Decision to deny conference fund request was ‘consensus of mayor and council’
Councilwoman Kecia Copeland discusses her request for funds to cover the registration and housing for her to attend the Kentucky Black Caucus – Local Elected Officials Spring Summit at the council’s Tuesday, March 22, 2016 meeting.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Sunday, March 27, 2016, 11 a.m. — A Bardstown City Council member’s request to the council to pay the registration and lodging costs for an upcoming Kentucky League of Cities-affiliated event has been denied — despite the fact that a majority of the council favored doing so at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Mayor John Royalty said in an interview Thursday it was “the consensus of the mayor and the council” to not approve Councilwoman Kecia Copeland’s request to pay the costs for her attendance at the Kentucky Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (KBC-LEO) Spring Summit, held April 8-9 on the campus of Murray State University.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Copeland followed-up on her earlier request to the council to cover the costs, which included the registration fee and hotel room.
Copeland had said her interest in the summit was based partly on the historic preservation workshops planned for the event. The workshops will have information that will be beneficial to local preservation efforts, she explained. The information could also help the community locate state and federal grant money to help fund preservation efforts here.
Councilman Fred Hagan spoke in support of Copeland’s plans to attend the summit, adding that he believed conferences and training opportunities for elected officials are valuable.
However, some member of the council and they mayor took issue with the fact that the event brochure did not specifically mention historic preservation workshops. Copeland assured the council preservation-related workshops were scheduled, including presentations by Craig Potts, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council and Aukram Burton, executive director of the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage.
Royalty read the text of the summit registration form aloud and said, “I don’t see anything about historic preservation.”
Councilman Roland Williams said he has attended past summits and said they were valuable as professional development for elected officials.
After a short pause in the discussion, the mayor began to move on to the next agenda item, prompting Copeland stop him and ask again if her costs to attend the summit were going to be paid.
“We have no numbers, no facts or figures of what its going to cost the taxpayers,” Royalty said, adding that he needed those figures in writing.
Copeland had the information on her iPad and said she would immediately forward the information.
Despite what appeared to be support from the majority of the council, the meeting ended without the mayor calling for a council vote or commitment to fund Copeland’s request.
In an email to the council members on Wednesday, City Clerk Barbie Bryant sought their direction on Copeland’s request because the council discussed the issue but took no action during the meeting. The council members were instructed to respond individually rather than “reply all” in order to avoid a violation of the state’s Open Meetings law.
On Thursday — apparently as a result of the email to the council — Royalty said the consensus was to deny Copeland’s request.
Royalty said the lack of detail in the summit’s registration form was sufficient reason to deny the request. He also said he wasn’t sure the summit workshops would be of the same quality and value as training provided by the Kentucky League of Cities.
The KBC-LEO is an affiliate of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), and not a direct part of KLC, he said.
Royalty also said that in his opinion, he felt the council had been deceived — a statement Copeland strongly objected to.
If the mayor had doubts about her statements, a phone call to the Kentucky League of Cities or the Kentucky Heritage Council would have confirmed them, she said.
But confirmation of the summit agenda was much closer to home — former Bardstown mayor is on the KBC-LEO board of directors, and he confirmed to the Gazette late Thursday that preservation workshops are indeed part of the summit.
The registration form didn’t include workshop details because they were printed well before the workshop topics and presenters were finalized, he explained.
He defended the training provided elected officials at events like the KBC-LEO summit, calling them valuable networking opportunities that benefit elected officials and help them help their communities.
“Getting out of your own backyard” gives an elected official an opportunity to see what issues other communities face, and how they address those issues, he said. More elected officials should take advantage of these trainings, he added.
Having served on the council under several mayors, Sheckles said there was never any question about paying council members’ costs to attend the KBC-LEO event.
He compared paying for council members to attend conferences like the KBC-LEO summit to the city paying for its staff to attend continuing education classes.
Sheckles is past president and founding member of KBC-LEO and has been on its board since 1999. Copeland is also a KBC-LEO board member.
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