It will be led by Joey Curtis, our city clerk, followed by the invocation by Commissioner Chenal.

And I plan to leave the providing United States.

Definitely both thank you for lighting us down last night and waking us up this morning.

We thank you, O Lord, for starting this day and bringing us up for this point of the day.

Now we asked you having bothered to go with us and guys as we try to make decisions the best we can in your name and price name with everyone's saying.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you, madam clerk.

Okay.

We'll officially call the meeting to order.

And let's get right to the first presentation, which will be our strategic update.

Uh presented this evening by the Kentucky League of Cities.

So Sarah, I don't know if you're coming up or Jonathan's coming up, or it's all John.

Okay.

But thank you all for having us here this evening.

We really do appreciate and want to recognize the work that the commission has done in helping us to create this updated strategic work plan for the city.

Uh to provide a little bit of background context.

Uh my colleague Sarah Stoll as well as our colleague Tad Long were here back in 2023 developing a 2023 version of the strategic work plan.

And as many cities do, and as Winchester did, you all completed a lot of the work that was in that 2023 plan.

And so we've gathered with you all in the fall of 2025 and earlier this year to develop this update.

And since we've worked so closely together, I'll try to keep my points brief and to the point.

As far as the vision and the top four goals uh for 2026 in this plan, the city commission identified quality of life, housing, parks and recreation, and infrastructure as its top four goals.

And also we want to recognize some of the completed projects from the previous 2023 plan that you all have completed in that time.

This includes uh items such as the Fulton Road extension, uh establishment of a downtown entertainment district, the Jackson Street Bridge Removal Project, and adding Juneteenth and Veterans Day as city holidays.

We also wanted to recognize the current and ongoing projects of the city, and I'm sure some of these items have already been completed or are well on their way to completion.

This includes uh the seventh uh street project, uh maintaining EMS as a city service, exploring the potential of merging some city services, replacement of the MLK Junior Bridge, and construction of a roundabout along Fulton Road, and also the Fifth Street Stormwater Project alongside other stormwater upgrades throughout the city.

For this 2026 strategic work plan, the commission identified seven strategic areas.

These are listed in no particular order, but they are as follows infrastructure, quality of life, community events, parks and recreation, housing, safe city, and education slash workforce training.

The commission also identified some direct budget impacts that include housing, such as buying blighted properties, stormwater, a family entertainment center, first responders' needs, parks and recreation, and salaries and benefits.

Looking at the strategic areas and a couple of the items contained within under infrastructure.

We have an inventory of stormwater needs uh citywide and developing a replacement program for that under quality of life.

We have uh maintaining the public spaces and ensuring they're beautiful for city residents, as well as exploring recreation opportunities for young people underneath community events.

Underneath community events, uh the commission identified evaluating existing city festivals and events uh for areas of improvement under parks and rec they identified conducting a feasibility study on a recreational area, such as an outdoor swimming pool, and possible a wish list item of determining the visit feasibility for the development of a sports complex.

Under housing, uh one of the critical items was converting dilapidated properties into affordable housing and providing people the opportunity to move into home ownership.

Under Safe City, uh, one of the critical items was maintaining and supporting the needs of all essential city services, including salaries, equipment, planning, and personnel.

And then under education and workforce training, uh, they identified uh items such as supporting entrepreneurship in the city and maintaining and seeking additional grants for scholarships and internships for young people.

All these items are uh identified by the commission and with the help of KLC to help move the city forward for the next three years.

And um I believe if it's anything like the previous version, y'all will be calling us back here real soon.

But I'm happy to answer any questions about the plan.

Uh, we do have a hundred copies up here of the plan that are open for the public to utilize and Sarah wanted to point at a magazine for me and not tell me what to talk about.

But within the uh KLC City magazine, uh Winchester pops up twice in there, a nice little article about the city, and then also one about funding for tomorrow, in which the city invested 12 million dollars into a variety of uh community projects, and that's the help of the KLC Kentucky Bond Corporation.

So thank you, Sarah.

We also have a hundred copies of the city magazine to disseminate and give out to everyone who's interested in that.

I just want to make a fantastic team.

Are there any questions on the other?

Any questions, comments?

I was glad we have a new one in hand now.

That's awesome as always.

KLC is the top of my charts there, therefore, lots of things.

And helping us create the strategic plan is it's it's phenomenal, it really is.

And I when I go back, and I'm sure all the commission when we look at um the page there, I don't have my glasses on, I think it's a five.

Um, the completed projects would all we've completed in the last two years, it's pretty outstanding, I think.

So very proud of that.

So anything else?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Sarah.

Thank you, Jonathan, very much.

If you don't care, would you be van and pass the city magazines out?

Absolutely.

Not the strategic work plans, but the magazines.

Thank you.