Chairman to work one-on-one with City Hall staff on Maywood annexation

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Annexation Committee Chairman Fred Hagan told the city council Tuesday that he will work one-on-one with city hall staff regarding the financial analysis of the proposed annexation of the Maywood subdivision.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 2 p.m. — The chairman of the Bardstown City Council’s annexation committee has put its meetings temporarily on hold so he can work as an individual with the city’s engineering staff on the financial analysis of the proposed Maywood subdivision annexation.

Councilman Fred Hagan told the council at its meeting Tuesday night that rather than hold a series of committee meetings to review the ongoing financial analysis, he preferred to work as an individual with the staff at Bardstown City Hall.

The financial analysis of annexing Maywood “is a lot more complicated than it first appears,” he told the council. The work involves much more than counting houses and calculating the cost of maintaining the streets.

“It’s just easier for me to do it on my own,” he said.

Councilman Bill Buckman said he supported pushing forward on the study of annexing Maywood.

“We need to expedite this issue quickly. There are a lot of advantages of doing it the way you’re talking about,” he told Hagan.

If the committee meets to share information as the analysis is in progress, those meetings are open to the public and the media. Scheduling the meetings and the required public notices will lengthen the time it takes to get the information pulled together, Hagan said.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland and Councilman Bobby Simpson asked Hagan if it was necessary for the committee to hold a meeting to accept the mayor’s recommendation to not annex the distillery warehouses.

Hagan said such a meeting isn’t necessary right now, and the committee can address that at a future time. During an earlier council meeting, every council member voiced agreement to avoid annexing the distillery warehouses.

After the meeting, Hagan was asked if the move to work as an individual rather than a committee on the financial analysis was an attempt to move the discussions out of the public eye.

Hagan said the goal is to get questions about the financial analysis of the annexation efficiently and adequately answered before presenting the information to the committee. The move doesn’t circumvent the committee process, he said, citing the fact he cannot legally share the information he gathers outside the public meetings.

“You’ll get the information on the same day the rest of the committee does,” he told the Gazette.

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