Bardstown councilman raises questions city’s street paving priorities

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, 11:54 p.m. — Questions about street paving priorities led to some heated exchanges at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Bardstown City Council.

Councilman Francis Lydian told the council that repaving a portion of Creekwood Drive had been on the city’s resurfacing list for several years but has never been repaved.

“It was in the budget to be resurfaced and in the minutes. I talked with Jessica (Filiatreau) and she said it was going to be resurfaced,” Lydian said. “I just want to know the reason why it wasn’t resurfaced.”

Mayor John Royalty said a Creekwood Drive resident told him previous administrations had promised him the street would be repaved, but Royalty said he wouldn’t make such a promise.

He explained that the city’s engineering staff make a list of streets that need repaving, and after looking at the streets at the list they are assigned priority. The street has been on the paving list, but other streets were deemed a higher priority, he explained.

“I have a problem with your opinion,” Lydian said. “I think the street should be resurfaced.”

Of the 20 streets the city repaved, Lydian said he didn’t see any of them listed by priority. He then made a motion to have the full council vote on repaving a portion of Creekwood Drive.

“It hasn’t been resurfaced in 15 years, and I think it should be resurfaced,” he said. “Some streets have been resurfaced two or three times since then.”

City Attorney Tim Butler told Lydian that allocating money is the council’s job, but that finding how how it plans to pay for the paving should be part of the council’s discussions.

Butler cautioned the council about taking a piecemeal approach to paving — and paying for it.

“That kind of takes it out of the hands of the people who deal with it day-to-day,” he said. “You might very well run into a situation where you commit to $600,000 worth of paving with a $500,000 budget.”

Lydian said since the bids for street paving came in under budget, there should be money to pay to pave Creekwood Drive. He suggested that the reason the street hasn’t been repaved may be political in nature.

Public Works Director Larry Hamilton said since the asphalt bids were under budget, the city may have the funding to pave Creekwood Drive. The deciding factor will be the final, actual costs of the resurfacing performed. Sometimes the actual costs are higher than the estimates.

Hamilton said it was his understanding Creekwood Drive was on the paving list, but was moved to the secondary priority list.

“It wasn’t a political consideration at all,” he said. “I would suggest if it turns out we can afford it that we do it.”

Councilman Fred Hagan expressed reservations about taking a vote to repave an individual street.

“We set a dangerous precedent if we sit here and demand a certain street be resurfaced without looking at the overall picture, we can’t operate that way,” Hagan said. “I would be opposed to it.”

Hamilton said he felt city engineer Jessica Filiatreau was being conservative in her estimates for how far the paving budget would go. If there’s enough money left in the budget, the street could be paved.

Filiatreau was out of town and unable to attend the council meeting, Hamilton said.

Lydian offered to table his motion in order to bring Filiatreau into the discussion on street repair priorities.

INDUSTRIAL REVENUE BONDS’ IMPACT. Jeff McKenzie, an attorney with Bingham, Greenebaum and Doll representing the Bardstown Bourbon Co., told the council that the company’s $85 million in industrial revenue bonds will result in the company paying no property tax to the city or county on the buildings.

The county will own the property and improvements during the 30-year term of the bonds, at which time they will become property of the company. During that time, the city and county will collect no property tax on the buildings. The move is commonly used to attract new business and industry.

However, the city, county and schools will receive taxes on the bourbon produced at the new distillery and stored in its six warehouses — each of which will hold about 20,000 barrels.

The council authorized the mayor to sign any documents necessary in order to show the city understands the property is exempt from property taxes.

911 DISPATCH AGREEMENT. The council unanimously approved a one-year extension of the city-county joint 911 dispatch agreement. Mayor John Royalty said he and Judge Executive Dean Watts will work together on a new dispatch board agreement to go into place when the extension expires.

The extension also lowers the city’s financial contribution to the operation of the dispatch center by $24,000, which compensates the city for its additional costs to handle after-hours utility calls when the dispatch center discontinued handling those calls.

In other business, the council–

— approved a five-year property tax assessment moratorium for the owners of the former Keene’s Depot building at 8 Old Bloomfield Pike. The application states owner Patrick Hayden plans to invest up to $450,000 to add up to four new retail spaces.

— approved a request from Bethlehem High School to name its “Lights, Camera, Auction” a an officially approved “civic event.” The step is necessary in order to grant a temporary liquor license for the event.

— approved a bid of $47,580 by McMichael Construction for construction of a wash bay at the city shop for city vehicles.

— approved a bid of $98,930 from Utility Sales Agency for five electrical substation breakers and spare parts.

— approved a request by the New Life Center to host a 5k walk/run on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26.

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