Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

It's time for us to begin our meeting, and uh usually if we're late, it's because I made us late.

So let's get uh started while the clock is still on zero zero.

Let me welcome uh all of those who've come tonight for our meeting.

Let me see good evening to the members of the board.

And uh thank you.

Let me say this.

Uh behind behind uh our new attorney uh is the uh little pocket with copies of the agenda.

We have a new resident Vanna White, yeah.

More shoulders into it, Mayor.

I'll work out.

Good for his first try, right.

Let's see.

Good to see you this evening, sir.

Served the city of Richmond several years ago in our police department and uh Kentucky State Police and Pastor and Dear Friend.

Good to see you tonight.

Great God in heaven.

I will come before you with humble hearts.

Thank you, Lord, for the privilege that we have just to be a part of what we're doing right now.

Each and every day is a blessing.

And Lord, we pray your favor upon this body, Lord, that they would be found faithful with the responsibilities and the that they have been empowered with Lord.

We pray that from the least to the greatest.

Blessed our loved ones.

And Lord, we thank you that we live in a nation where we are proud to say it is in God that we trust in you that we depend and in you that we rely.

Thank you, Father.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, sir.

We're delighted to have Girl Scouts of Kentucky's Wilderness Road Council Troop 2673 with us today to lead our Pledge of Allegiance.

Sophie, Evelyn, Julia, and Celia are all cadet girl scouts, grade six through nine, and all home school.

Sophie has been in Girl Scouts for seven years and is in the ninth grade.

Evelyn, Julia, and Celia have been in Girl Scouts for five, four, and three years respectively, and are all in the sixth grade.

This troop is known in the region for being the ones to call when you need a flag ceremony performed.

Over the past two years, they've served as color guard for six flag ceremonies.

Twice at the Girl Scout Engineering Math and Science Conference called Gems, twice for high award ceremonies, a council-wide volunteer celebration ceremony, and just this past weekend at a 1,000 box celebration ceremony.

Upcoming plans this fall include a troop trip to Universal Studios.

Take me.

Please proceed.

Please ride.

Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which to stand one nation under God, individual with liberty to store.

Well, thank you so much for coming.

And as I say, whenever we're uh privileged to have uh some of our young people and children of our community, uh Alex, there's hope.

There's hope.

There's hope.

Let's see here.

We'll call the meeting to order.

Madam Clerk, please call the role.

Commissioner Brewer.

Here.

Commissioner Cole.

Here.

Commissioner Goble.

Here.

Commissioner Newby.

Here.

Mayor Blind.

Here, thank you.

We have one new business recognition night.

Carrie, if you'll come, please.

Are they uh huh?

Okay, okay.

I tell you what, let's do this.

If uh there he is.

Good evening.

I'm Carrie Lee Hensley, your small business and economic development coordinator, and we have a new business this evening, and he is right at the door.

So I'm going to invite Stephen Greaser to come and tell us about Botanicals.

I can attest it's been very popular new business.

Um a lot of people are raving about it on Facebook.

So Stephen, we'll just let you tell us about my heart in this, but we apologize for that.

Got a little little delay closing up.

So yeah, my name is Stephen Greaser.

Uh I am not a Richmond native, uh, but I've been here gosh for the last uh probably 14-15 years.

Uh, prior to opening the coffee shop to work out the Army Depot at the chemical project.

Uh before that, uh, I traveled around uh three different states working the same project.

Uh but Richmond's kind of come home for me.

Uh love it here, want to stay here, and uh we notice the need in the community for an event space in the city, uh, somewhere everybody can get together, somewhere can have some room, gather, socialize, talk, uh, and have some additional uh really great little coffee.

So in our journeys throughout traveling, different cities, different states, checking things out.

Uh we just kind of fell in love with some of the shops that they had there that had coffee and plants, uh, larger settings where you could come in and sit, uh, events, different classes, things like that that you can hold.

We wanted to offer that to Richmond Greenford.

So uh that's what we did with Botanicals.

Uh we've created a space that's welcoming for everybody that's comfortable, uh, relaxing.

As soon as you come in the doors, we want you to forget about the outside world.

Just come in, sit, chat, meet new people, talk to strangers, and enjoy the coffee.

One of our big things is we want to get back to the community and work with other small businesses as absolutely much as we can.

We are very appreciative of our first responders, veterans, fire police, our social media manager and lead designer is the electric police officer.

So we we really want to help out and get back to those that help us.

We want to get back to them as well for the great hard work that they do.

So we offer discounts for them daily.

So we're being that we're a little bit newer, a lot of people don't know quite exactly where we're at.

So we're at 459 Eastern Bypass, which is open to Shoppers Village.

So we're right next to kind of next to the Peddler's Mall.

We're open uh what uh six to four Monday through Saturday, and eight to two on Sunday.

Uh so besides the coffee, uh we do have some local pastries that we have available.

We're working with some other people to get some other baked items in there as well, the local businesses.

Uh all our coffees are going to be Kentucky roasted.

Um, if they're not in Kentucky, we're not going to have them.

Uh, of course, we have all the plants, lots of different house plants uh for both display, and we'll get some for sale as well.

Uh and then we'd like to say before we want to get into some other event type things down the road where we can offer different classes or have people come in and teach different classes.

Um that's kind of about the biggest, I suppose we have there.

Uh like I said, we really just want to work with other small businesses.

Uh we want to give back to Madison County as much as we can and help help those like us.

Thank you.

Right.

All right.

Oh, there's one.

Everybody move.

We got this down to us.

Yeah.

We'll be there to be.

And happy to hear that you made the transition from the Army Depot project into something else in a steel here.

Yes, sir.

That's certainly a concern of ours.

Next presentation is from one stop and then in Rich with Adam Harrell and Van Kirstein.

Good evening, everybody.

I intended to change, but as you can see, I did not make it.

So I've heard Adam give this presentation or similar derivative of it twice in the last 24 hours from Leadership Kentucky, and the second time to leadership Madison County, so I have great confidence he's gonna do a great job of that.

I'm here as support and answer any questions.

Thanks so much for having us tonight.

Thank you all for having me and having most of our staff here in the one stop.

Um as most of you all know, the one-stop resource referral of Madison County is a daughter of Enrich.

And uh a lot of you all know, Dan and India, uh, this was something that was birthed from their professional careers as police officer and India working in the foster care system, um, seeing the need in our community where substance abuse prevails, um, and knowing that we have a great need and a task ahead of us to try to tackle many other needs in our community besides just that one.

So a little bit of a background for me.

Again, my name is Adam Harold, and uh my background, I came from Baptist Health, Richmond, where I previously worked for the last three years.

Um my job there was the community liaison, and I really enjoyed that job.

It was something that gave me a lot of purpose, and I have a lot of passion.

Uh I'm someone who's in long-term recovery.

A lot of times they were sleeping under our own bridges on I 75.

And it really put a burden on my heart and let me understand a little bit deeper on how that our system in a lot of ways is really not set up for success.

And so God really laid on my heart this mission, and through a lot of community collaboration and conversations that took place over time, there was a theme that kept popping up.

We need a place, a central location where people can come and they can get pointed in the right direction, whether they're receiving services under one roof or whether they do they're being pointed in the direction of quality services within our community.

We're really blessed in Madison County to have a lot of quality resources.

But I think for a long time, the missing piece is that there hasn't been a compass.

There hasn't been a place where people can come to get pointed in that right direction.

And so that is a little bit of a background of how we got started.

So I would like to go ahead and get started into our presentation of what it is that we do at the one stop.

When someone comes in to the one stop, they're obviously welcomed with dignity and respect, and I can't emphasize that enough.

A lot of the population that we're serving, this is a population that hasn't been seen or heard for a really long time.

And they're used to that.

What they're not used to is walking in the door, being treated, being treated with dignity, being treated with respect and being treated with love and faces, who are welcoming them with open arms.

And so we know that there are a lot of barriers that we that are in front of us whenever we're interacting with these folks.

And one of them is privacy.

A lot of times when someone comes in, you may not want to give name or identifiable information, but we just ask them to do that one time, the first time that they walk in the door.

They give us their name and some basic information, and they're assigned an EU IN number, which is an enriched unique identifier number.

And that number is going to stay with them throughout their journey with us at Enrich and at the One Stop.

This is something that I think is really important for us because whenever you can identify what the needs are, and we'll get into that a little bit more into these slides.

Really, it provides us a blueprint and how we're going to guide them throughout their journey.

In just six weeks, we have we and actually now I think we are through seven weeks, and we've actually had updated numbers, over 2300 check-ins.

I think at the beginning of this, if you would have told us that we were probably going to have anywhere from five to 7500 check-ins in the first year, we would have probably been like, wow, that's that's there's a major need here.

But the numbers go to tell you just how prevalent that the need is in our community.

On the other side of that, uh, what we have is an opportunity to collaborate with a lot of community partners.

We will not be successful if we don't have buy-in from our community partners.

It takes a village truly to pull off a mission like this and to be able to have the impact that we truly feel that God has led us to have.

And so when a community partner comes in, whether that's uh someone who's representing housing or whether that's someone who's coming in to help us find employment for an individual who is looking for uh long-term sustainable employment, um, they're asked to check in on that kiosk there on the left side.

They're gonna be asked how long that they're staying for, or how many hours have been dedicated to whatever service it is that they're bringing.

One of those services may include churches where they have back lunches overnight and they've put a lot of time and love and effort.

Maybe they've wrote them, uh they've written down some encouraging notes to put in bags so that we can give those out to folks who are coming in to get a meal.

One of the one of the main tools that we use at the one stop is not just whenever somebody comes in to give a handout that's not what we're here for.

We truly believe that our mission is to drive individuals towards self-sufficiency.

If someone comes into our doors and they have a major need we need to be able to identify that need and the major way that we do that is through this SSOM or what is called the self sufficiency outcomes matrix.

This is something that covers over 20 key life domains and allows us to measure it and identify where it is that someone's in crisis or if someone is thriving.

In six weeks we have completed over 270 SSOMs and I'm going to get into a little bit of what those what the the major needs are of our community because again through this SSOM we're able to identify what the major needs are in individuals' lives this slide has actually it's actually changed quite a bit and I I hate to inform you all that this is actually not what the what the needs are if you'll forgive me I would actually like to give you the accurate I'll give you the I'm sorry but I'll give you the accurate one here.

Employment value is number one income value being number two insecurity is number three followed by housing and then transportation and again there's a reason why this is different because we've been tracking this and this was a this was a PowerPoint that was originally done just a few weeks ago so it goes to show you that there's there's been more volume that has come since then and we've been able to identify the rising needs of our community one of the things that we do an SSOM or a self-sufficiency outcomes matrix is great and it helps us to identify the needs but what what do you do and what platform do you use to be able to send and track these referrals so what we've been gifted is a a 45,000 dollar grant from an organization called findhelp.org and this is a really wonderful platform that's HIPAA compliant that allows us to be able to track the referrals that we send off for a plethora of different resources that we have in our community.

What this does importantly is that yes it's going to show us which services are doing really well whenever we send a referral there's 72 hours before that organization has to respond to us and let us know what happened with that referral which tracks yes this is working they show they were able to show up it was a success or they were not able to show up and then we're able to see what notes come from that what was the barrier that prevented this individual from being able to receive the said service.

So this is something that we feel is a going to highlight what's working in our community but probably more importantly it's going to identify what is not working in our community.

Another major point that I think goes to kind of really the effectiveness of find help is that this is going to greatly reduce on duplication of services within our community within the find help platform and on our end we're going to be able to send these referrals out and depending on how quick and how receptive that the other organizations are we're going to start getting this feedback and we're going to see and be able to track the success of which organizations are doing really good work and that's going to continue to rise on the list of resources that we send out or to refer out to those resources and then likewise if if it is becoming an issue where we're not receiving feedback on what's happening with this referral that is naturally going to start dropping on the resource list.

Uh that is that is one of the beautiful things about a fine health platform.

Um, so again, this is going to help us to show what is working, more importantly, what's not working and reduced on duplication of services.

Some statistics is that to this point we have served, and I think the new number is somewhere around 430 unique individuals.

Um we have given out almost 1800 meals that have been dispersed.

Um we've had over 260 housing inquiries.

We've had 10 participants who have gone from unemployed to full-time employment, um, showing that we are not just uh here to save the community money, but we're also creating taxpayers along the way.

And this is something that we're really proud about.

In just six weeks, I know that that number may not be huge, but that really goes to show you this is a this is a long process sometimes to find employment.

Um, and I think that's uh it's a it's a really good starting point for us just seven weeks into this.

Our our community partner services, as you can see there, are wide variety.

We've had 33 mental health referrals, and also we've had over 22 KC law petitions.

Wow, and just for uh you all who may not know what KC law is.

Uh KC law is a service that we have at enrich, and I think it is the only service that we have in Rich or in Madison County uh that does KC laws, and that is when someone has become a danger to themselves or to someone else due to their substance use, um, they can be petitioned to port order treatment.

Um we are doing some really amazing work.

Um, I'm really happy and proud to have our staff here tonight.

Uh we're missing one or two, but um the individuals that sit right there, volunteers, staff, um just amazing people who have a heart of service, and I'm really proud to be a part of this organization and proud to be here tonight to represent and show you guys that there's a real need in our community, and we're trying to step up to meet those needs.

Thanks, Adam.

Outstanding.

Um let me ask, and he's he's uh alluded to them, but let me uh ask all of those from one stop stand if you will please this one stop in rich.

Yeah, there's uh there's the yeah, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Daniel.

Um, let's proceed in our packet.

We have the minutes from the regular meeting, August 12.

If you had a chance to look at those, may we have a motion, please, to bring those to the floor for discussion and approval.

So moved.

Commissioner Cole.

Second.

Commissioner Newby.

Is there any discussion?

Any questions, comment about them?

There being none, Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes, Commissioner Goebbell, yes.

Commissioner Newby.

Yes, Commissioner Brewer.

Yes, Mayor Blind.

Yes, thank you.

I have a special call meeting.

I'm sorry, I could have included those.

Um who made that motion?

Would you include the the other also, please?

And uh common consent then.

Thank you.

Ordinance 25-21, an ordinance amending at entertainment destination center in the downtown of the city of Richmond and directing the city of Richmond to apply for an entertainment destination center license from the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, further establishing the requirements for a license to sell alcoholic beverages within the common areas of the entertainment destination center.

This is a second reading.

We do vote tonight.

Mr.

Attorney, please.

Yes, uh, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh I would like to uh summarize this ordinance uh by just addressing section two, which is licensing, where the fundamental amendments are uh in this uh ordinance that was adopted a few years ago.

Section two, licensing.

The city of Richmond shall apply for an EDC license.

A business that is located within the EDC that sells alcoholic beverages shall hold the necessary alcoholic beverage license or licenses for its premises.

A licensee within or adjacent to the EDC may sell alcoholic beverages from one or more non-permanent locations within any common area within the EDC if the licensee meets the requirements for these sales in accordance with this ordinance and in the mayor required by the city.

Written permission may be granted by the city ABC Administrator after a determination that the requirements listed in this ordinance and 804 KAR for colon 370 have been met.

If permission is denied by the City ABC administrator for sale in a common area, the licensee may file an appeal of the decision to the Board of Commissioners who will conduct a hearing following the appeal whether to uphold or overturn the decision of the city ABC administrator.

From 11 a.m.

Thursday until 11 until 1 a.m.

Sunday, patrons may leave the premises of licensees located in or adjacent to the EDC with alcoholic beverages, beverage drinks, and consume these drinks in any EDC common area or at other licensed premises within the EDC if permitted by the licensee if the city possesses the common area by deed, lease or permit, provides adequate security for the common area, ensures that the public streets are controlled in a manner that ensures public safety and pedestrian protection from vehicular traffic, has granted written permission for the conduct to participating licensees per section two of this ordinance.

Should the licensee wish to use the EDC outside of the 11 a.m.

Thursday and 1 a.m.

Sunday window set forth in Section 2D of this ordinance, determines all special event permits and other licenses, fees, or permits as may be required by the city have been approved, prohibits patrons from taking alcoholic beverages outside the physical boundaries of the EDC, and requires any drinks that are removed from the licensed premises for authorized consumption within the EDC shall be in cups approved by the city.

Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to authorize noncompliance with any law governing vehicle related open container restrictions or any other state statute or local ordinance or policy.

All right.

Thank you for that summary, Mr.

Turney.

Thank you.

This is second reading ordinance 25-21.

May we have a motion, please bring now this to the floor for discussion and approval.

I move.

Commissioner Newby.

Second.

Commissioner Brewer, is there any question, comment, Mr.

City Manager?

Anything you want to add at this time?

I would just say this was a request from downtown businesses, and we've talked to other city managers across the state that actually have this in place seven days a week, some of them five days a week, and they don't have any problems, so I think it will help our downtown businesses.

Again, that allows them from 11 a.m.

Thursday morning until 1 a.m.

Sunday morning.

So Mr.

Attorney, are you now the ABC administrator?

Yes, I am.

I bet that dropped your stress level.

Hallelujah.

Yeah.

I can't get rid of it.

I was ABC go to guy at KLC for years.

So I transitioned for a short time to cannabis.

Now I'm back to alcohol.

So we legally, if I'm legal role, not personal.

I feel you.

That's the drug test.

I'm glad you cleared that.

You'll forget one day and call yourself, right?

If you're in our office.

Absolutely.

And if I had it for two weeks and that was plenty.

Yeah.

Make the transition.

All right, there being none.

Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Gobel.

Yes.

Commissioner Newby?

Yes.

Commissioner Brewer?

Yes.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes.

Mayor Bly.

Yes, thank you.

Ordinance 25-22, an ordinance of the City of Richmond levying an ad valorum tax for the 2025 year upon all properties situated in the city that is subject to taxation.

This is a first reading.

Mr.

Attorney, please.

Whereas the City of Richmond does levy an ad velorum tax yearly upon all properties situated in the city that is subject to taxation.

And whereas the tax rate has been calculated and reviewed.

Now therefore be it ordained by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners that Section 1.

There is hereby levied upon all property, real and personal, situated within the corporate limits of the City of Richmond, and having a taxable status in said city, which is taxable by the city for city purposes for the 2025 year, an ad valorum tax fixed on each 100 worth of said property as a value thereof has been determined in the manner required by law as follows.

A the ad valorum tax for personal property for the City of Richmond General Fund for the 2025 year shall be at the rate of 13.7 cents on each 100 100 worth of said property.

B the ad valorum tax for real property for the City of Richmond General Fund for the 2025 year shall be at a rate of 11.1 cents on each 100 worth of said property.

Section 2, the ad valorum tax for motor vehicles for the year 2025 to be collected by the Madison County Court Clerk shall be at the rate of 28.7 cents on each 100 dollars of assessment and will be used as follows.

General fund 28.7 cents.

Section three, there shall be a 2% discount on all tax bills paid prior to November 1, 2025.

The face amount will be due from November 1, 2024 until December 31st, 2025.

A penalty of 10% shall be added to all taxes and assessments remaining unpaid after January 1, 2026, and that such taxes and assessments shall bear interest at the rate of 15% per annum from January 1, 2026 until paid.

Section 4, this ordinance shall become effective immediately upon second reading adoption and publication by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

Thank you, sir.

That's ordinance 25-22.

Should that be 2025?

May we have a motion, please.

This is a first reading.

Motion to bring the floor for discussion.

Commissioner Brewer.

Second.

Commissioner Newby.

Mr.

City Manager, do you want to add anything at this time?

Yeah.

What I'd like to point out is in uh we took the compensating rate, so we did not increase property taxes or personal property taxes.

The real property tax actually went from 12.1 cents per 100 dollars to 11.1 cents.

That's real property.

Personal property went from 15.3 cents to 13.7 cents per 100 dollars.

So the taxes are actually going down.

Now one thing to consider with this is as we grow, being the second fastest growing city in the state, um, our our assets that are taxable grew by 390 million.

So we felt very comfortable taking the compensating rate and allowing these taxes to go down at this time.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

I was looking around to Sharon here tonight.

No, you gave her the night on the wonderful.

Any further discussion?

Then we'll have the second reading and our next regular meeting or all right, thank you, sir.

Ordinance 25 23, ordinance of the city of Richmond, Kentucky, changing the zoning classification for property located on the corner of Heath Street and Estel Avenue within the city limits.

This too is a first reading.

Mr.

Attorney, please.

Thank you, Mayor.

Whereas MBR Properties, LLC owner, has filed with the Richmond Planning and Zoning Commission an application for a zoning map amendment at the corner of Heath Street and Estel Avenue, 165 South Estel, with 0.289 acres Richmond, Kentucky, and whereas the property is currently vacant land with zone classification B1 neighborhood business and requesting change to L1 light industry, whereas the Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on the requested zone change on August 20th, 2025, in the course of which it received evidence and testimony from persons in favor of and opposed to the requested zone change, and whereas at the conclusion of the public hearings, the planning and zoning commission voted to recommend that the zone change be granted, and whereas the planning and zoning commission at its meeting adopted written findings of fact as to the zone change, and the issue is now before the Board of Commissioners for vital determination, and whereas the Board of Commissioners believes it to be in the public interest that it adopts the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Commission in accordance with the findings of fact adopted by that body.

Now, therefore be it ordained that Section 1, the Board of Commissioners does hereby adopt the recommendation of the Richmond Planning and Zoning Commission as to the requested zone change.

The property in question, located in Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky, as to which the zone change shall apply are the corner of Heath Street and Estel Avenue, 165 South Estel Avenue, 0.289 acres, Richmond, Kentucky, Deed Book 867, page 598.

The Board of Commissioners does hereby adopt the written findings of fact adopted by the Planning and Zoning Commission as its findings of fact.

In accordance with those findings, the zoning of said property shall by shall be and hereby are changed property, is currently vacant land with zone classification B1 neighborhood business and requesting change to L1 light industry.

Section two.

Thank you, sir.

Mr.

Attorney, may I just mention for the record before I ask for a motion, if I'm not mistaken, that's I one isn't it, industry?

I won.

I'm I'm learning on the job.

I apologize.

I won.

That is correct.

Correct, Mayor.

It's I one.

I won't okay thank you.

Thank you.

No worries.

No.

No, that's that's fine.

We have before us ordinance 25-23.

May we have a motion, please to bring the floor for discussion.

This is again a first reading.

So moved.

Commissioner Goble.

Second.

Commissioner Brewer.

First of all, Mr.

City Manager, anything you want to add at this time?

I would just say this is on the corner of Heath Street and East East Estel, and it's already right in an industrial area, so it fits.

With it really, it was vetted well with the planning and zoning board.

Thank you, sir.

Any other discussion, comment?

All right.

There being non-second reading and our next regular meeting.

Ordinance 25-24, an ordinance of the City of Richmond, Kentucky amending the city's zoning and development ordinance is again a first reading.

Mr.

Attorney, please.

Whereas the city's Director of Planning and Zoning has presented to the Richmond Planning and Zoning Commission for its consideration various amendments to the city's zoning and development ordinance, and whereas the Planning and Zoning Commission, following public notice as required by applicable law, did conduct a public hearing on August 20th, 2025 for purposes of considering the various amendments proposed by the Director of Planning and Zoning, and whereas the Planning and Zoning Commission, at the conclusion of such public hearing, recommended that the various amendments presented to it be enacted and adopted by the city's Board of Commissioners.

And whereas the Board of Commissioners has considered the various proposed additions and does find that the adoption of some is necessary, proper, and in the public interest.

Now, therefore, be it ordained that the city zoning and development ordinance be and the same hereby is amended as follows.

Section one, Section 406.5, allowable land uses is amended to provide for following zone determinations.

Social assembly shall be a conditional use in the following zones.

R1A, R1B, R1C, R2, R3, RE, PSP, B1, B2, B3, and B4.

Shooting range shall be a conditional use in the following zones.

AG, B3, I1, and I2.

Section 2, this ordinance shall be effective immediately upon passage following second reading and publication in accordance with the requirements of applicable Kentucky law.

Thank you, sir.

That's the reading of ordinance 25-24.

Again, this is a first reading.

May we have a motion, please, to bring it to the floor for discussion.

So moved.

Commissioner Cole.

Second.

And Commissioner Gould.

Is there any discussion?

Mayor, Commissioners, this was two businesses that we didn't currently have in our zoning classifications.

And it does so happens that both of these businesses are wanting to start in Richmond.

So when they came to the planning and zoning board, they were like, well, where can we go?

So after a long discussion, these are the zones that they've determined for social assembly, which would be like a wedding venue or a shooting range can go.

Now understand that these are conditional in these zones.

So if they came and wanted to open a business in one of these zones, they would need to go in front of the Board of Adjustments and get approval to open in that zone.

So you couldn't just have a wedding venue next door to your house in a regular single family home without having the part required parking, ADA requirements, and safety items as well.

So it's not something we're just opening the spillway to.

You can have these anywhere.

Thank you, sir.

I had a couple questions.

So you can't have them anywhere, but if you just take a regular subdivision or a regular street like here in the city, could a business apply to have a wedding venue in that neighborhood?

If it's within one of these zones, which single family is our one, so it could, but understand they would have to tell you what the capacity could be.

Actually, they would be given the capacity by our building inspection group, and that capacity backs into how much parking they have to have, ADA accessibility, so it's not that easy.

Because that could be in some of our neighborhoods, that could be a real issue.

I know the neighborhood I live in, we're having significant issues with cars and parking, and that was one night when people literally could not get home because there was so many cars on our street, we've had to back up and go down another street to get home.

So I just I mean, the only part of that that really worries me is if we have a neighborhood or a street where parking, you know, is a concern to open up a wedding venue in that neighborhood or on that street, like for example, on the street I live on, it would be a huge problem.

Um we already have trouble.

I I think it would be very hard for a wedding venue to open on the street I live on or the street you live on, just simply because the single family homes that we live in are not suited for a social gathering, and there's no way it would be able to pass the ADA requirements, the parking requirements, and everything else.

So I think it's more suited for it, and I'll give you an example where this came from is out of uh Miller's Landing, where that property is when you come in.

Um that's a huge estate property, and they were going to use it at one time for uh overnight housing.

I think transitional housing, there was some issues with state licensing there for that kind of use.

Um, but that's the kind of property that that would be utilized where there would be plenty of parking, and obviously they'll have to get a uh uh home an occupational permit that meets the ADA requirements as well.

So I think we'll be okay, Tammy, because if if my next door neighbor decided to do a wedding venue and he came to the Board of Adjustments, they certainly wouldn't approve it.

So the ordinance would uh would allow it.

The way we've written the ordinance, it would be allowed if the conditional usage was approved.

If the Board of Adjustments approved, but we're banking on our Board of Adjustments, looking at the parking restrictions and looking at to see how that could be.

And that'll come from our fire marshal and our building inspector department.

So they're not gonna let somebody just open up a wedding venue next to you, I promise.

I say that, it'll happen.

Board of adjustments.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's that's a lot because most weddings, a lot of weddings occur on Saturday night.

And so our typical enforcement staff are probably not may not even be working, you know, codes on Saturday night to have to deal with that.

Well, they would have to be pre-approved.

I mean, so I mean couldn't open it up.

You couldn't open it up unless it was pre-approved by the Board of Adjustments.

I understand, but we already have a lot of parking issues.

Um that's just why I'm concerned about it.

I mean, I get it.

We literally, my street, you couldn't get through a couple nights ago, and so you know that's not per permitted either, but it but we have to be realistic, and we have a huge parking problem in certain areas of our city.

And I would think if anything did come before the Board of Adjustments in that way, that there would be a perfect opportunity to say so.

But also one of those concerns that we would have, and you've already uh alluded to it, is that this crew back here's a bunch over here has to be able to get those vehicles through there.

Yeah.

We're talking venues, though, right?

I mean, it's not like a bunch of people coming to your house when a bar shuts down.

Yeah, I'm very I'm very confident that our our Board of Adjustments with the assistance of building inspections and the fire marshals will not allow these just to pop up very much.

Throw that kitty on their back.

Okay, we'll watch it carefully.

Yeah.

Yeah, thank you.

Any other comment?

That's ordinance 25-24.

There being none, okay.

Order 25, order 25-133 in order of the city of Richmond, declaring property surplus and providing for the disposition.

I'm clerk, please.

Whereas pursuant to ordinance chapter 34.02, deposition of surplus city personal property declares a list of property which shall be submitted monthly to the city manager and submitted to the mayor and city commission for classification as surplus property.

And there now therefore be it ordered by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners that the September 2025 property described by the attached list and submitted by the police department is declared surplus and no longer needed by the city and is not suitable for the purpose for which it was intended.

It is hereby authorized that this property be disposed by gov deals.com.

This order shall be in full force and effect upon reading and adoption by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

That's order 25-133.

May we have a motion, please bring the floor for discussion and approval.

So moved.

Commissioner Cole.

Second.

And Commissioner Goebbel, is there any discussion?

No scooters tonight.

It looks like there's a couple of motorcycles and a couple vehicles.

So I think we got rid of all the scooters last time.

You didn't need a nice 2021 Dodge RAM.

We'll put it in your home cheap.

Any further discussion?

Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Brewer.

Yes.

Commissioner Cole?

Yes.

Commissioner Goebbel?

Yes.

Commissioner Newby.

Yes.

Mayor Blythe.

Yes, thank you.

Order 25-134 and order of the City of Richmond appointing a fire chief.

Madam Clerk Clerk, please.

Yeah.

Whereas, due to a recent retirement by the fire chief, the city posted the open position internally to candidates and interviews were conducted by a selection panel.

Whereas the city manager would like to recommend the promotion of this qualified employee.

Whereas the board has carefully considered that recommendation is in accord with it.

Now therefore, be it ordered by the Richmond City Board of Commissioners that Robbie Smith be appointed as fire chief for the City of Richmond, effective the payroll date, 19th day of September 2025 at pay grade 08.

Robbie's history includes 2002 hired on as a firefighter in 2004 promoted to firefighter 2.

In 2008, promoted to lieutenant, then to captain.

In 2021, promoted to battalion chief, and 2023, promoted to assistant fire chief.

The board of commissioners would like to thank Mr.

Smith for his continued dedication to CD leadership since 2002.

This order shall be in full force and effect upon reading and adoption by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Is the person about whom we're discussing this matter presence?

Come on up, Robbie.

You don't have to say anything unless you want to.

You want to say something?

Oh, he he will.

I just want to thank the city manager and commission for giving me this opportunity.

Thank my family for allowing me to devote all the time and effort that I do to the fire service.

And lastly, to my brothers and sisters at firehouse, I wouldn't be here without them, so I give them all the credit.

Great.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Now let's see.

May we have a motion, please, that will bring uh this uh order to the floor for discussion and approval.

So move.

Commissioner Brewer.

Second.

And Commissioner Goebbel, is there any discussion?

Jim, you want to not put your Robbie, but way back in same day.

Get out of here.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I've taught him everything.

Any further discussion?

There being none, Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes.

Commissioner Goble.

Yes.

Commissioner Newby.

Yes.

Commissioner Brewer.

Yes.

Mayor Blight.

Yes, thank you.

And congratulations, sir.

Order 25-135, an order of the City of Richmond hiring an employee in the recycled department.

Madam Clerk, please.

Whereas the recycled department needs a full-time labor one due to an increase in workload, whereas the position was advertised and interviews conducted.

Whereas the city manager has recommended a hire for the position.

Now, therefore, be it ordered by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

The following individual is hired contingent upon their successful completion of the city's pre-employment requirements as labor one for the recycle department at a salary rate of 1575 per hour effective September 19th, 2025.

Joshua Taylor is an outwheel employee and will serve a one-year probationary period.

This order shall be in full force and effect upon reading and adoption by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

That's order 25-135.

May we have a motion, please, to bring to the floor for discussion and approval.

I move.

Commissioner Newby.

Second.

And Commissioner Brewer, is there any discussion?

There being none, Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Goble.

Yes.

Commissioner Newby.

Yes.

Commissioner Brewer?

Yes.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes.

Mayor Blythe.

Yes, thank you.

Order 25-136.

An order of the City of Richmond entering into a youth football facilities agreement with Madison County Youth Football League.

Mr.

City Manager, please.

Whereas the Madison County Youth Football League organization and the City of Richmond would like to enter into an agreement for the use of the football facilities at Lake Eva Park.

And whereas the Park Department and nonprofit organization have discussed the agreement and voiced no objections.

Now therefore it be ordered by the Richmond City Board of Commissioners that the youth football facilities agreement between the City of Richmond and Madison County Youth Football League is hereby approved.

The agreement outlines the following areas.

Improvements, equipment, additional improvements, scheduling, use of the facilities by third parties, revenues generated through facility use, concessions, rules and regulations of city parks and recreation department, respective rights and obligations of the parties, facilities unusable, insurance, nonprofit status and background checks, light usage, inspection, and term.

The terms of this agreement shall have a term of one year commencing on the date and the first year above written.

If at any time the nonprofit status is lost or revoked, the city of Richmond reserves a right to cancel this contract.

The mayor is authorized to sign this agreement on behalf of the city.

This order shall become effective immediately upon reading and passage by the Richmond City Commission.

Thank you, Mr.

City Manager.

That's order 25-136.

May we have a motion, please, to bring to the floor for discussion and approval.

So moved.

Commissioner Cole.

Second.

Commissioner Goebbel, is there any discussion?

Mayor, if I may, sir, please.

I just want to point out we just did a one-year contract with the youth football group because they'll be at the new park next year, and we'll need to re renegotiate the use of that property, and it'll probably be for a three-year term at that time.

So thank you.

Any other comment, question?

There being none, Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Newby.

Commissioner Brewer.

Yes.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes.

Commissioner Goebbel?

Yes.

Mayor Blythe.

Yes, thank you.

Yes.

He's so full of it.

Order 25-137.

An order of the City of Richmond awarding installation bids for the fire training center project.

Madam Clerk, please.

Whereas the city constructed a new fire training center facility last fiscal year and now wishes to start construction on the interior with installation of plumbing, HBAC, and electrical.

Whereas the City of Richmond has advertised, received, and reviewed all submitted proposals, and has determined the best economical and lead time for the project.

Now therefore be it ordered by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

The Fire Training Center Plumbing Project Contract is awarded to First Call Construction of Richmond, Kentucky for an amount of $28,600.

The HBAC project contract is awarded to Dunwright Services of Lancaster, Kentucky for a total of 45,800.

The electrical project contract is awarded to first call construction of Richmond, Kentucky for a total of 40,0300.

Funding for the project is allocated from fire department capital outlay, which was fiscal year 26.

The submitted bid is hereby attached to the order.

This order shall take effect upon reading and passage by the City of Richmond Board of Commission.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

That's order 25-137.

May we have a motion, please, to bring to the floor for discussion and approval.

Commissioner Brewer.

Second.

Commissioner Newby.

Is there any discussion?

I would just say the only piece missing from finishing this project is the finished work of the building.

That'll be the last thing we put out to bid.

And this was budgeted for, and it looks like there's a very good chance we'll be under budget, so that's nice as well.

Thank you, sir.

Any other question, comment?

That being none, Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Brewer?

Yes.

Commissioner Cole?

Yes.

Commissioner Goebbel?

Yes.

Commissioner Newby?

Yes.

Mayor Blythe.

Yes, thank you.

Order 25-138.

Order of the City of Richmond appointing a new member to the Board of Adjustments, Madam Clerk, please.

Whereas whereas there is a vacancy on the Board of Adjustments, and whereas there's a citizen that has expressed interest in serving has made a commitment to attend all meetings.

Now therefore be it ordered by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

The following individuals hereby appointed to the Board of Adjustments for the full term of four years.

Kenny Hill is term will expire 9-9 of 29.

This order shall be in full force and effect upon reading and adoption by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And uh before uh I ask for that motion, uh Kenny is here.

Stand up there, fella.

Uh there's not a um what do we call them, Jim?

Not a dossier, but his resume is not in your packet.

But uh I graduated with Kenny, too.

Huh?

Yeah.

Graduated?

Yeah, yeah.

You'll speak for him.

I can speak for Kenny.

Yes, indeed.

Former, he's a Marine veteran, and uh works at the Bluegrass Army Depot.

Um I will make this comment.

Um Lisa and I have discussed it, but uh the seat that is being filled by Charles Kennedy Hill, better known as Kenny, filled by a gentleman who served 30 years, uh Kennard Bosley.

Thirty plus years, in fact, on that board, and uh we we want, and I said to the city manager at some point at their next meeting or or somewhere thereabouts, even here, we'll we'll uh thank him publicly for those years of service.

But um appreciate that Kenny is willing to do this.

Now maybe have a motion, please.

We will bring order 25-138 to the floor for discussion and approval.

A move.

Commissioner Newby.

Second.

Commissioner Gobel.

Any discussion.

There being none, Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Cole, yes.

Yes, Commissioner Newby?

Yes.

Commissioner Brewer?

Yes.

Mayor Blythe.

Yes, thank you, sir.

Congratulations, I think.

That board's already been called upon in this meeting as well.

Order 25-139, an order of the City of Richmond awarding a bid to purchase equipment for the parks grounds department, Madam Clerk, please.

Whereas the City of Richmond has advertised and accepted bids for purchase of a remote control mower, tractor, and bush hog that will enhance the operations in the park grounds department at the Richmond Regional Sports Complex property due to the terrain.

Whereas bids were received and after review, a proposal met specifications.

Now, therefore, be it ordered by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

The purchase of a 60-inch track remote control mower is awarded to Brown Equipment Company of Evansville, Indiana under the government and fleet sales state contract for a total of $25,000.

The purchase of a four-wheel drive cab tractor with a 12-foot flex mower is awarded to Hobdee Dye and Reed Incorporated from Bowling Green, Kentucky, for a total of $59,075.

Funding has been allocated to Capitol Project Sports Complex Bonding 2.

This order shall take effect upon reading and passage by the City of Richmond Board of Commissioners.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

That's order 25-139.

May we have a motion, please bring to the floor for discussion and approval.

So moved.

Commissioner Brewer.

Commissioner Goble.

I probably need to explain this remote control mower.

You all don't think I'm buying an early Christmas present.

Mr.

City Manager, I really think that Kelly and I could explain could explain it.

But you go ahead.

No, it's uh so as you know at the new park we have some very steep hillsides, and they they are overgrown.

We got a demo uh demo from a company that uh sells remote control mowers, so you're not writing them or it's uh operated from a joystick, it's on tracks, it's got fuel on both sides, uh sensors on it, and we got a demonstration.

I wish I would have brought the video with me and put it up here for you all, but it went straight up the sides of those steep hillsides going into the park, mowed them up and down sideways, and we really think this is a good purchase for us for safety reasons, um, and being able to make that park look nice when you enter it, so and many other places as well.

So we're excited about that.

Both these items were budgeted for under Capitol Projects, um, and we should get them in the next two weeks.

Oh, outstanding.

And they and the individuals operating uh both the tractor bush hog and the remote control mower will be trained.

Okay.

So I was almost serious, but uh when we were out at the park a few days ago, um, when Josh told us about a remote control mower.

That's right.

Yeah.

Uh yeah, it's cool.

It'll be it'll be wonderful.

I want to get trained to play with it.

You can tell TikTok.

Drive it around.

Okay.

Any further comment discussion there being none?

Madam Kirk, please.

Commissioner Goebbels.

Yes.

Commissioner Naby.

Yes.

Commissioner Brewer.

Yes.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes.

Mayor Blyn.

Yes, thank you.

This is the public comments period.

Come tonight in the audience who wishes to speak before the commission.

If you would please come to the podium, state your name for the clerk's record.

Good evening, sir.

Thank you all for the opportunity to speak before you today.

Um I was actually brought up at the last council meeting.

I'm aware of that.

I've seen the YouTube video that's posted online.

Um I'm Blake Jones.

I live at 314 North 2nd Street here in downtown, a couple blocks away.

Uh apologize with y'all if I seem frustrated or upset.

I'm not all intentional toward you.

However, I've been dealing with an issue with a neighbor.

Um alleyway that connects to the rear of my home.

Richmond Police Department's responded out there probably 10 or so times in the past two weeks.

Had a neighbor pull a handgun on me.

Um that's actually the neighbor who came and spoke before you all last week.

And I'm pulling that handgun to law enforcement upon questioning.

I had a video of him doing so.

Uh, long story short, no criminal charges were pressed in that endeavor.

I've been to the city offices as far as the road department.

I've been to the deed office.

I've pulled every deed back to 1953 to be transparent with you all.

I was born in 1997.

So this easement has been around longer than I've been alive.

Um this alleyway is not on anyone's deed books, it's not on anyone's plot map because no one has been recorded.

The city road department claims they don't maintain or they don't, and I don't blame them quite frankly for not wanting to maintain this alleyway.

They have enough on their plate already.

The county, obviously, it's not in their jurisdictions, they claim no ownership or responsibility whatsoever.

This individual claims he owns this public alleyway that seven different residences use for their right-of-way.

We have no driveways in two of those properties.

Those houses built in 2016, 2017.

I was in high school.

Uh I had no say in that.

The neighbor claims that somebody in planning and zoning was in the developer's pocket, is his words to me.

Quite frankly, that changes nothing for me.

I would happily just like to live in my home and not be bothered by my neighbor, but I think I'm probably beyond that point at this stage.

Planning and zoning has come to my residence also more than a handful of times.

Uh I've got three current citations from planning and zoning, one of which is a photo of a delivery box that FedEx dropped off next to my garage in the back of my residence for junk on the property with a hundred dollar citation.

When I went to planning and zoning, they said, well, if you move all the junk on the property, we'll get that taken care of.

Which the citation states.

So I simply went out and moved the two boxes in the metal shelf that was sitting outside of my garage.

That was apparently a perfect nuisance, as it couldn't be seen from the street because once again I have no driveway in the front of my home.

You can't see this entire structure from the street.

Uh this neighbor's got three cameras positioned directly on my property.

He's set outside, spectated me for hours.

I watched him sit there and clean his handgun for over four hours.

I've served in the military almost 10 years.

I'm in the Kentucky National Guard now.

I'm pretty familiar with firearms.

Um it doesn't take four hours to clean a Glock 17.

It does.

Uh, I need to take a class on how to do it in a more effective way.

That being said, I I think it's a burden on the Richmond Police Department to continue coming out.

We've all had trespassing charges put out, so now he calls in if I drive down the alleyway because I'm trespassing on his property.

I have no proof that it's his property.

I have no proof it's my property.

I've talked to everyone I know to speak to at this time, and I called each of your city provided cell phones that was given to me on your business card last week.

I left each of you a voicemail, and I know it was after hours.

Planning and zoning told me I needed to go to the board of adjustments, discuss the issue with them because obviously I'm glad you've been appointed.

I apologize.

Um you may encounter a mess with this one, I fear.

So that being said, I'm at a loss of what to do other than just sell the property and move out of the city limits and freshwater because I don't feel safe in my own home, quite frankly.

Um I have no security when I walk out my back door to go to that driveway where I park.

It's just wide open space like most downtown areas is.

Planning and zoning director pulled me and Thomas Run there last week when I went to address these citations and inform me I should feel targeted.

Because I told him I felt targeted.

Because quite frankly, if you went to any house in the city and looked and seen some boxes or some stuff sitting around, I would say about 80% of them probably fit that bill or receive those same violations.

Are you currently the one that's operating Blue J construction?

Is that correct?

Okay, so let me jump in here and give a little history and tell you where we've been and where we are today.

So this gentleman did meet with codes enforcement planning and zoning last week.

Um and he was required to pass a home occupational uh permit inspection, which my understanding is he's not able to uh pass that inspection, and and that would allow him to get a business license.

The the problem here is, and and and I'm not blaming you, I'm gonna get into everything here because I don't feel like you have escalated the problem, okay.

Um the one neighbor is very upset about him operating in his business out of this address, um, which we've come to the conclusion that he can't.

Um license or doesn't have a business.

That's right.

He will the he needs a home occupational license that will allow him to get a business license, and unfortunately, he unfortunately he won't be able to pass a home occupational inspection, so he can't run a business in that area.

All right, okay.

Um the individual who is doing all the complaining, uh we have done what we feel as much as we can legally to this point.

Um we have started citations for operating a business uh without an occupational license and a business license and not being able to operate a business in that area.

The issue with the alley is this individual claims that he owns the entrance off of third street into where these seven houses are.

Okay, so many years ago there was an alley between third street and second street.

Since then, there's been a house built where the alley came in on second street.

So the entrance off a third, what we have found to date.

I want to do some more research, is the deed that we found from the end house allows for a right-of-way off of third street access to those houses.

So he doesn't own that alleyway, what which he's claiming.

To the point of today, he wanted to put a gate up at the entrance on second street.

And I think he's passed out letters to all the neighbors telling them that received one.

Okay, well, mailing list, I guess.

So we we legally, as law enforcement, codes enforcement, building inspection, planning and zoning, have done everything legally we can to this point.

It becomes a civil matter between two private property owners at a certain point where we don't need to get involved.

But I will tell you with further research, if we determine that that entrance is a right-of-way for all those houses, and if you pulled up on the PVA, it doesn't even look like he owns any of it, to be honest with you.

Now I could be mistaken with that once we pull deeds, but but it appears that there's a right-of-way for the houses to access their driveways off a third street of what he's calling his alley.

So we're still working on it.

I apologize for the harassment.

That's kind of between you and your neighbor.

Trust me, he's harassed us as well, uh, very consistently.

And I want our city attorney to jump in here as well because he's and just for he does, Chris.

I was getting ready to say, and and I'm not trying to be funny, seriously.

Um we may be looking, and I mean this, I don't know if you've ever seen them the maps of Richmond from from a hundred years ago.

And on those maps, and I wasn't here, but on those maps, you will see a lot of these alleys, and they've just been assumed, consumed, yeah, over the past several years, and folks have just proceeded like it was mine to begin with, and nobody questioned it, so it's mine.

Yes.

And I think once we start delving into that, we're gonna find some stuff.

But that's all I want to say, Chris.

Go ahead.

Yes, Mr.

Mayor, and and in a lot of ways, this is a first-year property question that from law school that we're getting here because of that alley.

Uh, all the indications are that the city has never taken ownership over it as far as upkeep, uh, maintenance, anything like that.

But as far as what the maps show, um, that that's why they're real estate lawyers out there.

Uh, and I I have not reviewed the maps, but I will tell you as far as the administrative side of things with code enforcement business licensing.

I think the city has gone as far down that road as far as the regulatory and administrative enforcement that we can do under the laws here in the city.

Uh I um when I was an assistant DA in Douglas County, Georgia, we had duty weeks.

And a lot of times that was just we would take calls from anybody in the community.

And people would assume that the DA was just the attorney for anybody.

Most of the calls I got were were property disputes between neighbors.

I think that's where we are here, and unfortunately, I think the answer we have to give is if there's a dispute between even access as far as putting the gate up, um, that's when unfortunately I think this the the citizens are the residents are gonna need to talk to their legal representatives as far as what their options are as far as the declaration of right as far as what what that alleyway actually is owned by or anything like that.

So I don't think there was a really a role for the city to have as far as this alley dispute at Jason.

That research that I just mentioned would be up to their representatives.

Yes.

Yes, I was gonna say Jason Rollins, whose dad ran the road department for 30 years.

Jason actually reached out to him today, and and he had some history on it and helped us understand that there was an alley there between third and second.

Yes.

And when that alley was there, they did do some gravel and some black topping on it.

But after that, the best he could remember was when they built the home shutting off that one end of the alley, the residents that needed the parking access in the back were deeded a right-of-way.

The one deed that Jason got today is for the property all the way the end of the driveway, and it does show a right-of-way through that property.

But we want to be sure and look at all the deeds back there.

But we're gonna do some more leg work on our side, but to Chris's point, it really becomes an issue between private attorneys.

More of a civil matter disappointed.

So can the c can the city dig and find out the actual facts, or is that or do we or is that left to the civil attorney?

We're not really.

I mean, the city's not there's not really a role under planning and zoning or or board of adjustments for the city to say, here's the declaration of right as far as what your property line actually is with this.

That that would probably be a role between the property owners to pay for a survey, you know, get the maps clarified, uh, have a judge.

It would need to be somebody wearing a rope uh to make that ultimate determination as far as what what that what those property lines are with that.

Is that an alley uh paved?

I'm in the alley currently myself at my own expense, which is what's more frustrating than anything is this neighbor is so upset.

The dispute started because I ordered a load of dense grade gravel to put in this alleyway.

And I have a skid steer that I own personally.

I don't operate my company there, but I use my skid steer after my National Guard drill.

Just even out that gravel as anyone would.

He called law enforcement on me and filed complaints, and that started the endeavor we're in.

So basically maintaining a public easement is what got me here today.

Just out of curiosity, could you determine when you ordered that gravel?

Could you determine if there happened to be even with little grass growing up, a layer of gravel or anything else there?

There's black top and gravel that's been mixed there for years.

I'm sure the city paved it at one point.

Just curiosity.

Yeah.

Um the city did, or it had to be the city maintaining eventually.

I've only lived in the home going on a year and a half, two years.

Um we have all of our deeds, we have all of our surveys that are updated within the past two to three years.

That alleyway shows on none of them.

It I can't find ownership anywhere.

Because it's almost like it's non-owned property, like you were stating.

And no one knows except he claims to know.

Well, he's also just as confused as well.

And and and the your neighbor who is requesting or is claiming it's his alley is gonna need to have his own survey done, and then it's gonna require to the other five neighbors or six neighbors there to have a survey done as well to to look at where their boundaries are.

And they'll need to look at their deeds to see if there is a right-of-way.

Again, to me, it seems like if the end house at the very end has a right-of-in their deed, the rest of them would.

I don't know that because we don't have those deeds.

But the one that was given to me today from Jason Rollins, that in-house has a right-of-way for that entrance to get through there to his to his house.

So that tells me obviously he doesn't own the alleyway.

So the only proof that he's given is that I I own it.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, and he was at the he was here at the last meeting.

If you remember, I asked who his attorney was, and that's when I had a firearm hold on me, and I contacted Richmond Police.

So I'll be honest with you all.

I have no desire to inquire about any further information from that individual.

All right.

I think that's except is his with a private attorney.

Yeah.

Let me see this also.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you, Matt.

Yeah.

Sorry to uh no no no sorry.

No sorry.

Sometimes you gotta.

It's it's unfortunate as far as the business and what started it.

I have pretty much all of my vehicles logoed in the company.

I think it's something you should take great pride in.

And I think it's something that more businesses should do if you have company vehicles on the road.

His claim is my personal work van or my vehicles.

Um because they're at my residence or you know, anything, it's like, oh, he's running a full-fledged manufacturing operation out of the garage.

I wish I had a garage big enough to do that, but frankly, they don't have those in downtown anymore.

And if they do, they make them into you know BBH or something in that regard.

So uh completely false, but I do appreciate your time.

Thank you for coming, yes indeed.

Anyone else in the audience tonight?

Public comments.

That he did.

Especially Pat, you made a pivot that was just it's not Pat's fault.

It was an older presentation.

He did great.

But I need to uh give credit to the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Commission.

They are truly one of the catalysts behind that program.

They invested for a second time, and I believe we're one of the only communities in the Commonwealth that has received funding like this 411,000 for their salaries.

So I have to give credit where credit is demo.

Certainly they believe in this project.

We've been contacted by other communities, counties, cities, trying to uh copy and paste this project.

This project is replicable.

Really excited about that, but not until we get it finite.

The work they're doing is historical, impacting and making incredible impacts on people's lives and we interacting with a lot more people like Adam alluded to than I ever anticipated in a year's time.

They blew my database out of the city out of the water that we thought we were gonna track data with, but excited to be able to show you all trends of needs in our community, resources that are working, resources that may not be working or could be working better, duplicated services, and just ways that we can collaborate for effective change in our so again.

I'll come back to you all with more formal presentation, a packet of data that we've we've accumulated through our SSOMs as he alluded to, our different um interactions that we're having with the people that we're serving, and we'll kind of give you a snapshot of where we're at, where we're going and some ideas that we have for long-term sustainability between the different governments and the community and just everybody uh working together.

That's that makes us proud, Daniel.

Thank you.

Thank you all very much.

Anyone else?

All right, moving right along.

We have uh tasty tonight.

Tasty tonight.

Who oh we've heard enough about you tonight that's just kidding.

Uh mayor commissioners, thank you.

Um I just have a quick um like an observation.

For my road coming uh off of Robert Martin.

Tell us where you live, then yeah.

Uh I live at Hampton Ridge, actually, but uh on Fridays, those cattle trucks come running it, rolling down the window.

Yeah, it's clearly stated, no semis allowed.

So are we gonna enforce that or we're gonna move the signs?

Either way, I'm good.

But that road is clearly not built for semis to come around that curve barrel uh around the other cemetery.

Friday is sales day, isn't it?

It is, and I know what you're talking about, and and yeah, it's not it's not a good road for a semi-truck.

Is there a sign?

Okay, and at the end of uh at the beginning of Sir Avenue, there's a sign that says no semis.

One of them's pretty worn out.

Uh the one over by the S Avenue is pretty warm.

But uh the one on in front of Mayor is clearly visible.

Okay.

But it's it's just ignores.

Let me check into it and see what we can or can't do.

I can't move the sales yard.

No.

Right.

Shut down the business.

Yeah, it's just quicker for them.

And you know, that's that's one of those things I keep telling you all, I keep dating myself.

But but as our community has grown and grown as the city limits who moved and moved, there still is that factor in our community, the stockyards are where they've always been.

Yeah.

And now it's a matter of that that used to be the country.

Right.

Yeah.

But now it's in the city.

So you can turn off Robert Martin if there's a car turning left on Marvel Martin's.

Yes.

So I'll check into it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because that's a tight corner there.

I really thought that since you're now on that board of adjustments, you'd take care of it.

That's right.

Oh, that's right.

That's not a part of that board, is it?

Anyone else from the audience?

Let's move along then.

Mr.

City Manager, please.

I just wanted to remind everybody that uh our next meeting is next Tuesday, September 16th at 6 o'clock.

Millstone Festival is October 4th, Saturday, October 4th.

And then the EKU hoops event at Dillingham Park is scheduled for October 14th, but I just realized that's a commission meeting night.

So excuse me, that's it's October 4.

It changed, didn't it?

Yeah.

It was uh So I've I've reached out to thank you for mentioning everybody and trying to find another date for that event, so we can't don't cancel a commission meeting.

So hopefully we can make that work.

And uh that's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you, sir.

And let's see, whoops.

October 14.

Uh Commissioner Cole.

I just had a quick question for Josh Farthing.

My neighbors wanted me to get an update on the Barnes Mills sidewalk.

Um that you guys are working on, just a timeline, or did you have to take out the sidewalk and put it back?

Yeah, uh really needed long say two bees probably you've all been hard at work.

Always thank you.

Is that it?

Commissioner Goblin.

I'm good, thank you.

All righty, Commissioner Newby.

I have nothing, sir.

Commissioner Brewer.

Clear.

Let me just mention these two things.

First of all, this is uh uh the new city attorney, uh Chris Johnson's inaugural night.

And uh as I said last week, uh he will have to hit the ground running.

Yes, he has, as I think he has found.

So I'm looking forward.

Um I'm bringing my water wings to work in case I get tossed on the deep end, Mayor, so I think I'm all right.

But welcome aboard, Chris, and I'm I'm excited about working with you, certainly.

Uh the other thing is uh certainly with uh with sadness, uh, we need to mention here the passing of Harold Richardson Jr.

He served the city in so many ways and the county in so many ways, but uh most recently he served on the public housing authority, and then when I figured he didn't have enough to do, I asked him to serve also on the Section 8 housing board so that there could be a better awareness of what each of these boards does.

Folks confuse it throughout the community, and uh let's you know that he could bring his perspective from one to the other.

A true servant uh of this community, and uh there's uh an item tonight, and uh Bryson, I noticed that uh uh I believe uh who the editor, the publisher wrote that the editor, didn't he?

He wrote the article, this front page.

Yes, yeah, Steve Cornelius, and uh but a nice big picture of Mr.

Richardson served, he served, period.

Um certainly one of his passions was the um county fair and uh at the ripe I noticed that the author, Steve wrote that um at the tender young age of what was it, 90 93 or 90, uh that uh the city of Richmond gave him a key to the city and uh he was very proud of that.

Uh served as a volunteer at the hospital, but uh he made a point of being at everything he was committed to and even beyond, and um so we'll certainly miss him.

Uh for those who are not aware, if you don't mind my saying so Scott Althouser, general manager out at Richmond Utilities is his nephew.

And uh something that Scott said to me when we were on the phone uh the other day after his passing.

Scott said, you know, uh there's no need for us to be really sad.

97 years old has served well, and if I think uh anything at all that he uh that he would advise anybody, Mindy, it was just it would just be to live.

And that's what he did.

He lived and gave of himself to so many people.

So we're grateful that service will be this coming Saturday, and you can get those details uh online, but uh have to say something about him.

Uh I remember when I asked him uh when he was already on the housing authority board, I asked him if he would help us out on Section 8 board, and he said, Well, if it'll help you, I'd love to.

That was his spirit, and then he was 95.

You were sharp though.

I served with I'm the housing authority.

I served with you.

Sharp.

He was on time.

Now I'll say this, because you've got to have humor with Mr.

Richardson, then we're ready to entertain that.

Oh, yeah.

Best eyebrows in town.

The best eyebrows in town.

I remember in one of our board meetings when the director, the ED, was going to propose to us, or did propose to the board that we add another holiday or two for our employees.

And I remember distinctly Mr.

Richardson leaned forward over the table and said, that's the people's money.

Don't you love it?

All hearts and minds are clear.

Madam Clerk, is there anything that came through the office that needs to be brought at this time all right then?

Thanks to all of you.

Got a second, let me holler at you.

Um Mr.

Jones.

Bill entertained a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Commissioner Newby.

Madam Clerk, please.

Commissioner Newby.

Yes.

Commissioner Brewer.

Yes.

Commissioner Cole.

Yes.

Commissioner Goble.

Yes.

Mayor Blythe.

Yes, thank you so much.

Be safe out there.