Council’s new donation policy means no funds for Jr. Miss, Buttermilk fest
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Wednesday, May 25, 2016, 2 p.m. — With new guidelines now in place governing request for donations to the Bardstown City Council, two requests 
for donations by local groups died for lack of action at the council’s meeting Tuesday evening.
The Nelson County Distinguished Young Women program — formerly known as Junior Miss — requested a $200 donation from the city to go toward the scholarship awarded to the winner of the pageant program in August.
Council Bobby Simpson introduced the request, but did not offer a motion for its approval. Simpson said after re-reading the council’s recently approved donation guidelines he did not wish to ask the council to approve.
A request for a $2,500 donation from the Buttermilk Days Foundation to support the 22nd Annual Buttermilk Days festival also died. Councilman Roland Williams introduced the request and reminded the council that the Buttermilk is a true community festival. His motion to approve the request died without a second.
The council’s recently adopted donation guidelines are based on the Kentucky League of Cities handbook and set certain conditions donation requests must meet. The guidelines state:
- The City must receive benefit from the appropriation, and the activity must be one in which the City could independently engage; and
- The City must have control over either the organization itself or how the money will be spent; and
- It is advisable for the City to continue to monitor the results of the donation after it has occurred, and to ensure the expenditure is truly serving the public purpose for which it was earmarked; and
- The expenditure must primarily benefit the public at-large rather than just an individual or private entity.
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