Union City Commission April 7

The meeting was called to order at 6:33 p.m. after the Pledge of Allegiance.

 Present: Mayor Larry Solomon, commissioners John Mefford, Doug Bine, George Eldridge and Kimberly Tuyn, City Attorney Greg Voss, City Administrator Amy Safran, Public Works Director Paul Kremer and City Clerk Tammy Wilhoit.

Standard Reports: Minutes from March 3, 6 and 17 meetings were approved. Financial report given by John Mefford was approved. The Economic Development Committee agreed they needed to meet with Kevin Costello to update the Union plan.

 Public Works Director:

1. Bids will open April 16 for Pocket Park 1 for concrete sidewalks. Although not official yet, presumably it will be called Cardinal Park, as all six parks will be named for birds native to Kentucky.
2. Also discussed was where to store salt for snow and ice treatment going forward. The current location behind the old Kroger store will no longer be available for next season. Seven possible locations were discussed, including challenges they hold for getting trucks in and out and having enough space to accommodate the salt. Concerns also about the proximity of the storage areas to residential areas, given traffic and beeping of the trucks may disturb residents many times in the middle of the night. Commission will speak to residents affected by the site they choose. No determination was made as to where that would be.

Proclamation: April 30 will be “National Therapy Animal Day” in Union. Passed unanimously.

 City Administrator:

1. Signage for Union Promenade was approved to be double pole signs, a bit more expensive but worth the cost in appearance and stability over a single pole sign. Purchase of the first three signs for the parks was approved.
2. Updating the employee handbook for $4200 was approved where $1500 will hopefully be paid by a grant. It was decided to spend an additional amount not disclosed to cover employee training to stay up to date and compliant.
3. Also discussed was inconvenience to city employees being interrupted to notarize documents for residents. A nearby bank is regularly sending people to them. They are unsure of some of the documents, whether they should be notarizing them and what kind of documents they are exactly. With all the stress involved, they voted to discontinue this service and notarize documents only for city business.

 Attorney:  Several Municipal Orders reviewed and all were approved.

1. 2025-22 Accepted the contract of Jefferson Contracting for concrete maintenance.
2. 2025-23 Repealed Municipal Order 2025-20.
3. 2025-24 An order for the City of Union officially approving and adopting the expense reimbursement policy.
4. 2525-04 Order authorized the mayor to renew a contract with the city attorney at his current rate of $120/hour. Commissioner Mefford then noted the amount has stayed the same for 10 years. He has recently investigated nearby cities, and they pay their attorneys between $145 and $200 per hour. He made a motion to raise the city attorney’s billable fee to $150 per hour and that motion was unanimously approved.

Several ordinances were introduced and approved:

1. 2025-02 established a change in the city caucus and commission meetings to 6 pm as requested by the commissioners.
2. 2025-03 adopted a zoning text amendment to the Boone County zoning regulations to regulate and define solar energy systems and battery storage facilities and identify zoning districts where such uses are allowed as authorized uses within the Boone County planning unit, “Solar Energy and Battery Storage Text Amendments” (second reading). It was noted that Boone County had already passed this ordinance and it was unanimously approved.

Visitor Comments: Brian Garner repeated his ongoing complaint of his records request not being authorized, which he states violates his rights by law. He had spoken with the Attorney General of Kentucky, who advised him to hire a lawyer.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8 p.m. and proceeded to Executive Session and the public was dismissed. The next caucus/commission meeting is scheduled for Monday April 21, 2025, at 6 pm.