| Work Detail |
Berea Municipal Utilities will use lines leased by the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency for transmission of electricity it will begin purchasing from American Municipal Power of Ohio beginning in 2019. The city council approved second reading of an ordinance Tuesday night authorizing a contract with KyMEA. The ordinance, passed 5-3, was amended to include a second contract spelling out BMU’s payment procedure with the agency. po Council members Jerry Little, Ronnie Terrill and Billy Wagers voted no. During a work session prior to the meeting, Little vehemently questioned why Berea would agree to a contract with KyMEA, an organization he said had misled the council and city administrators and failed to be transparent in its operations. Berea previously considered using KyMEA as its purchasing agent for electricity after its long-time agreement with KU/LGE runs out. Little blamed KyMEA for Berea’s delay in signing a contract with AMP of Ohio, which resulted in the city’s locking in a rate that will additionally cost rate payers an estimated $624,720 from 2019 to 2024. Still, the final outcome will be a good deal for the city with rate payers saving $1.5 to $2 million per year by going with AMP of Ohio instead of remaining with KU/LGE, Little said. During council comments at the meeting’s end, Terrill, with council members Steve Caudill and Vi Farmer, praised Little for his diligence and for asking questions they said ultimately led to substantial savings for BMU rate payers. Despite the objections he voiced, Little said he too was pleased with the outcome and was glad the process was finished. Property tax rates adopted Also on second reading, the council, without debate, accepted second reading of the city’s tax rate on both real estate and tangible property, 10.2 cents per $100 of valuation. Because of additional value added to the tax rolls this past year, the rate will generate an additional $8,636 in revenue from the real estate tax, an increase of about 1.3 percent. Revenue from the personal property tax would grow by $21,279, a rise of about 17.2 percent. Surplus property The council heard first reading of an ordinance that would donate two 2007 Dodge Chargers formerly used as police cruisers to the Stanford Police Department. The cars have been driven for 88,107 and 74,297 miles, respectively, and are no longer of value to Berea, according to the ordinance. Berea tax payers purchased the vehicles, Little noted, and asked if they would be of use to local non-profits or sold and the money donated to local non-profits or given to the police department. Public comments Patricia Gailey asked the council to consider establishing an ombudsman for the city who would take complaints and seek to mediate conflicts before they become public controversies. Mayor Steve Connelly referred the proposal to the council’s personnel committee. Ali Blair, a member of the Berea Human Rights Commission, said she found the community divided when she moved to Berea three years ago. The division was formalized as the city divided the Russel Acton Folk Center for a public hearing on an ordinance that would have specifically protected gay, lesbian, bisexuals and transgendered people from discrimination in housing, employment and pubic accommodations. Proponents and opponents were asked to sit on different sides of the hall, with one side wearing red T-shirts and the other wearing blue. Solidified divisions have since seemed to appear whenever issues arise, Blair added, including cancelation of the Spoonbread Festival after the city sought to ban the sale of Confederate emblems by vendors and the debate over changing electricity providers. Berea Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Napier reminded the council that the Spoonbread Festival would have taken place later this month if not for the Confederate Flag controversy. She said open records request by the chamber have shown that other events and organizations have not been subjected to the same requirements as the Spoonbread Festival as the council was told in July. And some contracts for recent events were signed days prior to organizers agreeing to the restrictions, Napier said the public records indicate. Randy Coffey, organizer in Berea for the multi-state US 25 continuous yard sale, said promoters of this weekend’s Celebrate the Harvest were not required to obtain approval from the codes department for signs they are putting up. And one of the organizers is a member of the planning and zoning commission. Cheyenne Olson, of Sustainable Berea, an organizer of the harvest festival, said Coffey was probably referring to her husband, Richard Olson, a member of the planning commission. Olson said she didn’t think city permits were needed to post signs on private property, and Terrill said he had observed that most of them were on private property. At the meeting’s start, the mayor proclaimed Saturday, Sept. 10, as Celebrate the Harvest Day in Berea. |
