Sign administrator named; councilwoman says committees lack diversity
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, 11:30 p.m. — With the bang of his new gavel, Mayor John Royalty official opened his first regular City Council meeting Tuesday night.
Royalty took time to apologize to the audience several times when the meeting’s pace may have appeared a little uneven as even seasoned council members sometimes struggled with new procedures. Royalty asked the audience for their patience as he and the council become more familiar with proper procedures as well as Robert’s Rules of Order.
Councilwoman Kecia Copeland listens to comments by Councilman Francis Lydian during Tuesday night’s council meeting.
SIGN ADMINISTRATOR NAMED. The council approved a municipal order to give the mayor the power to name the administrator of the city’s sign ordinance. Hope Hawkins, currently the preservation administrator in the joint city-county planning and zoning office, is being hired to serve as the city’s preservation director and to also administer and enforce the city’s sign ordinance.
The council also gave its unanimous final approval to add the historic preservation director position and job description to the city’s classification and compensation plan.
COPELAND: COMMITTEES LACK OF GENDER DIVERSITY. The council approved a municipal order that assigned the six council members to the council’s standing committees — however it was a vote that was not unanimous.
Councilwoman Kecia Copeland cast a “nay” vote against the municipal order on committee assignments, explaining that her vote represented her disappointment in what she called a lack of diversity in the committee assignments.
“It’s not that I disagree with the appointments,” she explained. “But take the Safety Committee. We had a chance to have (gender) diversity on the committee and we need that.”
She acknowledged the importance of the committees and the work they do, and also the importance of gender diversity. “We’re supposed to be transparent and inclusive, and have more affirmation to the community. I just want to be sure we have people on the committees who are going to do something with it.”
“I’m not against the committee appointments, just the way we’re assigned committees,” she said. “Wherever I’m at, I’m going to do a good job.”
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION. The council convened a closed session Tuesday night to discuss proposed litigation. When it returned to open session, the council unanimously approved giving the mayor the power to enter into an agreement with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights regarding a complaint filed against the City of Bardstown.
The complaint stems from an October 2013 incident involving a wheelchair ramp built at a home on Moore Avenue for a young girl born without legs. The ramp was built with donated materials and property.
The property owner was cited because the ramp was built permits or inspections and it also required a variance because the ramp ended too close to the front property line. The property owner eventually asked for and was granted the necessary permit and variance, and the ramp remains in place.
Jessica Filiatreau discusses the Wickland sewer line project at Tuesday’s meeting of the Bardstown City Council.
The complaint and the terms of a tentative agreement were not released.
WICKLAND SEWER BID. The council approved a recommendation to award Rame Contracting LLC of Springfield a contract to replace a sewer line that runs from Bloomfield Road to Old Bloomfield Pike through the county-owned Wickland property.
Rame’s $177,580 bid will replace a sewer line originally built in 1968 that served the industries that built on Bloomfield Road in the 1960s.
In other business, the council approved a municipal order that reaffirmed the existing police chief, fire chief and chief financial officer and city clerk.
NEXT UP. The council will next meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 in the council chambers next to the Rec Center on Xavier Drive.
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