Sunday, May 16, 2010

5/16/2010

To all the readers of this blog. I want to thank you for your encouragement and support you have shown me. I certainly found out through this blog that there is a silent majority out there that wants honesty, integrity, and transparency in government just like me. Not just in local government but at all levels in this great country of ours.

I have a family situation that is going to take priority over this blog. For those of you who known my family, you know why without me going into detail.

I will no longer be able to devote the time it takes to go to the commissioner meeting, etc and then write this blog.  I expect that some, not all of the city officals will be delighted when they realize I am not attending the meetings anymore. This will be my last post for a long time.

I hope that all of you continue to speak out and perhaps even attend a commissioner meeting just to see what goes on. If you don’t speak out they will be deciding part of your future as a Citizen of Paris without any input from YOU !


Thanks
Still a concerned citizen
John Marshall

Thursday, May 6, 2010

04/27/2010 Commissioners Meeting

The first item on the agenda was a presentation on Paris website update from Mr. Dryden. He is the computer expert and webmaster for the City of Paris.

This was a pleasant surprise to me, since I did present a letter to City Officials back in September 2009 asking them to update their website. Here is a link to my letter if you want to read it http://pariskentucky.blogspot.com/2009/11/website-letter.html

Mr. Dryden was having difficulty with the computer he was using to show the new website design for http://www.paris.ky.gov/ to the commissioners so I didn’t get to see much of the new design.
What I really like is the fact that City Officials are actually going to add a lot of items I requested such as the Budget. For now the new website is still work in progress, but at least I know they are listening to the public now. I’ll write more on this as the city officials release the information.

Next item was Public Comment. The first to speak was Mrs Marcum about Blighted Property Ordinance. She ask the commission for an update. She stated that the house next door to her at 161 Woodmont Drive was in terrible shape. She wanted the city to enforce the ordinance. Apparently this has been going on for several years for her. City Officials assured her something will get done this time. I wish her GOOD LUCK with that answer from the city.

I spoke next on weed/grass ordinance and dirt bikes, 4-wheelers. I had to remind them again that as of the date of this meeting, no grass/weeds had been cut on vacant properties in our neighbor this season at all. The ordinance states 10inch height and most are already 20inch plus around my house. The city manager stated he had not sent a letter to the property owners about the new 10inch height in the ordinance. That letter was suppose to be sent at least 2 months ago.

Another example of excuses instead of action from City Manager Nagy. Mayor Thornton told Nagy to get the letters sent and send him a copy showing it was done. I told all city officials, they had their new ordinance, don’t give me excuses just enforce it! The mayor was visibly upset at the city manger for dragging his feet on this one.
The other problem that started this spring on the vacant lots around my house has been dirt bike and 4 wheeler riding. Captain Elkins of the Paris Police Department was going to help on this issue. The riding has slowed down now, and I did see Police Officers talking to the riders one evening after the commissioner meeting.

Next item on the agenda was new business. The City manager said that a lease agreement with P.A.W.S. had never been signed for the Dog Park on Ford Mill Rd. He stated the Dog Park is a success story for the city but the city attorney advised the lease needs to be signed. Details of the agreement have not yet been worked out it was stated. Apparently the city presently has a request to make a section of the park just for small dogs. It was stated nothing could be done about the request until a lease is signed. City Manager Nagy told the commission he would present the lease agreement for their approval when the details are worked out.


Another item under new business was the purchase of a Used 2007 Electric Distribution Work Truck. Mr. Nagy stated “that the electric department employees had looked the truck over already” He further stated ‘it nicely meets our needs as the old existing truck no longer does for the upkeep of electric wires, sub-stations and responding to calls.” Mr Nagy stated “the purchase price was 24,000. And he wanted to pay cash.” It was not stated if this was already in the budget or something that just came up? A vote was taken and all city commissioners and the mayor voted yes to purchase the truck.

Mr. Nagy also gave the commission an update on the two job position the city was advertising for. He stated “he had good responses for both positions.” He expected to interview in May and hopefully have the positions filled by June.



Until next time,

Saturday, April 24, 2010

04/13/2010 Commissioners Meeting

I apologize to my readers for not posting this sooner, but my wife has been seriously ill and she is my 1st. Priority.
I finally got a cd recording and listened to the commissioners meeting of 4/13/2010. The following is what went on. Commissioner Fryman was absent but all others were present. This was the last meeting for assistant city manager Matt Belcher, but it sounds like he is going to contract his services back to the City on an as needed basis?

Most of the meeting was centered around Cable TV Franchise for the City of Paris.  The city wanted cable tv and high speed internet extended to the Business Park on Georgetown Road , Houston Oaks Subdivision, and any other areas within the city limits that wasn’t served now.

Time Warner representative Mrs. Deaton, gave a presentation to city officials explaining Time Warner position on these items. She noted the contract with the city expired December 31-2009. Mrs Deaton stated that roughly it would cost 60 to 70 thousand dollars to build cable to the business park. She explained that they would have to take a survey from the businesses in the area to see what their needs were first. If their needs didn’t meet Time Warners business model on [return on investment] they would not be able to provide service.

Next Mrs Deaton stated it would cost about 94 thousand dollars to build cable to the Houston Oaks area. Again she indicated if Houston Oaks needs didn’t meet Time Warners business model on [return on investment] they would not be able to provide service to this area either.

Mayor Thornton stated he didn’t look at it as just an investment in a geographic area of Paris, [talking about Time Warners return on investment model] but it should be an investment of the entire City of Paris. Mayor Thornton stated “he thought it was very crucial that services were provided to these areas.”

Commissioner Horne said he disagreed with Time Warners business philosophy. “He said he wanted to see aggressive action taken toward our community”.

It was also stated that channel 6 is the Community Channel that all of Paris could use. It was suggested that commission meetings, court session, high school ball games, all could be filmed and then shown on tv. The big kicker there would be getting enough people in the community involved to do it.

Next item was Communications. The Mayor and City Commissioners gave the ok to advertise two new jobs for the City of Paris. One position is for a Chief Finance/Utilities Official. The other is for a Human Resources Insurance Generalist. If you are looking for work, this might be one of those good jobs that our tax dollars pay for.

Next on the consent agenda the Little League baseball Parade is slated for May 8th.

Next item was the Landfill Contract Extension with Central Ky Landfill. City Manager Nagy stated ‘that the language had finally arrived at a satisfactory set of terms for the City and Central Ky to extend the contract for another year.” He stated that “Central Ky Landfill would provide the city with some additional containers with no extra cost to the City.” The Mayor and City Commissioners all voted yes to extend the contract for one year.

This meeting was rather short compared to others in the past. It was only one hour long? Maybe because I wasn’t their to ask questions? JUST KIDDING!
I was hoping this new weed/grass ordinance would help the situation around my house, but the weeds and grass are taller than the 10 inch maximum height stated in the ordinance at the writing of this post. I recall the mayor telling code enforcement people to make sure this gets enforced this year.


I didn’t want to fight with it this year again, but it better get mowed soon or else I will be on the door steps of City Hall asking why not.

Until next time,

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Missed Commisioner Meeting

I know it has been awhile since my last post for those of you that read my blog. I had every intention of attending the 4/13/10 commissioner meeting but family sickness prevented it. My wife was in the hospital again.
I am going to request a recording of the meeting from the City Clerk. After reviewing it, I will make a post on my blog about the commissioner meeting.

Until next time,

Friday, March 26, 2010

03/23/2010 Commissioner Meeting

Tennis Courts at Garrard Park were on the public comment today. Mr. Earlywine, a school teacher at Paris City Schools spoke to city officials about doing some needed repair work to 4 of the tennis courts. He stated both Paris and Bourbon County Schools use the courts for their respective tennis teams.
He came to the meeting with a prepared list of items that needed repair. Mr. Earlywine also stated that members of each team along with himself and other volunteers were prepared to supply Free Labor to the project if the city would help.  Mr Earlywine had estimated the material for the needed repairs would cost about $4,000.00
Mayor Thornton told him that this was a pretty good gesture on the schools part to help out and he didn’t have a problem as long as there was money in the budget to help. City Manager Nagy replied he had money in the budget.
Mr Earlywine thanked them very much for their support. Mr. Earlywine stated they wanted to do the work during Spring Break in order to get it done for Tennis Season.

I was very pleased to hear about how our young people and adults were willing to volunteer there time to work on this project. I am sure all the people who enjoy playing tennis in Paris will greatly benefit from this.

Another item was communications. City Manager Nagy stated “that Assistant City Manager Matt Belcher plans for the future was that he is leaving the city at the middle of next month.”

It looks like to me this will leave yet another job opening the city will need to fill?  But not so fast here John, later on in the meeting they started discussing the Finance Director position from past meetings they wanted to hire.
It seems now that City Manager Nagy’s recommendation is to do away with the Assistant City Manager position and replace it with a position titled- Finance/Billing Director. He also wants to hire a support person in addition to deal with H.R. issues and insurance issues.
The discussions that followed between city officials drummed up yet more disagreement between them in what to do? This time the mayor and 4 commissioners voted NO on Mr Nagys recommendation. They then decided to create yet another title-CFO/Utility Director and decided to advertise for this position!. The mayor and 4 commissioners all voted YES on this one.

I will add a comment about this position. Just like one of the many readers of this blog pointed out to me. We already pay the City Manager a Very Very High Salary. Shouldn’t this be part of his job already? Does he not have the financial background to keep the City of Paris Financials in proper order?

Another item was the 2nd reading of the weed/grass ordinance. In one of my previous post, I noted they tabled the issue until the City Attorney could review my recommendations. In this meeting the City Attorney stated, “I had some time to look at it, I don’t think we need to make those references.” There was some further discussing and then the mayor and all commissioners voted YES for the ordinance as the city attorney presented it.

Oh well I tried, Guess I will wait and see now if they ENFORCE the ordinance or I put up with 3 to 5 foot weeds again all summer.

One other item was the Fire Chief position. City Manager noted that Andy Roe has been the Interim Fire Chief now for several weeks since the retirement of the previous Fire Chief. He noted Mr Roe has dealt with the job very satisfactory and he recommended they install Mr Roe as the New Fire Chief. A vote was taken and all city officials voted YES for Mr Roe to become Fire Chief.



Until next time,

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

New Business on the agenda

More 3/09/2010meeting
City Manager Nagy brought to the meeting his recommendation to begin the recruitment of a Deputy Clerk/Accountant. He stated, “this position is clearly needed to bolster the financial department and help other departments”.

Who would have thought this could cause such a misunderstanding or mis-interpretation with our city officials. What I am talking about is what the auditors from Ray, Foley, and Hensley told city officials when they presented the Financial statements to the City of Paris about a month back.


The auditors discussed items of concern to them. The auditor told city officials, “The City lacks experience in applying generally accepted accounting principles to transactions recorded throughout the year and determining appropriate financial statement disclosures” They said appropriate experience should be sought and recommended the City consider the feasibility of the addition of a Financial Officer.

Here is the interpretations of “Financial Officer” of City Officials.

Now back to City Manager Nagy interpretation it must be this Deputy Clerk/Accountant?

Commissioner Galbraith thought this person should have at least a Bachelor Degree in accounting not just an associate degree as Nagy had suggested. Galbraith thought this person should be on the same level as the present city clerk.

Commissioner Fryman said, “he thought this new person was an assistant for the city clerk and would be reporting to the present city clerk”.

Mayor Thornton stated, “he thought they were trying to hire a CPA, the top of the pyramid that the whole accounting department would answer to. This person would be the one to answer any financial questions that any department might have like a chief financial officer of any business.”

Commissioner Horne agreed with Mayor Thornton while Commissioner Brooks did not express an opinion. The city officials continued for quite sometime back and forth describing what they thought the duties of this new person should be.
It was finally decided that a Deputy Clerk/Accountant was not the position they needed.
Mayor Thornton and all commissioner voted no against city manager Nagys recommendation. They then decided to do much like Mayor Thornton idea. They would create a new position of Finance Director and then hire that person.

I will have to agree with Mayor Thornton on this. I was at the meeting when the auditors made their recommendation. To me they clearly meant the City of Paris needed to hire a CPA type person to take charge of the Cities Finances, not just a Deputy Clerk/Accountant.

Until next time,

03/09/2010 Commissioners Meeting

One item on the agenda was a federal grant for the fire department which has been discussed in several previous meetings. This grant provided money and obligated the city to increase the total of employees at the fire department to 35. This was about 3 years ago when the economy was thriving. Since then the economy slowed and bottom line no extra employees were hired. Today it was stated there are 27 full time employees and several part time.
In this meeting City Manager Nagy recommended that the city cancel the grant. Mr Nagy stated, “it is not feasible or economical to do now” He also stated, “we are on the hook to refund the federal government around $75,000.”
Mr Nagy further stated, “they were down to 27 employees because of retirement and resignation they needed to hire 3 right away to get back to 30 employees. Then he stated, don’t consider going over 30 without additional grant activity to help us.”
After discussing the matter, the mayor and city commissioners all voted to cancel the grant and repay the $75,000.

Even though the city had to repay the money, it was sound fiscal policy to do at this time to me.

Another item was the 2nd reading of the weed ordinance. Of course, you know I had sign the public comment sheet on this one to speak up because this is what started my attending all these meetings in the first place.
After the ordinance was read by the city attorney, I was allowed to join into the conversation by Mayor Thornton. They actually listened and I think agreed with most that I said. We all had what I would consider a good open discussion on the issues and was not a shouting match. After our discussion at least they all voted to table the ordinance until next meeting instead of voting on it right now. That would give the city attorney time to consider my recommendations and hopefully re-write them into the new ordinance. I guess we will find out in the next meeting.

It sounds like a petty issue in one way, but my family and me have lived the past two summers with weeds and grass 3ft to 5ft tall constantly surrounding our house in the City of Paris. They are vacant lots for sale but the property owners refuse to keep the properties mowed liked the city ordinance states. And to compound the problem the city was dragging their feet all last summer to enforce the ordinance.

Next time I will continue with more on this meeting

Until next time,

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

More 02/23/2010 Meeting

Another really interesting item was to approve a contract agreement with C.D.P Engineering to design a telemetry system for water, sewer, and electric for the City of Paris. They never stated out loud how much money the contract was for and I wasn’t told the amount.

For those of you who may not known what telemetry means in this case, here is a brief definition:  Highly automated communications process by which data is collected from instruments located at remote or inaccessible points. Then it is transmitted to centrally located receiving equipment for measurement, monitoring, display, and recording. Transmission of the information may be over wires, or more commonly by radio.
Assistant City manager Matt Belcher told the commissioners “the system would be used to monitor and control pump stations, lift stations, over head storage tanks, and electric sub-stations.” Assistant City Manager Belcher also stated “money was in the current budget from each of 3 departments water, sewer, and electric of $ 40,000 each.”

That is a total of $ 120.000.00 I went through the copy of the budget the city manager gave me a few weeks back page by page. I could only find two line items on page 29 account number 506-telemetry for $ 35,000 and another on page 31 account number 575 for $ 40,000 These two items only total $75,000 ?? This telemetry system sounds like something useful, but were is the rest of the money coming from?

Commissioner Galbraith asked “In going forward with this project what could the city expect to save in terms of money.” The conversations that followed this question never gave any straight forward answers in terms of money, only what if scenarios with no exact savings.
Commissioner Galbraith stated “The whole scope of the project cost was unclear but a number that was tossed out was around $ 400,000"

Commissioner Horne stated “he agreed with Fryman that the proposal was kinda like pie in the sky with a lot of options with no estimates of on going expenses”.

City manager Nagy told the commissioners that he and assistant manger Belcher would get more details and bring the proposal back another time.

I certainly hope they get their costs lined out before starting a project of this magnitude of spending our tax dollars. That $400,000 could turn out to be double or even more if careful planning is not done.

Another item Mr. Nagy presented was three employees acted as interim department heads and were paid hourly during there service. Mike Withrow- code enforcement salary was adjusted to    
$ 22.30 an hour. Mr. Rick Elkin was acting Police Chief, his salary was adjusted to $ 24.50 hour. Mr. Andy Roe is acting Fire Chief, and his salary was adjusted to $ 25.30 hour.

Sounds like working for the City of Paris pays a lot better than most other jobs around here.

Another item was financial business. Commissioner Fryman raised the question of “How is it that the estimated income was showing         $ 6,405,000 and the expenditures showed $ 7,447,000. He stated “he knew they didn’t pass a budget that the expenditures exceeded the income by over a million dollars.” After further discussion the city clerk nor City Manager Nagy had an immediate answer for Fryman. Even though this error could not be explained during the meeting, all commissioners and the mayor voted yes to approve the financial as presented?

Sounds like we really do need a financial officer with the required background to keep track of things like the auditors suggested!

Until next time,

Saturday, February 27, 2010

02/23/2010 Commissioners Meeting

This was another 2 hour meeting and I actually got there a couple minutes early!

First item on the agenda was a Proclamation for American Red Cross.  Mayor Thornton presented a Plaque to the local Red Cross Volunteers for their tireless efforts of helping families in need. The Mayor declared the month of March, American Red Cross Month.

Another item of interest was new playground equipment for two of our city parks. Rucker Village and Chief Reed Park will be getting new playground equipment at a cost of $19,000. This cost would also include a swing for Garrard Park which is handicap accessible .
It was noted there wasn’t enough money in the budget to also have a handicap swing included with the equipment being installed at RuckerVillage and Chief Reed Park.

Mayor Thornton asked "how much extra was needed to include a handicap swing?" It was stated each of the 2 swings would cost an extra $ 500.00 each. The lady who was presenting the information to city officials stated that Mayor Thornton last year donated his personal money for a handicap swing at Claysville Park.

Mayor Thornton then stated, "he would donate his personal money for 1 swing this year also."
Commissioner Fryman then stated "the other swing money could be donated by the 4 city commissioners."

I want to thank Mayor Thornton and the Commissioners for donating this money for our kids. THANKS!

Another item was to advertise a bid package for the Cable TV Franchise in Paris. It was noted it’s been 10 years since it was last bid. It was stated there are several areas within the city limits that still have no cable service. This time it will be part of the bid package to extend coverage into these areas. It was noted they also wanted a local access channel so schools and civic organization could have access to broadcast events if they wanted. This local channel could even be used to show commissioner meetings. I am sure for that!!

Next time I will continue with more on this meeting.

Until next time,

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Bourbon County Regional Jail Ordinance

I  decided to attend the Bourbon County Fiscal Court meeting this past Thursday night 2/11/2010. They were going to have a Second Reading of the Regional Jail Ordinance. The Regional Jail concept has Bourbon County entering into an agreement with neighboring Nicholas County. There was a lot of interest and the court room was full.

I wanted to hear both sides on this issue because I pay taxes in Bourbon County too. The jail and it’s problems seems to make the news more often than not. Several people signed the public comment sheet to speak including myself.

One of the biggest concern to Bourbon County tax payers should be that Nicholas County will have two voting members on a regional board that will hire an administer to run the jail instead of the elected jailer.

To me this is a problem because the jail will still be funded 100% by Bourbon County Tax Dollars yet Nicholas County has a vote on how Bourbon County taxes are spent?? I have a huge problem with that. If Nicholas County is going to have a say, bring some Nicholas County tax dollars to the bargaining table.

Another problem with this idea is that no one really knows the cost on this, they only think it will be better. To me the Bourbon Fiscal court members should have asked for an independent study and get the facts on regional versus local county jails.

When questioned at this meeting fiscal court members agreed they needed more information but went ahead and voted 6-2 in favor of the regional jail. Magistrates Overly, Hay, Foley, Dawson, Offutt, and Smoot voted in favor of the ordinance. Magistrate McCarty and Judge Foley voted no.

I will say that Judge Foley ask all the magistrates before they voted, did they want to postpone the vote until they could provide the public with more information. They declined, went ahead and voted . After the vote Judge Foley said they would be working up an agreement with Nicholas County within the next 30 to 60 days. Judge Foley indicated the agreement would be shared with the public. He also said the regional jail would start at the beginning of 2011.

I was told that now it takes about $ 1,000,000.00 of our tax dollars a year to run the jail. The worst part of all this is, both sides agree running a jail whether it is local or regional loses tax payer dollars. Tax payers of Paris/Bourbon County our Fiscal Court Magistrates owe it to all of us to provide information showing were our tax dollars are going. Again, I urge more of you to speak up, the era of fiscal responsibility is here.


Until next time,

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

02/09/2010 Commissioners Meeting

Again I was about ten minutes late for this 9 a.m. meeting. It seems no matter what I do this morning meeting instead of evening  doesn't work for me. When I arrived there were two gentlemen talking to city officials. As I listened I realized they were talking about the City of Paris Financial Statements fiscal year 2009 which started 7/1/2008 ended 6/30/2009. This time frame was only a partial 1st year in office for our present city officials.
The following is a brief summary of the auditors- Ray, Foley, Hensley & Company.PLLC.
The auditor started out with their Findings Related To Financial Statements conditions. They discussed three items of concern to them.

Item 1. Auditors stated Condition was- . Bank reconciliations are not being performed timely or reviewed by the appropriate level of management.
Auditors stated Criteria was- Internal controls should be in place that provide reasonable assurance that bank reconciliations are prepared in a timely manner and reviewed by the appropriate level of management.
Auditors stated Cause was- There are no policies and procedures to require timely preparation and review of bank reconciliations.
Auditors stated Effect was- Errors and irregularities may not be identified on a timely basis.
Auditors recommendation was- Bank reconciliations should be prepared monthly and reviewed by the appropriate level of management.

Item 2 Auditors stated Condition was- The City lacks experience in applying generally accepted accounting principles to transactions recorded throughout the year and aid in selecting appropriate financial statement disclosures.
Auditors stated Criteria was- Appropriate experience should be sought to more effectively apply generally accepted accounting principles to transactions recorded throughout the year and aid in selecting appropriate financial statement disclosures.
Auditors stated Cause was- The City’s growth necessitates additional expertise in this area.
Auditors stated Effect was- This results in a number of year end adjustments to bring records in-line with generally accepted accounting principles. Also additional assistance is required to produce the statements.
Auditors stated Recommendation was- We recommend management consider the feasibility of the addition of a financial officer with the required background or retain additional consultants to aid the city with the necessary help.

The City of Paris stated Response to item 1. & item 2. was- The City is currently considering reallocating and / or adding resources to more effectively monitor and oversee the financial reporting process. This should also serve to strengthen year end closing procedures.

Sounds like to me, there might be a job opening with the city if you have a financial background.

Item 3 Findings and questioned Costs for Federal Awards-Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
Auditors stated Condition was- The city did not file required reports timely for the Assitance to Firefighters Grant.
Auditors stated Criteria was- Internal controls should be put in place to assure timely filing of required reports.
Auditors stated Cause was- No procedures were in place to monitor compliance with reporting requirements.
Auditors stated Effect was- Grantor may delay further funding or request reimbursement.
Auditors stated Recommendation was- We recommend management design control policies and procedures which aid monitoring all aspects of grants with emphasis on compliance and reporting requirements.

The City of Paris stated Response to this was- The city was in a period of transition. During the transition, reporting requirements were not met due to employee turnover. At present, responsibility for monitoring grants has been consolidated under the assistant city manager. Ongoing assessment is being conducted by the office of the City Manager.

The auditors noted to the city officials they should have been called earlier so they could be presenting the audit to them much sooner. The auditor stated “ We should have presented this in Oct-Nov time frame instead of February.” He noted more than half of fiscal year 2010 is already over and that doesn’t give the city enough time.

Commissioner Galbraith agreed they needed a financial system in place to remedy the present problems. He also said, “that it was city officials responsibility to not have repeat offenses year after year, because that meant we aren’t doing our job.”

I want to again thank the mayor. He had an extra copy of the City of Paris Financial Statements audit. He got up and came to where I was setting and gave the copy to me so I could follow along as the auditors explained the financial statements.

Over all the auditors stated that the turn around from fiscal year 2008 was very good. He felt this group of city officials did a good job of fiscal responsibility.

Mayor Thornton asked the auditors could they give city officials an idea how they measured up to other cities that they audited. The mayor asked are we average, below average, or above average?

The auditor replied he would give them a grade point B just a little above the middle of the pack.

I was pleased to hear what the auditors said, it makes me think they must be doing some things right. Now lets hope the present fiscal year of 2010 which ends June 30th will show an even better job of fiscal responsibility by our city officials.

Until next time,

Thursday, February 4, 2010

02/03/2010 Special Meeting

Special Meeting of City Officials

This was an early 8 a.m. meeting. It really played havoc on my normal morning routine to get to this meeting. I especially wanted to hear the discussion on the weed/grass ordinance proposal.

Here were the 3 items on the agenda, Little League Baseball Program Bids, Take Home Fleet Policy, and weed/grass ordinance.

The Little League Baseball program had 2 bids for the council to consider. Commissioner Brooks excused himself from voting because one of the bids was from a family member of his. It was stated that the bids were very close and after a short discussion the contract was awarded to Mr. Rodney Roe. The Mayor, Commissioner Fryman, and Horn voted yes. Commissioner Galbraith voted no.

Another item was the Police cruiser, Take Home Fleet Policy. This policy describes the do’s and don’ts to the police officers of Paris. Each officer will have to sign the policy in order to participate. At first there was slight confusion among the council about the contents of the policy.
They then decided because Chief Sutton had just been hired to go ahead with what was presented so all voted yes for the new policy. It was stated, come budget time this issue would be re-opened again.

The next item drug-out for over an hour discussing the high weed/grass ordinance. After sitting and listening to there discussions it became very apparent to me they hadn’t read the present ordinance. The questions they were asking each other about adding in the ordinance were already in the old ordinance. Here are some examples of things they wanted to add in the ordinance, send a letter to property owner, post a notice on the property, put the property owners name in the paper, etc.

They knew ahead of time this was going to be discussed in this special meeting, why didn’t each one of them take the time to know what was in the old ordinance before coming to a meeting to make changes in it??
One good thing they decided to add was a specific height because the old ordinance just said a reasonable height and that leaves it to an individual discretion.

I will say that the mayor was very vocal about saying, “ the city was very slow about responding to issues and this needed addressed as an internal issue.”

I also thank the mayor for allowing me to speak when I held my hand up. He allowed me to enter my thoughts about the city just enforcing the ordinance instead of letting it drag on the whole mowing season.

Until next time,

Friday, January 29, 2010

Paris-Bourbon County Elections 2010

This year can be the year that your vote can make the difference. All the local and county offices are going to be on the ballot for you to cast your vote. This is the time to make your choice on who you want to make future decisions about Paris and Bourbon County Government.

They will be in charge of making decisions that can effect your personal day to day life. So put some time in the thought process before you cast a vote. Only you can decide what is best for you and your family. The main thing is to make sure YOU VOTE  don’t let others decide your future without having your voice heard.
The past couple years has been tough on all of us with all the economic issues are country is facing. We need people in office making solid good decision for the whole community, not individuals who are just it for the “what is in it for me attitude.”
If you are not sure about how a candidate stands on an issue, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask? If they share your values then vote for them. If not vote for the one who does. Just because you think someone is a nice person, they may not share your same views on a particular subject. In that case, if you vote them in office, don’t be surprised when they do the opposite of what you thought!

Here is a list of names who filed for office at the Bourbon County Clerks office. The following list of names were provided to me by the Bourbon County Clerks Office.

Mayor- City of Paris- Non-Partisan
Michael J Thornton
Neil Jackson Crump
Janet S Patton

Paris City Commissioner- Non-Partisan- No Primary
Stan Galbraith
Tim Gray
Bart Horne
Wallis Brooks
Mike Fryman
John Alan Plummer

Bourbon County Clerk
Richard Stipp Eades [Dem]

Bourbon County Attorney
G Davis Wilson [Dem]

Bourbon County Corner
Rosemary G Kitchen [Dem]

Bourbon County Property Valuation Administrator
Woodford Wayne Turner [Dem]

Bourbon County Sheriff
Mark L Matthews  [Dem]
Robert Guy Turner [Dem]

Bourbon County Judge/Executive
Donnie R Foley                [Dem]
Tony Franklin Horn          [Rep]

Bourbon County Jailer
Jeff Cain                   [Dem]
Brandon Barnett       [Dem]
Joe Patrick               [Dem]
John S Ransdell        [Dem]
David Keith Ratliff    [Rep]

Magistrate- Hutchison
Donald R McCarty  [Dem]

Magistrate- Centerville
Barry Lee Hay       [Dem]
Daniel J Ison          [Dem]

Magistrate- Ruddles Mills
Martha Overly         [Dem]
Jimmy Mason          [Dem]

Magistrate- North Middletown
Cecil E "Junie" Foley   [Dem]
Jim Long                     [Dem]

Magistrate- Millersburg
John N Smoot      [Dem]

Magistrate- Clintonville
Mark D Offutt     [Dem]

Magistrate- Little Rock
Marion “Buddy” Dawson  [Dem]

Constable- North Middletown
Garrett W “Gary” Cannon [Dem]
Gregg Barnett                   [Dem]

Constable- Clintonville
Timmy Walker Sosby  [Dem]

Constable- Flat Rock
Ralph F Tobin           [Dem]

Constable- Ruddles Mills
Rory Lee Clark     [Dem]

Constable- Hutchison
Norman R Clark  [Dem]

Constable- Centerville
John Ward Ballengee [Dem]

Constable- Millersburg
Daryl B Kelly [Dem]

I would like to here from all of you about this list of candidates. Share your thoughts pros/cons on any of the above. What issues are you concerned with?  What makes your candidate the best choice?

Until next time,

Thursday, January 28, 2010

01/26/10 Commissioners Meeting

The wait is over for those of you who wanted to known who the new Chief Police of Paris would be.  At their Tuesday morning meeting, the mayor and all city commissioners voted yes to hire Kevin Sutton.  After the vote Mr. Sutton told city officials, “thanks so much for the opportunity and I will work hard for you”.

It was stated by City Manager Nagy that “Mr. Sutton had retired from Lexington Police Department were he was an Assistant Police Chief”. He also stated “Mr. Sutton has a college degree and F.B.I. training.” “ He still has a commitment to police work and wanted to be considered for this job”.

Commissioner Fryman stated about Mr Sutton saying, “he is very experienced in all aspects of police work starting out as a patrolman with the Lexington police force and worked his way up through the ranks of Sargent, Lieutenant, Captain and then Assistant Police Chief”.

Another item on the agenda was financial business. Commissioner Galbraith ask several question about financials of the general fund. Certain line items he was calling attention to the fact of discrepancies of actual vs budget.
The mayor responded to Mr. Galbraith, “the budget was very very generic until we got on board”. When Mr Nagy came in he started appropriating the right line items, with the right numbers”.

After the mayor made this statement I was very surprised, so I held my hand up to ask permission to speak. The mayor allowed me to speak. I ask the mayor was he suggesting that prior city officials never had a line item budget?

The mayor responded “it had line items, but it was very very generic and that was probably the best words to use for it”. “It actually had line items that we saw huge increases in the police and fire that was due to budget numbers not having FICA match, retirement, health insurance which increased the budget about        $ 500,000.00
City manager Nagy added, “the copy of the budget he gave me the last meeting probably had 4 times the detail of the budget he was given last year.”

If you can believe what the mayor and city manager said about the budget, at this point I have no reason to doubt them, this is a totally unacceptable way to keep track of our tax dollars!

How can they effectively run our city without a detailed line item budget for each department? Who is responsible for this outrage if not our city officials? I encourage all of you to speak out with me. It can make a difference.

Another item of interest will be a special meeting Wednesday Feb. 3rd at 8 a.m.
The topics of discussion will be the Baseball Contract Bids. Another will be on the final reading on Usage Policy for Police Cars.
And a personal favorite of mine will be the discussion about High Weed/Grass Ordinance with a possible     1 st reading to take place. If you want to have any public input on these topics you should attend this meeting.

Until next time,

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Paris Kentucky City Budget 2009/2010

I told you previously that City manager Nagy gave me a printed copy of the budget. Pages 4-24 is the GENERAL FUND, and pages25-38 is the COMBINED UTILITIES FUND. The following information was taken from the printed copy he gave me.


Here is General Fund Revenues Final Proposal 06/23/09
Taxes-                          3,336,521.00
Licenses/Permits-         2,137,330.00
Miscellaneous-                146,866.00
Gov’t Agencies                 34,085.00
Restricted Rev.-              372,428.75
G.F. Revenue total-   6,027,230.50

Here is General Fund Expenses Final Proposal 06/23/09
City Commission-                                    212,075.00
Asst City Mgr.-                                       376,650.00
City Clerk-                                              169,500.00
Police-                                                  2,072,700.00
Fire-                                                     1,721,288.00
Streets/DPW/Parks-                                689,866.00
Engineer/Inspection-                                327,935.00
City Mgr.-                                               458,955.00
G Admin-                                                114,000.00
EMS-                                                      192,000.00
911/Dispatch-                                         120,000.00
Projects/Cap Bud/Debts-                          92,372.00
Insurance-                                               650,000.00
Legal-                                                       68,000.00
G F Expense total-                            7,265,341.00

When you do the math that is 1,238,110.00 OVER BUDGET GENERAL FUND?

Here is Combined Utilities Fund Revenues Final Proposal 06/23/09
Electric/Power Prod-Distri-           4,223,000.00
Sanitation/Recycle-                          917,560.00
Water-                                          1,331,926.00
Sewer-                                          1,716,740.00
Interest/Other-                                 185,000.00
Comb Utilities Revenue total-   8,374,226.00

Here is Combined Utilities Fund Expenses Final Proposal 06/23/09
Power Plant-                                  2,436,103.00
Electric Distribution-                          797,820.00
Water-                                            1,045,145.00
Wastewater-                                   1,303,970.00
Sanitation/Recycling-                       1,095,830.00
Special Projects Cap Bud/Debts-       352,108.00
Utilities Admin/Management-          1,343,250.00
Comb Utilities Expenses total-   8,374,226.00

On page 36 of the printed budget shows l,238,110.00 of the Combined Utilities Revenue being TRANSFERRED to the General Fund making up for the 1,238,110.00 OVER BUDGET GENERAL FUND listed for that fund.

The total City Budget 2009/2010 is 14,401,457.00

Here is the bad part about all the budget numbers I have stated above. These are only projected Revenues and Expenses for each of the funds that make up the total city budget.
In order to make sense of it you have to see the Actual Revenues and Actual Expenses. So far they have not shared that information, so how does the public know what is going on? The simple answer is you don’t. That is why you, the voter/taxpayer needs to get involved in these meetings more. Let City Officials know that you are concerned about our community.

Until next time,

Friday, January 15, 2010

01/12/10 Commissioners Meeting

Let me start out by saying thanks for returning to my blog. I know it has been awhile since my last post. Just had a lot of other things going on and couldn’t find the extra time I guess. Anyway I did attend the last commissioners meeting.

The Police Cruiser home fleet was again a hot topic of discussion between city officials. Acting Police Chief Elkins presented to city officials for their approval a two page home policy requirement list. Each officer would be required to sign it before taking a cruiser home.  One item of concerned from the commissioner was taking cruisers outside the city limits. It was stated that Georgetown allow officers to take cruisers home only if they live within the city limits, not in the county or beyond. Our city officials sounded a little divided during there discussions on this matter. It was decided the home fleet policy would undergo several changes and be decided upon at the next meeting.

Another item was to approve a project of extending the sidewalks. The new sidewalks would be from corner of Lexington road at the school, out Bethlehem Road to at least Castle Blvd-Bourbon Central School area. After some discussions why this area was chosen instead of other areas, all city officials voted yes to go ahead with the needed design work. The money will come from a grant of about 245,000.00 dollars.

Another item on the agenda was to authorize a letter to be sent and apply for a state money grant. The money would be used for renovating the old train depot on 10th street. The property then would be leased and turned into a Horse Museum Center. Approval was given by all city officials to send the letter.

Other items that City Mgr Nagy talked about was “the need to create a employee hand book/HR manual because the city does not have one”.

Another item stated by Mr Nagy “to create a city ordinance per statutes in Kentucky that has salary steps for various types of skilled positions. Then plug in those skilled positions with various steps of salaries. We do not have a document like that and it has just been slipping though the cracks. It is something I want to fix in conjunction with the HR manual.”
This one struck me as kinda funny. Because in my letter to the city about their website back in September of last year, one of the items I ask them to post was- All Salary Classifications of City Employees-with min/max salary range of each class.

Another item Mr Nagy discussed was the tall grass/weed ordinance. He stated “they were re-assigning money for code enforcement this year and they would be pro-active with code enforcement.” I don’t understand the need for more money, but I sure do agree they just need to do their JOB and enforce the ordinance like I ask them to do all spring/summer last year!

One good thing Mr. Nagy stated was “the budget was improving and all departments were working together and doing more with less.”

I told you in my last post about Mayor Thornton gave assistant city manager a deadline of Jan 8th to give me answers to all my questions of the past several months that city officials have just ignored. I did finally receive the letter in my mail on Jan 7th. I’ll discuss it’s contents at a later date.

Until next time,