Friday, November 27, 2009

Another Item from 11/24 Meeting

I overlooked an important item in my last post. The city commissioners are about ready to draft a new ordinance about the 100 year Flood Plain for our city.  This pertains to all the property that is subject to be flooded during heavy rain storms, etc.
Those of you who have an interest of making a public comment about this matter may want to attend the next city commissioners meeting Dec. 8th at 9:00 a.m.  They had a presentation from a couple of men that I guess are working on this for the city.  It sounded like they would have it ready for the city commission by there next meeting.

Until next time,

Thursday, November 26, 2009

11/24/2009 Commissioners Meeting

As I already mentioned this was a long meeting that covered several important issues.
I will talk a little on each, but will focus on 3 topics more in detail.

To start with there was a development company interested in possible building 30 to 40 town homes in Paris. They gave a presentation to city officials. My take was it could be a good thing for growth and development in Paris.

Another was a sewage lift station issue caused by the state highway project that is going to widen route 68 towards Millersburg. Seems like an over sight from the state highway department, along with private property owners around the corner of Ruddles Mill Rd and route 68 has created a problem for city officials. It is no fault of city officials but now they have to deal with it.

Again a sewage issue to deal with at our neighboring city of North Middletown. It seems the state of Kentucky has approached Paris City Officials to temporary take over the operation of North Middletown sewer plant. They must have some very serious issues and are desperate for help. Our city officials said they would be glad to lend a hand as long as Paris is reimburse on any expenses incurred.

Then there was an issue of extending the tree trimming around utility lines for another month.  It was stated the trimming was skipped last year and if we have an ice storm it could cause power outages.

The city has finally hired a new engineer which was necessary because of retirement of the last one. They are stilled faced with two other retirement replacements which means a lot of interview time. The city needs to hire a new Chief of Police and a Fire Chief.

The following issues are more concerning to me because they deal with Budget issues and Internal Procedure issues.
1.   There is a issue about overtime with the city fire department and the E.M.S department.  I certainly don’t claim to know what is going on, I am only commenting on what was said in the meeting. It is my understanding that both the City of Paris and Bourbon County both provide funds for the E.M.S. jointly. The City of Paris funds the city fire department 100%.
Because the fire department and E.M.S. works hand in hand most of the time yet have separate budgets they can’t keep track of them properly. They are talking thousands of dollars here that they can’t keep proper track of! That is your tax dollars! Apparently this has been going on for a very long time with no end in sight. It was stated they were way over what was budgeted. Who knows for sure without the transparency in government they should be providing to the public?

2.   Next on the agenda was approving the monthly bills. Commissioner Galbraith pointed to several discrepancy in the General Fund statements he was looking at. No one was able to really explain why the discrepancy in the discussion that followed. He noted also that there was nothing on the Utility Fund? City manager said he had staffing issues to explain it away. Commission Galbraith noted that was 2 times in a row. Galbraith also noted they were over budget in several areas.
They also discussed problems with ordering new police vehicles that maybe wasn’t needed because of poor communications internally during the budgeting process? It was stated mistakes were made because of assumptions. Again Your Tax Dollar!

3.  At the very end of the meeting Mayor Thornton actually acknowledged me sitting in the audience. He said they still needed to address the weed/grass ordinance that I have been vocal about all summer long.

He even mentioned the A.B.C. questions they haven’t answered since August 25th when I presented the question to the city commissioners. He seemed surprised thinking city manager Mr. Nagy had already given me answers?? After a conversation back and forth he said they would provide answers. I still don’t have answers, but at least they finally publicly acknowledged they will answer me.
All I want is that they give answers to the public when questions are asked of them, instead of just acting like they don’t even have to respond. Who wouldn’t be discouraged at them for being treated in such a manner.

Until next time,

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A brief comment about todays meeting

Just a few lines today to let everyone know I did go to the city commission meeting today.
It was extremely long meeting “3 hr” this morning. They covered a lot of interesting issues today that I will comment about next time. 
The Police Canine Dog issue was settled today. The vote was 5 yes to allow the dog to be given to the Bourbon County Sheriffs Dept. It turns out that the Paris Police officer that handled the dog, no longer works for the Paris Police.  He is now employed with the Bourbon County Sheriff.

I decided to conduct a straw poll and get you to vote on city officials job performance?

Until next time,

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Some Praise For Our City Officials

It’s be awhile since I posted my last comments about our local city officials. I was giving you the Citizens of Paris time to read my blog and give me your feedback. I must say that I am very encouraged by the amount of people visiting my blog.

A few of you have made positive comments on the blog for all to see. A larger group of you sent me e-mails of support with a lot of very good feedback.
As I stated on my blog, I will not publish e-mails for all to see unless you specifically ask me to in your e-mail. I am encouraged to keep this blog going and hopefully our city officials will allow the public a lot more information about what our local government is doing. We deserve full transparency from our City of Paris Officials.


I DO NOT WANT TO KEEP UP THIS NEGATIVE ATTITUDE THAT HAS DEVELOPED BETWEEN MYSELF AND CITY OFFICIALS.
All I want is that they give answers to the public when questions are asked of them, instead of just acting like they don’t even have to respond. Who wouldn’t be discouraged at them for being treated in such a manner.


Just like the title line of this blog says: Give city officials praise when they deserve it, but don't be afraid to speak out when you think they are wrong.
I am now going to give them some praise because they have done a couple of the items I ask them to consider in my "Website Letter to City of Paris".
On their website the Commissioners Tab: They have finally posted the Minutes of the regular Commissioners meetings and Special Meetings!
I want to take this opportunity to thank them and ask that they continue posting more of the items I requested in my letter to them for all to see.

Until the next time, THANKS FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT


John Marshall

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

11/10/09 Commissioners Meeting

Tuesday Nov. 10th I attended the 9:00 a.m. city commissioners meeting. I will have to admit city officials have made it hard on me to attend this early morning meeting. I was again a few minutes late because my morning routines are more important to me than these meetings.

I am a Grandfather who has 6 wonderful grandchildren. Like a lot of other grandparents these days I have 3 of my grandchildren ages 5, 6, 17, and their mother my daughter who live with my wife and me. Our daughter works in Lexington, so I help with the 5 and 6 year olds every morning getting them ready for school and help get them on the school bus each morning.
After that my attention turns to my wife. My wife has serious health problems. She can’t walk and is in a wheelchair. I have a lift that I use to get her up and about. By the time I do everything for her to get our day started, it’s a pretty good rush to get to the meeting on time.

I will tell you when Commissioner Fryman seen me come into the room, he interrupted the conversation that was going on to recognize me and ask:" Did I have any public comments to make". I told him no thanks. I really do appreciate the fact Mr. Fryman gave me that courtesy.

The reason I was there this time was just to hear what was going on in our local government. That way I could express my opinion about the meeting agenda on this blog.
I found two different topics of discussing rather amusing that our city officials were having among themselves.

1. One item on their agenda that came up was for them to approve the surplus of Police Department Canine Dog. I must say I wasn’t aware that Paris Police Department no longer had their Canine Dog Unit, it doesn’t seem that long ago that we finally got one and now we don’t.
So my comments are only about how they were handling the subjects.
They actually voted on to surplus the dog. The vote was 2-yes and 3-no so the dogs fate is still undecided.

This was early in the meeting when they voted. Later on toward the end of the meeting the mayor brought the subject about the dog up again. They got into a pretty heated discussion about the dog among themselves trying to talk over each other.
I thought for a moment I would speak up and remind them their meeting was run by "Roberts Rule of Order" [for those of you who may not be familiar with this: The short answer it is a book of parliamentary procedure of how to run an orderly meeting] but I didn’t say anything, I’m sure they would have just told me I was out of order. Whatever they decide to do with the dog, I wish the dog well because I am an animal lover.

2. The other item on their agenda was the sale of City of Paris water to Harrison County. It sounded like an issue that certainly needed some attention about a contract proposal. Again it didn’t take them long to start talking over each other on this topic.
The discussion sounded like one of those internal issues were the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing?
This could have been another time to remind them of "Roberts Rule of Order " like I was told in one of the meetings back in the summer.

The rest of items on the meeting agenda seemed to go pretty normal .

Just a couple closing statements,
It has now been 12 weeks since I ask questions to city officials about Chapter 62: Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance and they still have not give me answers.
It has been 8 weeks since I ask city officials to update the city of Paris website. I still have no response back to me from city officials.

That’s all for now,
John Marshall
 
I welcome your comments
 
 

September- Pictures of Developed Lots around My House

We moved into our new home late March of 2008. We spent the summer of 2008 with tall weed problems the entire summer. I didn't like it but didn't say anything.

In May of 2009 the tall weed problem started all over again so I decided to ask the city officials to enforce the city weed ordinance. Here it is November 2009 and all I got from the city was a lot of excuses and the same tall weed problem all summer long again.


August- Pictures of Developed Lots around My House

We moved into our new home late March of 2008. We spent the summer of 2008 with tall weed problems the entire summer. I didn't like it but didn't say anything.

In May of 2009 the tall weed problem started all over again so I decided to ask the city officials to enforce the city weed ordinance. Here it is November 2009 and all I got from the city was a lot of excuses and the same tall weed problem all summer long again.


June- Pictures of Developed Lots around My House

We moved into our new home late March of 2008. We spent the summer of 2008 with tall weed problems the entire summer. I didn't like it but didn't say anything.

In May of 2009 the tall weed problem started all over again so I decided to ask the city officials to enforce the city weed ordinance. Here it is November 2009 and all I got from the city was a lot of excuses and the same tall weed problem all summer long again.

May-Pictures of Developed Lots around My House

We moved into our new home late March of 2008. We spent the summer of 2008 with tall weed problems the entire summer. I didn't like it but didn't say anything.

In May of 2009 the tall weed problem started all over again so I decided to ask the city officials to enforce the city weed ordinance. Here it is November 2009 and all I got from the city was a lot of excuses and the same tall weed problem all summer long again.



Thursday, November 5, 2009

Website Letter to City of Paris

September/2009

To: City Manager of Paris, Ky
Mayor
City Commissioners
525 High Street
Paris, Ky 40361

Subject: http://www.paris.ky.gov/ website

Dear Sirs:

Communication- How can we live together without it?
I would like to see you start giving us a chance to view a lot more of our government online. This is a Great Communication Tool for the City of Paris to let all citizens know what is going on in our local government. Currently you do have good information on this site, but it could be better. In this age of instant worldwide information you are missing a great opportunity to communicate to all Paris citizens that own a computer, the inter- workings of their local government on a daily basis.
Since I have attended several of the city commissioner meetings this year it has become very apparent to me, that city officials seem to be only fulfilling legal obligations by running ads in the Wednesday edition Bourbon County Citizen. This does satisfy state laws for you, but really doesn’t reach a majority of the local citizens to inform them what is going on in their local government.
The Bourbon Citizen does report on your commissioner meetings and it reaches all the people who actually pay for the paper. This paper does not reach every mailbox in this city. It’s counterpart, The Citizen Advertiser, which is free does reach every mailbox but doesn’t contain information about local government. So this leaves a lot of the people uninformed.
Remember always, That all residents of the City of Paris are your employer and you are the employee. We want to know how you are spending our money to keep our city safe, building our infrastructure, showcasing our town to the world, creating a better economy, and future plans you might envision to help our city.
I have spent time looking at other city/county website in Kentucky. Some are just absolutely loaded with information of their local government for their community. Others are just there with little information, few pictures and not much else. I believe with minimal effort your webmaster could turn http://www.paris.ky.gov/
into one that is absolutely loaded with information for us. The website needs to be maintained with current information and archives of past information.
I would like to offer the following list of items to be added to the website. Main menu tabs could be added for these items just below the existing Important Notices tab upper left hand corner of web page. This would enhance user friendliness of the website.
I am sure you already have electronic copies and it would just be a matter of uploading the files to the server. Then it would be minimal effort for the webmaster to produce web pages of the documents. This will be a great way to show transparency in our local government by posting them online. Other local government websites in Kentucky already do this and much more.
Items
A. Annual Budget for this Fiscal year, past years

B. Total Revenue and Sources

C. Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable- Monthly

D. General Fund- Summary of expenditures by department- Monthly

E. Combined Utility Fund- Summary of expenditures by department- Monthly

F. Commissioner meetings -agenda and minutes of each meeting

G. Special Meetings- agenda and minutes of each meeting

H. Legal documents that you have to post in the newspaper, also post online.

I. Keep all ordinances current online

J. Salary -City Mgr.-Mayor -City Commissioners

K. All Salary Classifications of City Employees- With min./max. salary range of each class

Posting this information online will greatly improve communications between local government and the residents of this city. I know if you take time to really look at the website, you will see endless ideas yourself that should be posted to help inform citizens of this fine city.
This should be a great marketing tool for you. You should add the website url address http://www.paris.ky.gov/ to all your official documents if it isn’t already there. People will recognize it more and start using it for information.
Advertise the website in the local papers and encourage people to visit you online. Doing this will help get more people aware that there is a website they can visit and learn what is going on in their local government. I think you will see a lot more traffic to the website when enough people realize your website is full of good information.
You should also contact our state government and ask them to add a link from Kentucky official website http://www.ky.gov/ To your site. They have a link to cities & counties on their home page but Paris is not shown. This is just another way to communicate to more people and showcase Paris.
I would ask that you formally accept a copy of this letter and act upon it’s contents.

Thank you
John Marshall
Resident of Paris, Ky
  
 
Just a few of many {Website Examples} below that post this Information
 
budget example- http://www.richmond.ky.us/ Click on Budget Documents
budget example- http://www.lexingtonky.gov/ Click on City Government
meetings & agendas- http://www.cynthianaky.com/
meetings & agendas- http://www.georgetownky.gov/
salaries & classifications- http://www.danvilleky.org/ Click on e-services - Document Center - Legislative/Executive - Ordinances - Ordinance1756
salaries - http://www.spencercountyky.gov/ Click on County Government - Financial Reports - Salaries

Disappointment Part-Two 11/11/09 Newspaper

This is the entire letter to the editor, not just the short version that was in "The Bourbon County Citizen " 11/11/2009.



Paris Resident Disappointment "Part-Two" With City Officials Actions

I want to tell you that it troubles me even more to be writing another letter to the editor about our city officials. I’ll refer to this letter as Disappointment Part-Two and hope there doesn’t have to be a Part-Three. The time frame of Part-Two starts were my first letter ends from August 19th

Dear Editor and Citizens of Paris

I want to share some more of my experience with "city officials." After attending all these commissioners meetings and seeing how city business is conducted as it relates to the public information side, I didn’t like what was going on. Very little information about city business is getting to the public.
I decided we the tax paying public deserved more information passed on from city officials, so I have been voicing my concerns at the commissioner meetings on several different issues. They want to call me "out of order" when they don’t want to answer my questions.

On Thursday August 20th -Just across the street from my house, there was a man on a golf cart that used a weed eater to cut down the 4 ft. high weeds just around the fire hydrants, nothing else. The rest of the 4ft tall weeds were left standing. This was after my letter to the editor was published in the newspaper on August 19th saying the weeds were back and you could barely see the fire hydrants.

On Friday August 21st - I went to the city office to obtain a copy of the letter asking the city to consider Sunday Alcohol Sales and a copy of the proposed Sunday ordinance. Cheryl Dryden the city clerk gave me copies of each. I am against Sunday Alcohol Sales and decided to take action against it. I ask for the copies in order to research this matter. I was concerned that it would pass at the next meeting if the word didn’t get spread to other concerned citizens that were against Sunday Alcohol sales.
"little bit of humor"The city manager was there while Mrs. Dryden was getting copies for me. I jokingly told him that the weeds around the fire hydrants had finally been cut, he replied yes I know. This is just another example of city officials ignoring the city weed ordinance that I had been asking them to enforce for the last 2 ½ months.

On Tuesday August 25th - I attended the city commissioners meeting to speak out against Sunday Alcohol Sales. I was delighted to see all the other citizens of Paris that came to the meeting to speak out against Sunday Alcohol Sales. I researched the matter and had prepared a written statement along with some questions about the City of Paris-Chapter: 62 Alcoholic Beverages Ordinance.
Everyone that signed up on the sheet for public comments was allowed to speak at the meeting.
I had signed my name first on the sheet and was the first one to speak when the city officials allowed public comment.{ Note-I gave a copy of my prepared speech to city officials} I gave my speech, ask my questions but never got answers to all of them. The questions were very specific about Chapter 62: City of Paris Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance. The answers that I did get were troubling to me because they were different than what the ordinance said. I was also told by the mayor that they probably couldn’t answer my questions.
Thanks to a lot of other good citizens comments the city officials voted no and the ordinance failed. I guess at that point I should have just let it go, but let me explain to you why I didn’t. It seemed to me our city officials just added a paragraph in the ordinance to allow
Sunday Alcohol Sales without reading the rest.
I told you that I had researched Chapter: 62 Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance and if they had even read their own ordinance, I see no reason they couldn’t answer my questions. City officials are writing changes to an ordinance that effects all citizens of Paris, Shouldn’t they understand it first, before they impose it on all of us?
Here are the questions that I asked
The statement below is from the ordinance:
Whereas: Economic concerns cause the city to authorize Sunday Alcohol Sales
Question #1 -WHAT CONCERNS ? EXPLAIN? No answer to this question

Some general questions about: Chapter 62: Alcoholic Beverages Ordinance
Question #2 -section 62.003 - Who is the alcoholic beverage control administrator? And 2 deputies ? I was told Jimmy Jones was the ABC administrator and the chief of police named one deputy. The answer seemed ok, but the city ordinance clearly states that the city manager appoints the ABC administrator and that the two deputies would be Paris Police officers. I find it strange and disturbing that city officials told me they don’t have anything to do with the ABC Administrator and deputies in this meeting? It is plainly stated that they do in their ordinance.
Here it is:
62.003 CITY ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL ADMINISTRATOR; DEPUTIES
(A) There is hereby created the office of the City Alcoholic Beverage Control Administrator (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the administrator), who shall have the duties and functions prescribed by KRS Chapter 241. The administrator may or may not be an officer or employee of the city, and shall be appointed by the City Manager. He shall also have such further duties and functions as are prescribed by this chapter.

(B) There are hereby authorized two (2) Deputy City ABC Administrators for Enforcement, who shall be ABC qualified city Police Officers, appointed by municipal order with the approval of the city ABC Administrator. The duties of such deputies shall be as determined by the city ABC Administrator, and are in addition to Police Officer duties of the city, but shall primarily consist of enforcement of state and city laws, ordinances, and regulations in the area of alcoholic beverage control.

Question #3- section 62.005 - How often if ever are the books, records of alcohol sales looked at? No answer to this question

Question #4 section 62.105 - How do they prove to the city that 50% or more of their gross annual income from the dining facilities comes from the sale of food and not alcohol?
No answer to this question

On Thursday August 27th - I decided to call State ABC office and ask them if the City of Paris ABC administrator reported to the state. I spoke to a lady who identified herself as Lisa Moorman. Her title was General Council Lawyer for the state ABC.
She was very nice and listen patiently as I explained the nature of my call. After looking up several things on her computer as we were talking. She did identify Jimmy Jones as the city of Paris ABC person. She said at that time she didn’t believe the state ABC was Mr. Jones boss. She said more time would be needed to verify it 100%. I said for now that was enough. I thanked her for listening to me and we hung up.
Her answer just left me still thinking this is strange that neither state or city officials could answer my question. Does it not stand to reason our city officials voting on an ordinance of Sunday Alcohol Sales would know what the language in the whole ordinance says? So I ask you, is it not a legitimate question that needs answered?

On Monday August 31st - I went to the city office around 11:30 a.m. and was able to have a meeting with the city manager Mr. Naghy. I spoke briefly about the unanswered questions but mainly on the original subject that started all of this, weed/grass ordinance and getting the vacant lots mowed next to my home. He told me he was reluctant to try to enforce the weed ordinance because of his past experiences in other places. He then said he was going against his gut feeling and do it anyway. He said he would call me in a couple days because he needed to get an estimate from his supervisor what it might cost to have city employees mow the properties and then bill the owners. He didn’t call like he said he would, but later he shared a cost estimate that his supervisor provided.
The estimate he showed me wasn’t just for the vacant lots near my home which are about 3 acres total. The estimate was for about 42 acres which covered other properties on my street. I have misplaced the copy he gave me, but the cost I think was around $1,900 dollars. I told him I did not expect tax money to be spent on private property upkeep. They needed to make land owners obey the weed/grass ordinance. Mr Naghy again had city workers mowing and weed eating the extremely tall weeds and grass from around road curbs and fire hydrants.

On Wednesday Sept 2nd - I was out around my house taking more pictures of the tall weeds and grass. At about 7:45 a.m. a red pick-up truck stopped in front of my house while I was taking pictures. It was Mr. Naghy, he spoke and told me he was just looking to see if any mowing had been done. He really never told me if he had spoken to the property owners. The property owner that same day used a tractor and bushhog to mow the vacant lots down to about 1 ft height. The weeds were so tall that on a vacant lot the bushhog actually ran over and destroyed a telephone box. The telephone boxes are about 3 ft tall but the weeds still had it covered. Several A.T.& T. phone customers didn’t have service until about 7 p.m. that evening when the phone service man finally got the box replaced.

On Tuesday Sept 8th - I attended the city commissioners meeting. I told them I had spent the whole summer fighting weed problems surrounding my house. I ask about the answers to my question on the ABC administrator. Needless to say, they skated around the questions again just saying they appointed him but didn’t control him. I asked then who is his boss?
At this meeting they announced a first reading of an ordinance moving the time of commissioner meeting from 6 p.m. to an early start time of 9 a.m. I questioned why the change of time because most people are working that time of day and wouldn’t be able to attend. Their answer was that it would be a cost savings to the city. When I asked how much savings it would be, Mr Naghy replied he would present the savings at the next meeting. My thoughts on changing the time is it’s just another way our city officials can minimize public comment.

On Tuesday Sept 22nd - I attended the city commissioners meeting. They voted and passed the ordinance to change the meeting to 9 a.m.
I asked again about the cost savings. Mr. Naghy had promised showing how much money it was going to save the city. I was told there would be a coming press release about it. Again broken promises, shut the public out.
At this same meeting I presented a letter to city officials about their website that I had been working on for awhile. Believe it or not The City of Paris has a website. http://www.paris.ky.gov/
It has useful information on it now, but other local government websites shares a lot more information to their citizens than does Paris.
My thought is that this would be a great communication tool for city officials to allow all citizens access to information about what is going on in their local government. I told them this would be a great way for them to show transparency in our local government by posting information online. I offered several suggestion in my letter of items to be added to the website. I Encouraged them to review their website and they too might realize other items to share with the public. I asked that they formally accept a copy of my letter and act upon it’s content. They did formally accept my letter.

On Tuesday Oct 6th - At around 1:45 p.m. I went to Mr Naghy’s office and ask to see him. Mr Naghy agreed to meet with me. I pressed him for answers on the weed ordinance and ABC questions. He ask me what I wanted him to do?? "HELLO"- enforce the weed/grass ordinance and answer the questions about the ABC administrator I asked 7 weeks ago.
He indicated to me that he was going to get the Chief of Police that day to issue citations to the property owners for weed/grass violation. Did they really issue citations-your guess is as good as mine?
I ask him again was the ABC administrator a city employee? He said he didn’t know!

On Monday Oct 12th - I received a phone call from Mr Naghy’s secretary inviting me to a meeting with Mr. Naghy and the ABC administrator. I told her all I wanted was for city officials to answer my original questions. I didn’t see a need for me to attend a private meeting between the two of them.

On Tuesday Oct 13th - This was the city commissioners first 9 a.m. meeting. Because my wife was very sick, actually she spent several days in the hospital, I was unable to attend this meeting.
‘Little bit of humor again"I would like to have been a mouse in the corner to see the smiles on their face when they realized I was not at the meeting. Aaah- finally got rid of that public nuisance!

On Wednesday Oct 21st "In Bourbon County Citizen paper" Finally the big savings for moving the commissioners meeting to the 9 a.m. start time is announced. I won’t get into the details, but if you read the article it wasn’t very convincing to say the least.

On Tuesday Oct 27th - 9 a.m. City commissioners meeting. - I was late getting to the meeting and arrived 9:07 a.m. I wanted to ask if they had taken any action on my letter concerning updating their website. I sat through the rest of the meeting thinking they would allow me to speak at some point in time. Wrong, they decided to go into executive session. I raised my hand and ask to speak and was told,” we are now in executive session” by the mayor. I replied that they were doing everything they could to minimize public comment. The mayor replied “thank you for your comment and turned away”.- To me that meant all public nuisance-get out this is private City of Paris affairs

To say the least, it is a shame that our city officials seem to forget that the tax payers who voted them into office is their boss. They make it seem like the old days, good ole boy politics-"It is none of the public’s business what we do" Speaking of good ole boy politics- Follow the logic in this example.
After my good friend and Mayor, Don Kiser Passed.
The 4 city commissioners were left with the task of naming a new mayor within 30 days. This is my understanding of how the process occurred.

Mike Thornton was mayor pro-tem because he received the most votes in the commissioners race. The commissioners decided Mr. Thornton should be the new mayor. Logical step I agree.

Next they needed to make a new mayor pro-tem. Stan Galbraith received the second highest vote. The commissioners decide he should be the new mayor pro-tem. Logical step I agree.

Next step is were they threw logic out the door and "good ole boy politics" took over.
They needed to appoint one new commissioner. The logical thing to do would have been this.

There was a total of 8 people in the general election that ran for the office of city commissioners of which only 4 could be elected.
Obviously the 4 other people who lost were interested in serving in public office because their names were on the ballot when you the public voted. Each of these 4 candidates on the ballot had good support because they got a lot of votes, just not enough to finish in the top 4. The logical next step would have been offer the vacant commissioners seat to the next highest vote getter in the election. Meaning the 4 that ran on the ballot of the general election. Number 5,6,7,8 in that order. I sincerely believe one of the four would have accepted their offer.

Instead they use the good ole boy system and seated a new commissioner who’s name was no where to be found on the general election ballot.
You the public voters never cast the first vote for him. How is that for following the logical solution?

The message in this for all of you, is get involved more in your city government. Don’t just set back and be part of the silent majority. You can make a difference if you speak up. These city officials have the power to effect your day to day life in a very serious way with the actions they may take or may not take. Go to these meetings and demand more information about your local government. I have attended a lot of the city commissioners meeting and there is a surprising low total of the general public attending the meetings. They are supposed to be working for you. These people are making laws that you must obey. They are spending your hard earned tax dollars. They are molding the future of the city you call home. There is suppose to be transparency in government meaning easy access for the public to view everything without a bunch of red tape.
All I really wanted was for them to enforce the city weed/grass ordinance and it has turned into this.

Sincerely,
John Marshall

Sunday Alcohol Sales Letter

This is the letter and questions I presented to city officials at commissioners meeting August 25th

To: Paris City Officials

Sunday Alcohol Sales

Why are you in such a hurry rushing this through, without given adequate time for people that oppose it to voice concerns!

You approved this in two weeks or less. This was not enough time for the word of Sunday Alcohol Sales to spread in the city for everyone to even know about it.
You are now ready to pass it, less than a month after it was requested.
This can not be acceptable, responsible behavior for our city officials to act in this manner. You have a responsibility to all citizens of this city to fully inform them of such issues. You don’t have the right to rush this through without first explaining why it is necessary.
WHY?
How can this possibly help us as a community? It only allows the possibility of more drunk drivers on the road to possibly kill one of our loved ones.
We seem to have enough alcohol and drug problems in our city already for our police officers
to deal with Monday through Saturday, without adding the Lords day too.
Time Frame:
1. Requested Tuesday July 28th
2. Published Wednesday August 5th in the paper
3. Approved-1st reading Tuesday August 11th
4. Published Wednesday August 19th in the paper
5. ? Tuesday August 25th

{ It is my belief that Wednesday Bourbon County Citizen is a good paper- but it probably doesn’t have adequate circulation to reach all citizens of Paris like the free Monday Advertiser does} Maybe the city & county should consider placing their legals in both in order to spread the word better.

The statement below is from the ordinance:
Whereas: Economic concerns cause the city to authorize Sunday Alcohol Sales
WHAT CONCERNS ? EXPLAIN?

Some general questions about: Chapter 62: Alcoholic Beverages

62.003 Who is the alcoholic beverage control administrator? And 2 deputies ?

62.005 How often if ever are the books, records of alcohol sales looked at?

How do they prove to the city that 50% or more of their gross annual income from the dining facilities comes from the sale of food and not alcohol?
 
Concerned Citizen,
John Marshall

Paris Resident Disappointment With City Officials Actions

This is the letter published in the "Bourbon County Citizen on August 19th "
Dear Editor,
I want to share my experience with "city officials" when I attended several of the Tuesday evening commissioners meetings.
On June 9th I took what I thought was a simple request. That they enforce the City’s Weed and Grass Ordinance on 6 developed lots for sale on Cross Creek Drive near my residence. I even took pictures and a plat drawing showing the specific lots. The lots were over grown with weeds and grass 3 to 5 ft tall. The 3 fire hydrants nearest my residence were so covered with weeds you couldn’t even see them! At first they seemed concerned and promised to look into the matter and get back with me.
On June 17th issue of the Bourbon County Citizen there was an article in the newspaper about my request to the city officials. The lot owner was very quick in sending a letter to my residence about "HOW VERY HARD SHE TRIED TO KEEP THE WEEDS DOWN"
At June 23rd meeting I was told certified letters were mailed just that day to the owners of the lots too clean them up. The mayor even spent some time with me after one of the meetings talking about this problem more in depth. On June27th the city manager even came to my house to discuss the issue.
You could image my delight at that point! Thinking how concerned they were with my request about a simple weed problem. The city, about 5 weeks after my original request did send a crew one day to weed eat and mow around the road curbing and fire hydrants. The city workers did a good job. The property owner did a pretty sloppy job about this same time. They bush-hogged the lots down to about a 1 ½ foot height.
At the meeting on July 28th I thanked city officials for there help so far, but reminded them that because it had taken so long, weeds and grass still grow fast and the lots were ready for a mowing again.
NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY.
I attended the August 11th meeting. They city officials did a 180 degree turn about on me. I was told nothing else could be done. I was also told that in these hard economic times, it would put a hardship on the lot owners to expect them to comply with a city ordinance!
When I expressed my disagreement with their answer, I was told that my comments were close to being "OUT OF ORDER" so I didn’t say anymore. The weeds are back, you can barely see the tops of the fire hydrants again.
But take heart my fellow citizens, You don’t have to worry about hard economic times much longer, these same city officials are working hard and fast on another city ordinance for us. SUNDAY ALCOHOL SALE ORDINANCE ! Just say no thanks my fellow citizens at their next meeting.
Sincerely,
John G. Marshall

Reason for this blog

I have created this blog to express my thoughts about Paris City Officials lack of sharing information with the public. It is also for all citizens of Paris Kentucky to post your comments.
I wanted to share my experiences with city officials this year by publishing them as a letter to the editor through our local paper "The Bourbon County Citizen"
They where kind enough to publish my first letter of about 500 words in the August 19th paper that was titled: Paris Resident Disappointment With City Officials Actions.
I spoke to the editor of the paper on Thursday October 29th about publishing another letter for me. He said they could, so on Monday November 2nd I took a long letter of about 3000 words to the news paper office. I spoke to the editors mother and she indicated that they would publish it but could I shorten it down some.
In fairness to the paper, my letter was way longer than what their guidelines state it could be. They were willing publish it for me at the rate of 300 words each week. It would take about 2 1/2 months to get it all published. I didn’t want to drag it out that long so I created this blog.