City will move to claim its share of county government’s new 911 fee

Bryan Cook, the city’s newest police officer, is sworn-in by Mayor John Royalty with Cook’s daughter by his side.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, June 28, 2016, 11:40 p.m. — The City of Bardstown will move forward on its plan to claim the city’s share of the 911 fee that Nelson Fiscal Court recently approved adding to the tax bills of occupied properties in Nelson County.

The county repealed the 911 landline fee. Now the 911 fee will now appear as an annual fee of $24 on property tax bills.

City Attorney Tim Butler said he is working on an update to the existing 911 ordinance that originally established a 911 landline fee in the city in 1993.

The ordinance will be updated once the city and county come to an agreement on an interlocal agreement regarding the joint city-county 911 dispatch center, he said.

SIDING DISPUTE. The Bardstown City Council will have a special meeting before its usual 7 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, July 12, 2016, to conduct a hearing regarding a citizen’s appeal of an Bardstown Historical Review Board (HRB) decision to deny the use of vinyl siding in the city’s historic district.

According to the HRB minutes, Derek Hutchins, owner of the former Mammy’s Kitchen location at 114 N. Third St., had applied to use cedar board vinyl siding at the rear of the building.

The HRB’s denial was based on its guidelines that mean it would not approve the installation of vinyl siding in the historic district on any surface visible from a city-maintained street or alley.

Hutchins told the board that vinyl siding is already present on the building and the one next door, and he questioned why the material can’t be used when it is already in use.

HRB Chairman Pen Bogert told Hutchins the existing vinyl may have been installed before the HRB’s guidelines were adopted in 2008 and revised in 2012. Due to the rear of the building being visible from several streets, the use of vinyl siding was not an option the HRB would approve. If Hutchins removes the existing vinyl siding at the rear of his building he cannot replace it with the same material.

The HRB minutes state that Hutchins was told of a substitute material the HRB would approve, but Hutchins didn’t want to use it.

The HRB voted unanimously to deny Hutchins’ application.

Hutchins requested a hearing before the Bardstown City Council to appeal the HRB’s decision. The hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2016.

In other business, the council:

— approved the budgets for Bardstown Mainstreet and the Nelson County Economic Development Agency (NCEDA).

— approved a municipal order revising fire and police department job descriptions.

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