By GAGE WILSON
Glasgow News 1
The Cave City City Council meeting Monday, Sept. 11, saw a deceptively short agenda with only five items under unfinished business. As the city clerk, Bonita Hendren was running behind, Cave City Mayor Dwayne Hatcher began the meeting with the roll call. With all but one of the council members present, Kevin Houchens.
The next order of business was the approval of last meetings minutes with the only change coming from Councilwoman Beverly Ford.
“The section discussing new bulletproof vest for the police, there was a bit more that was said.” Ford pointed out that the minutes did not mention that one officer did not have a vest and that the minutes should not be “sanitized” and should reflect the whole of that discussion. City Attorney Bobby Richardson, acting as the clerk before Hendren came to the meeting, added to the minutes “expired vest shall be replaced for assistant chief Reynolds, immediately.” With that addition the minutes were passed by the council.
The council moved on to voting for the annexation of three separate properties. The first for the Blossom Hills development located on Laurel Way, the second was of the Patton Funeral Home area and the third was The Place Church and the 7.3 acres it sits on.
This concluded the annexation ordinances as the council moved to approve two ordinances relating to the terms of city council members and the mayor. Council members can now only serve four consecutive terms. This will not apply to present council members. The office of mayor will now be limited to two consecutive terms with the current mayor exempt from the new ordinance.
Department reports were set to follow, but with the absence of the police chief and no new information from Fire Chief Kevin Jandt, this section went quickly.
Hatcher took a moment to update the public on some recent developments around the city such as the blacktop resurfacing taking place on U.S. 31-W. Hatcher also pointed out that city hall received a visitor, the manager for the new Taco Bell who informed the city that the store was set to open Wednesday, Sept. 13, barring unforeseen setbacks.
As the mayor’s report ended he turned the floor over to the council for committee reports. This was immediately met with a motion from Ford to go into a closed session to discuss personnel issues. This motion was seconded by Councilman Brandon Wright.
Richardson advised the motion was improper. “The city council, other than with police officers and certain situations, does not have authority over personnel,” Richardson said. “The statute only allows for a closed session if there is some authority to do it.”
Council members Wright and Ford were not dissuaded as, according to Wright, they have sought outside legal counsel who disagrees with Richardson’s reading of the KRS 61-810. Some discussion and counterpoints were made by Wright and Ford, until Richardson stated, “I am the city attorney.”
As tensions grew, Ford stated that the mayor and Richardson were trying to obscure the matter. City Clerk Hendren ineffectually attempted to tell Ford that the issue should be addressed to the mayor’s office before excusing herself due to the subject matter.
Ultimately, Hatcher followed Richardson’s advice, but Ford pressed the issue, which was the irresponsible use of a city vehicle and how, she felt, swift action had not been taken, claiming that the matter was “willful negligence” on the mayor’s part. Although the employee has been placed on suspension, due to the nature of the allegations, Ford and Wright believe the employee should have been terminated.
After some further discussion the council did move on with Councilman Denny Doyle pointing out that those wishing to hold events on Broadway Street should be required to get insurance rather than depending on the city’s due to the risk of liability. This was discussed at some length, with Ford tying in the overtime the city pays its public works for the increasing amount of events that require its employees presence.
The almost two hour meeting adjourned shortly after this discussion.
Glasgow News 1 will continue to follow this story as we get more specific information. Check back for a follow-up article soon.
Comments