Paducah Board of Commissioners Approves Sewer Easement, GPED, Airport Funds, Grants, and Ordinances - August 25, 2026
Paducah Board of Commissioners Meeting - August 25, 2026
Mayor Bray presided over the Paducah Board of Commissioners meeting on August 25, 2026, with Commissioners Henderson, Smith, Thomas, and Wilson present. Commissioner Wilson offered the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The board approved the consent calendar, five municipal orders, and four ordinances, and heard public testimony urging reform of the city business tax.
Public Comments & Testimony
- A public speaker argued that Paducah's gross-sales business tax is inherently flawed because it imposes the same rate on low-margin, high-volume businesses and high-margin businesses. They said the tax drains capital that local businesses would otherwise use to buy equipment, remodel storefronts, and improve wages and working conditions, and that it favors large established corporations over small businesses. They urged the commission to adopt a fair net-profit-based tax or tiered system based on actual take-home earnings.
Mayor's Announcements
- Mayor Bray announced that the city is creating a Department of Community Development, combining code enforcement and building and electrical inspection under Carol Galt. The fire marshal and his staff will remain part of the Fire Department under Deputy Chief Cherry. The mayor said the restructuring is intended to make approvals and interactions more user-friendly for developers and contractors.
Consent Calendar
- The consent calendar was approved. Items included the August 11, 2026 meeting minutes; receive-and-file documents; personnel actions; a $75,750 contract with Building Conservation Associates for a historical structural report on the Hotel Metropolitan; a $215,000 contract with Paducah Area Transit System for public transportation services; Microsoft licensing through Insight Public Sector not to exceed $108,000; a 2027 Kentucky litter abatement grant application; and a bid from Linwood Motors for patrol SUVs at $57,166 each and one detective SUV at $52,745, totaling $281,409 for the Paducah Police Department.
- The board pulled item D, the permanent sanitary sewer easement for the Joint Sewer Agency, off the consent calendar and considered it separately as the first municipal order.
Municipal Orders
- Sanitary sewer easement (Noble Park): The board approved an easement of approximately 1.09 acres of city-owned property in Noble Park to the Paducah-McCracken County Joint Sewer Agency. A JSA representative explained the project will add a pump station and screening facility tied to the consent agreement with state and federal regulators on combined sewer overflows. The project is estimated at $15.2 million and will be financed partly by a KIA loan at 1.75% interest plus a 0.2% fee, with 22% principal forgiveness of about $3.3 million. The new pumping capacity will be about 60 million gallons per day, more than doubling the current flood-wall pump station capacity. Officials said it will provide high-river and stormwater relief; the 2015 rain event was cited as an example, with five inches of rain in about 90 minutes. Approved.
- Greater Paducah Economic Development Council contract ($250,000): Bruce, representing GPED, presented results for fiscal year ending June 30, 2026 and described the contract as a strong investment. GPED announced four projects with a collective capital investment of $3.4 billion, 432 anticipated direct jobs, 503 indirect and induced jobs, a total of 935 jobs, average pay just over $98,000 per year, and an estimated recurring annual impact of $202 million. Projects included General Matter ($1.5 billion, about 313 total jobs, average pay about $104,000), AES Energy ($130 million solar project, 60 megawatts, three jobs, $597,000 recurring annual impact), Heinz Furlong expansion ($10.7 million, 92 total jobs, average pay about $71,000), and Global Laser Enrichment ($1.8 billion, 527 total projected jobs, average pay over $100,000, $114 million recurring annual impact, with an NRC license expected in Q1 2027). GPED also reported a $2 million Kentucky Product Development Initiative award for a 100,000-square-foot spec building, completion of the triple rail site access road expected in summer 2027, 2,800 mission touches (up 11%), 950 project activity touches (up 30%), private investors up nine to 30, static city/county funding over 12 years while inflation rose 36%, $55 of economic benefit per $1 invested overall, and about $100 per $1 of city/county funding. Approved.
- Barkley Regional Airport contribution ($120,000): Airport board chairman Jason and airport official Dennis thanked the commission and reported on SkyWest service to O'Hare and Houston with 14 round trips instead of 12, no cancellations in July and August, 4,203 passengers in July and about 2,972 in August so far, and an already-reached 10,000-passenger annual benchmark that triggers about $1.3 million in FAA entitlement funds. A community survey drew 7,385 responses, and airport officials said they are seeking an ultra-low-cost carrier to Florida, with examples including Frontier or Allegiant. They also described ongoing projects, including a $3 million state-funded FBO renovation, a $2 million fuel farm replacement, a $3.749 million perimeter road, a $5.5 million runway rehab, and growth in fixed assets from $20 million to almost $74 million over seven years. A new fire station/ARFF building is estimated at $8.27 million, and a planned $1.3 million crash truck will not fit the existing station. Approved.
- Coleman Road Sidewalk Design Project ($151,324.20): The board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to use federal Carbon Reduction Funds for design of a multi-use path connecting Coleman Road hotels to restaurants and businesses on Hinkleville Road, including a possible pedestrian bridge. The funds cover design only; the city will pursue separate construction funding later. Approved.
- HUD Healthy Homes grant application ($1.5 million): The board authorized applying for and, if awarded, accepting a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Healthy Homes grant. Staff said the 42-month reimbursement program would reduce housing-related health and safety hazards in the South Side Phase One census tract, help owner-occupied and rental households at or below 80% of median income, and provide $15,000 to $20,000 per home for roughly 65 homes with no upfront cost to residents. The 10% leverage requirement can be met through existing South Side funding or in-kind contributions; partners include CFSB, the senior center, and the school system. The grant is competitive, with 25 awards nationally, and the application deadline is August 31. Approved.
Ordinances Adopted
- Lifeline Recovery Center: The board approved a contract not to exceed $200,000 for four passenger vans using opioid settlement funds, amending the fiscal year 2027 budget. The ordinance was on second reading; no new discussion was held because a presentation was given two weeks earlier.
- Alley closing: The board approved closing an 8,129-square-foot alley parallel to Kentucky Avenue and Washington Street between South Ninth Street and Walter Jetton Boulevard, authorizing quick-claim deeds to abutting owners to accommodate construction of the new health department.
- Budget amendment: The board adopted amendments to the fiscal year 2025-26 operating budget ordinance 2025-06-8847. The listed changes included a $20,000 general fund revenue increase and a general fund expenditure increase transcribed as $118,000,100 (likely intended as $118,100); plus $49,573 for the investment fund, $158,871 for the room tax fund, $820,449 for the capital projects fund, $2,913 for the grant fund, $7,127 for debt service, $98,100 in fleet lease trust revenue, and $421,154 for the health insurance fund.
- Retiree life insurance: The board amended Chapter 78, Section 40 to end retiree life insurance effective September 1, 2026, with retirees who took coverage before that date grandfathered under the plan.
Key Outcomes
- All five municipal orders and all four ordinances were approved on roll-call votes. The transcript does not record Commissioner Thomas's vote on several roll calls, so individual vote tallies are incomplete.
- The city manager announced upcoming events: September 4 at 2 p.m., Cobb Park playground dedication and ribbon cutting; September 10, sports park event; and September 18 at 4 p.m., grand opening of the riverfront development project. Albert Jones Park also received a walking trail refresh and new pavilion.
- A commissioner thanked the city manager and police chief for making August 8 footage available, said the footage provided fuller context, and said they are convening a group to develop a plan for improving city-community relationships every day, not just for the 2027 event. The mayor expressed support.
- No executive session was held; the board adjourned by motion.
Meeting Transcript
Commissioner Henderson? Present. Commissioner Smith? Here. Commissioner Thomas? Here. Commissioner Wilson. Present. Mayor Bray. Present. I would ask Commissioner Wilson to do the invocation, and then we'll remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you on behalf of all of us who are gathered for the many blessings that we have. Thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work. We ask today for your guidance and support as we make decisions on behalf of our city and our community. Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I contend that this system is inherently flawed. Some businesses naturally operate on razor-thin profit margins while others enjoy high margins. A flat tax on gross sales fails to capture that nuance, placing an unfair burden on low margin high volume businesses. Furthermore, this tax structure actively stalls local economic growth. When businesses have money available, they want to reinvest it. They buy new equipment, they remodel their storefronts, and they reward their staff with better wages and safer work environments. By taxing gross sales instead of net profit, the city directly robs local businesses of the capital needed for those improvements. You are penalizing growth and draining the funds that would otherwise flow directly back into our local workforce and neighborhood infrastructure. Let's make our taxing system equitable. We must urgently reform Paduca's business tax structure to evaluate companies on their actual net income rather than their gross revenues. Currently, our local tax system operates in reverse. It imposes a crushing burden on small businesses while granting substantial tax advantages to large established corporate entities. Taxing small businesses with without regard for low profit margins, soaring inventory costs, or high operating expenses is economically unsustainable. It's time for governing entities to stop penalizing the foundational storefronts of our community and implement a fair tiered system based on true take-home earnings. The simplest solution is to implement a net profit tax destructured in McCracken County. I implore this commission to adopt a fair tax based on net profit. I appreciate your time. Thank you, Marshal. Okay, I do have an announcement to make tonight. The city is restructuring two of our departments. And I'll try to walk everybody through it. But we are establishing a department of community development. And we're going to combine our code enforcement and building and electrical inspection departments under the heading of Department of Community Development. This new this new department will be under the leadership of Carol Galt. It's designed to lean into the community growth and development that we anticipate in the months and years to come. And making it making approvals and interactions more user-friendly to developers and contractors. And our deputy fire chief fire marsh fire marshal will remain, and his staff will remain part of the fire department. And I just want to point out while we're talking here that under Chief Deputy Chief Cherry's leadership over the last couple of years, there's made tremendous there's been tremendous uh progress made. We've gotten a lot of positive comments from the community, and I really think that you know the seeing how things can improve and work better, you know, really uh help lead the commission to this decision uh to make things even more user-friendly in the future. Obviously, going forward, collaboration with uh those who remain in the fire department who are working on uh all kinds of things in the in the community, and we'll need to interface with our new department. You know, that collaboration is going to be key. But um we'll be getting a press release out on it as well, but I just wanted to make that announcement uh to the community. And so now we'll move to the consent agenda, and those items are considered to be routine by our Board of Commissioners and will be enacted by one motion and one vote.
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