By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
After having agreed unanimously to purchase 19.5 acres of land less than two months ago, a majority of the Glasgow Common Council on Monday approved a purchase of approximately 161.78 additional acres for nearly $6.15 million.
The 7-2 vote came after an hourlong closed session for “deliberations on the future acquisition or sale of real property,” which is allowed by a public agency, “only when publicity would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property ….”
At its Aug. 26 meeting, the council was in closed session for roughly 90 minutes using the same exception to the Kentucky Open Meetings Act, with no action following.
Councilman Terry Bunnell made the motion for the purchase, stating that MCS Properties LLC currently has the land at 1573 Cleveland Ave. under contract to purchase it from the Leonard and Bernadine Johnson Living Trust. The city would purchase it from MCS for $38,000 per acre, he said in his motion, but the city’s purchase contract would require a geotechnical study and other details such as ensuring a free and clear title.
With no discussion in open session regarding the matter, council members Marna Kirkpatrick and Max Marion voted against pursuing the purchase after the other seven members had voted in favor of it.
After the meeting, Bunnell told Glasgow News 1 the purchase was for development purposes for the city. He said it was a great opportunity and the location could be very valuable to the city for future opportunities.
“The property came available. We looked at it, examined it, to see if this would fit some of our plans we have for the City of Glasgow,” he said, declining to provide any specific examples. “You can think of a lot of things that could go into that acreage, and we felt that, being a catalyst of the City of Glasgow, that this was an opportunity that was presented to us and we could move forward with it.”
Noting this was the second real estate purchase in a relatively brief period, Glasgow News 1 asked whether he thought this would do the city for a while.
“When properties come available, then we as a city need to look at that, and we need to look at seeing where our city limits are and what’s going on with our city limits and where do we want to be five years from now and 10 years from now, and 15 and 25 years from now …,” Bunnell said. “We can’t be thinking just about tomorrow; we’ve got to be thinking down the road about where we want to go and where we see needs. We’re looking at macroeconomics and we’re looking at planning and trying to be strategic with that planning.”
Monday’s hourlong closed session also was for “discussions of proposed or pending litigation against or on behalf of the public agency.” City Attorney Rich Alexander said when the open session resumed that there would be no action in relation to that item.
Earlier in the meeting, a majority of the council had approved first reading of an ordinance setting the property tax rates for this year 8-1, with the nay vote coming from Kirkpatrick.
The rate for “real property,” generally referred to as real estate, would stay the same at 0.169 (or 16.9 cents) per $100 of assessed value, and the rate for tangible property, also known as personal property, would decrease from 0.176 (17.6 cents) per $100 of assessed value to a rate of 0.169 (16.9 cents).
For example, on either kind of property valued at $100,000, the tax bill would be $169.
While the tax rate on real estate isn’t changing, a property owner’s actual amount billed could be higher or lower than last year if the property’s value has changed.
Kirkpatrick said she thought they should adopt what is known as the compensating rate, which is the rate estimated, based on total property valuations, to bring in roughly the same amount of revenue as the previous year. In this case, the compensating rate would be 0.165 (16.5 cents) per $100 of assessed value, and Kirkpatrick said that would give taxpayers a bit of a break.
City Treasurer Stephanie Garrett said it’s better for the city to adopt a rate that is expected to increase the revenue amount in increments, because when the city applies for grants, it shows that it is trying to cover costs on its own to the extent it can. If they decrease the amount of revenue, Garrett said, it can then take a few years to catch up later.
Councilman Joe Trigg asked a few clarifying questions as well.
Kirkpatrick said things aren’t as they were last year for taxpayers, but Garrett said that’s all the more reason not to decrease the revenue, because the city’s bills have increased as well.
Bunnell said it was better to increase the city’s revenue amount in smaller increments than to be too conservative and then possibly have to have a significant increase at one time later. He named some of the things those funds go toward, like police and fire protection and street lights.
Other business included two primary action items:
– First reading of an ordinance making amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance, mostly those that establish which zones can have various aspects of medical cannabis operations, if any. For example, cultivator facilities would only be allowed in agricultural and industrial zones, but producing/processing facilities would only be allowed in the industrial zones. Safety compliance facilities and medical cannabis dispensaries would only. In central business districts (B-1), all of those activities would be prohibited; in a general business district (B-2), safety compliance facilities and dispensaries would be allowed, but cultivating, producing and processing facilities would be prohibited.
The amendments to the zoning ordinance would also add “construction storage” to the definitions in the Job Trailers section and specify how “Non-Traditional Structures” may not be used.
Bunnell alone voted against this measure.
– A resolution that allows the city to issue bonds in an amount up to $10 million toward “additions, improvements and renovations of park facilities” owned by the city. This item was added to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, but Chip Sutherland, managing director of public finance for Baird, and Christian Juckett, an attorney with Rubin & Hays, a firm specializing in tax exempt/public finance that has served as the bond attorney for multiple local bond issues, were on hand to further explain and answer questions.
Sutherland said that if the city government were to spend funds on a park project but then come to the conclusion that it needed to have that cash for another purpose, the Internal Revenue Service allows for it to sell bonds at that point to bring in the revenue but only if such a resolution were approved and in place in advance.
The estimated cost for the main phase of construction for American Legion Park, which is being mostly overhauled and re-created, is in the $10 million range. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at the park.
The resolution was approved unanimously.
The mayor, via the agenda packet, had also informed the council members of a handful of municipal orders he had signed, four of which updated Glasgow Police Department standard operating procedures and one of which added an SOP regarding drones/unmanned aircraft systems, and he informed them of his intent to reappoint Vickie Bartley to the Plaza Theatre Advisory Board.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting begins at 6 p.m. Sept. 23 in Council Chambers on Floor 2 of Glasgow City Hall, 126 E. Public Square.
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