, before sorry about that.

I failed to ask our board of commissioners for comments.

So I'll start down here.

Does anybody have a comment?

I have no comment tonight, sir.

Oh, I have I have comments.

Just I know we've uh voted to we're getting ready.

No, we voted to extend the lease on the probation parole building.

I think it'd be with the talk of a police station and all that, it would probably be good to really look at that from a PNL standpoint to see uh see how profitable it is to make sure you know it could be an asset that we don't need that could be used to support the proceeds could be used to support a police station.

So I'd like to see uh PL on the operation of that.

Okay.

And I just had a quick comment.

I spoke with the city manager about this this week, um, but I wanted to put it on y'all's radar as well when it comes to illegal dumping.

Um I know I'm sure some of y'all have been reached out about it, and I did speak with DC Cherry about it as well, but um I had an idea about you know some kind of partnership with the police force because some of these individuals they have locations that they regularly dump in.

I had a 92-year-old resident that reached out to me about it and says this happens often there.

So just wanted to try to throw that out there that maybe we can start finding a way to part, you know, get some partnership with the Code Enforcement and Police Force to have some kind of I don't know, sting operation on these illegal dumpers because they're really preying on, you know, the elderly.

I even had my aunt who's a widow, she had stuff dumped in her back alley as well.

So just wanted to put that out there that you know maybe that's something we need to start looking into.

You know, I know a lot of people, you know, Commissioner Thomas might not be able to afford this, but you know, cameras are really inexpensive, you know.

And uh so it would be good if people, I don't know, if we could recommend to people that they get, you know, they get a camera, you know, if it's been happening regularly.

So DC Charity is shared that they're trying to get some kind of list of like local organizations that may be able to help out individuals like that.

So that's a great step forward with it.

But I was just brainstorming and thinking on it, you know, especially for a 92-year-old, he's not gonna know how to set up a camera and utilize it.

So they dumped it in his yard.

In the alleyway, so that's something it was right in the alleyway behind his homes.

Okay.

And that's kind of I just want to spark the conversation with everybody, so we can all be aware of it.

Okay, thank you very much.

Sorry I missed you earlier.

You're all right.

Okay.

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

Future sale or acquisition of a specific parcel of real estate as permitted by KRS 61.810 subsection one B.

A specific proposal by a business entity where public discussion of the subject matter would jeopardize the location retention expansion or upgrading of the business entity as permitted by KRS 61.810 subsection one G, and conduct a performance review of the city manager as permitted by KRS 83A.150 subsection four D.

So move.

Second.

Carl Roll.

Commissioner Henderson.

Commissioner Smith.

Aye.

Commissioner Thomas?

I Commissioner Wilson?

I Mayor Bray.

Aye.