Glasgow council agrees to sell a property, take bids for two lots

By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
The Glasgow Common Council agreed unanimously Tuesday to sell properties at two locations.
The former New Farmers Bank building, 118 E. Public Square, next to City Hall is being sold to the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist & Convention Commission, which had already occupies it. It had subleased space there from the Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce. The chamber’s offices merged with that of the Barren County Economic Authority as Barren Inc. was formed, and they moved into the space left vacant in City Hall by the Glasgow Water Co.’s move a few years ago.
MacLean Lessenberry, executive director for the tourism commission, attended the special city council meeting Tuesday and said the purchase was something they began considering after the chamber’s relocation. The commission obtained an option to buy the property April 14, according to documents provided with the council meeting agenda, and had chosen to exercise that option. The total amount of land in the deal is 0.07 acres, and the sale “is based on the certified appraisal of Dec. 22, 2021, and being current value of $190,000,” according to the resolution the council, with all members present, approved. The mayor is authorized by the resolution to execute completion of the deal.
A second resolution approved the sale of two lots of property, through advertising for sealed bids, toward the end of Bayles Road. Lot 1 has 1.599 acres, and the adjacent Lot 2, at the end of the road, has 1.574 acres. Both have frontage along the roadway, and both are bordered, more or less, by South Fork Creek at the rear.
The residential lots are part of a 92.17 acres the city acquired in December 2011 “for the purpose of harvesting red clay dirt for the Landfill. It has been discovered that this composition of dirt does not exist on this tract therefore this tract has limited beneficial attributes to the City,” the resolution states.
Mayor Harold Armstrong said the city would retain the right to refuse all bids if none are high enough.
The other item – actually the first one — on the agenda was the first reading of an ordinance to amend existing ordinances so they reflect changes in state law that permit local governments to require payment of transient room taxes from brokers and facilitators of property rentals, regardless of size, as opposed to only property owners
The proposed ordinance states that Glasgow and Barren County have a transient room tax of 3 percent of the gross rental income on the rent for “every occupancy of a suite, room, rooms, cabins, lodgings, campsites, or other accommodations charged by any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campgrounds, recreational vehicle, parks or any other place in which accommodations are regularly furnished to transients for consideration or by any person that facilitates the rental of the accommodations by brokering, coordinating, or in any other way arranging for the rental of the accommodations in Barren County, Kentucky.”
The tax is deemed collectible from and enforceable against the owner of the property in question and/or the third-party broker or facilitator.
Lessenberry said this is something that tourism organizations lobbied for, as it should make collections simpler and easier for them but also be easier for property owners that rent out facilities through companies like Airbnb or Vrbo, because those companies would remit the payments from what they collect directly from renters, rather than the property owners’ having to make the calculations and payment submissions.
This vote was unanimous as well, but the change does not go into effect until after the second reading of the ordinance, which is currently expected Dec. 12.
The council’s next regular meeting normally would be the fourth Monday of the month, but that one has been canceled due to the holiday, the mayor announced at the last meeting.
Tuesday’s was a special-called meeting, and the Kentucky Open Meetings Act only allows discussion of the items on the agenda that must be provided at least 24 hours in advance of a special meeting. Upon adjournment of Tuesday’s meeting, Armstrong announced that at that point he could let the council know that the project development board for the planned new justice center for Barren County was looking to close on the sale of the city properties along West Main Street for that project on Dec. 12, and further action by the council may be necessary before the closing, based on the wording of the resolution that allowed the PDB to have the option for the purchase. He said the closing may have to be postponed a day or the council could end up having another special meeting before the 12th, in which case they would likely consider any business otherwise intended for the 12th at the special meeting and not meet again on the 12th.
The mayor received and discussed a few questions about that situation, and the council members only then dispersed.