By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow News 1
The Park City Commission retained a commissioner to scour the city’s books during a special-called meeting Monday night at city hall.
The commission continues the work to review the city’s finances, and as part of that effort, will pay commissioner Mike Burgess $1,500 a month. He has a background in corporate accounting and loss control.
Mayor Donna Scavo said hiring an accounting firm to do a forensic audit would be more expensive.
The motion and approval to pay Burgess came after a closed session to discuss personnel matters.
“Mike has … an accounting background,” the mayor said. She added that he had already been working on the financial reclamation project for two months without compensation.
“He has been here a lot — most of his day — doing this and it’s something he doesn’t have to do,” commissioner Angelo Scavo said.
“You have to start by looking … at expenses first,” Mike Burgess said. “We have went through and corrected a few things that will make it easier for [the commissioners] to know where the money is being spent.
“We have office procedures we had to change along with that.”
Burgess has been working through the city’s financials since former Mayor Larry Poteet resigned in September. The commission found that money that should have been in accounts for the fire department and cemetery had been transferred to the general fund without the commission’s approval.
Burgess said the transfers were not illegal, according to counsel with the Kentucky League of Cities, but that the city needs better controls on when, where and how money is transferred between accounts controlled by the city.
“I’ve been trying to correct things the last two months,” he said. “The mayor isn’t supposed to make decisions without our approval.”
The previous two meetings have been marked by transition in the city government and questions about that transition. Poteet resigned in September, and Donna Scavo — who had been a commissioner a total of 12 years — was appointed to fill the role. At that same September meeting, Linda Burgess was appointed to fill the seat left vacant by Scavo’s elevation.
At its meeting last month, the commission fielded questions from a citizen about how it chose to elevate Donna Scavo from commissioner to mayor, and how it chose Linda Burgess to fill Scavo’s seat on the commission. That was the first meeting with Donna Scavo and Linda Burgess in their respective positions. The mayor’s husband, Angelo, is a commissioner and Mike Burgess is Linda’s husband. The other commissioner is Gary Carroll.
The pool of candidates for the Park City government positions has been low in recent elections. In 2024 and 2022, only four people ran to fill the four commission seats, and Poteet ran unopposed for the mayor’s seat in 2022, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
The next commission election will be November 2026. The mayor’s seat will also be up for election then.
The commissioners did attend some regular business Monday. They tabled two agenda items — code enforcement pay and cemetery mowing — until more work has been done to determine the city’s financial standing. The commissioners also agreed they would like to receive more bids on projects such as the cost of mowing the cemetery.
“Both bids are from the same person — one for mowing every week, and one for every other week,” Donna Scavo said. “We should at least get one more person to bid.”
The commissioners did agree they would like to have Christmas decorations hung before Thanksgiving. The mayor said she had a quote for $250, but would like to find a cheaper to zero-cost option. A bucket truck is needed to hang the decorations.
The commissioners agreed to seek bids for hanging the Christmas decorations at a cost of $250 or less.
The Park City community tree lighting is Dec. 5, and Santa will visit town. The city’s Christmas parade will be Dec. 13.
Comments