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Home My WebLink About02/17/09FEBRUARY 17, 2009 At a Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners, held on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 5:30 p.m., Mayor Paxton presided, and upon call of the roll by the City Clerk, the following answered to their names: Commissioners Abraham, Gault, Kaler, and Watkins (4). Mayor Paxton was absent (1). PRESENTATION AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY Michael Cochran, Director of Market House Theatre, introduced Randy Cohen, Vice President of Americans for the Arts. Mr. Cohen presented the results of the arts impact study titled, "Arts & Economic Prosperity III" for the Greater Paducah area that includes McCracken, Marshall, Graves, and Calloway Counties. The study reports that total spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations, audiences, and individual artists totaled $39.9 million in the Greater Paducah area during 2007. Of the 749 audience members surveyed, 62.5% nonprofit art attendees were local; 37.5% were non -local. (A copy of the study is in the minute file.) WORKSHOP REPORT ON STORM DEBRIS PLANS Rick Murphy, City Engineer, update: •:' City and County are working together but will have separate contracts ❖ Bid opening date for debris removal is Friday, February 20th, 2:00 p.m. ❖ Hope to start removing debris next week ❖ Debris on right of way will be picked up regardless of how it got on the right of way ❖ Work will be suspended during Quilt Show event in April ❖ Looking to be done with removal in 90 days ❖ May make up to 3 passes on City right of ways Mr. Murphy introduced Nelson Lucias who works for Neel -Schafer, the company the City and County have hired as management consultant for the debris removal project. Mr. Lucias reiterated that removal would begin next week. He did state that the goal of Neel -Schafer is to serve the Commission, the citizens of Paducah and to get full FEMA reimbursement. STORM RESPONSE AND ALLEY PICKUP PLANS Public Works Director Earnie Via, introduced Solid Waste Superintendent Mike Orenduff, and Solid Waste Supervisor Tony Horice. They gave a presentation for refuse alley operations due to the debris left from the 2009 Ice Storm. Most of the alleys have become impassable because of the volume of debris and downed power lines or power lines that are hanging low. The City has closed the alleys and solid waste alley pickup is being discontinued until cleanup is complete which might take 3 to 4 months. All alley pickup customers have been asked to bring their roll out containers to the front of the property for pickup. This recommendation is to go ahead and discontinue permanent alley pickup for 187 alleys. A side-arm loader truck will have to be purchased as a result of this change. But this truck is more efficient not only in saving time because they can haul more loads but it is also more fuel-efficient. The alleys that will be permanently closed are hazardous and very narrow. If this recommendation is approved solid waste pickup will become more efficient and alley maintenance will reduce which will save money in the long run. REFORESTATION AND CITY LANDSCAPING Steve Ervin, Planning Director, after gathering information from several departments gave recommendations for reforestation and landscaping of public property. Now would be a good time to start creating a plan due to the damage caused by the ice storm in January. The corridors and parks of the City need to be addressed. A tree inventory for Noble Park was completed in 2007. There are 1750 trees in Noble Park and 400 of those trees are in poor condition. He believes a reforestation and city landscaping plan needs to be created with a vision for next 20 years ORDINANCE — INTRODUCTION AGREEMENT WITH NEEL-SCHAFFER, INC. TO MONITOR PERFORMANCE OF DEBRIS REMOVAL Commissioner Abraham offered motion, seconded by Commissioner Gault, that the Board of Commissioners introduce an ordinance entitled, "AN ORDINANCE RATIFYING THE MAYOR'S EXECUTION OF AN AGREEMENT TO MONITOR PERFORMANCE OF DEBRIS REMOVAL CONTRACTORS IN ACCORDANCE FEBRUARY 17, 2009 WITH FEMA REIMBURSEMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CITY OF PADUCAH, KENTUCKY IN REGARDS TO THE JANUARY 27, 2009 ICE STORM." This ordinance is summarized as follows: That the City of Paducah hereby ratifies the execution of an Agreement with Neel -Schaffer, Inc., to provide monitoring and management services of debris removal contractors in accordance with FEMA requirements as described in the Scope of Services in the Agreement. Further, the City of Paducah accepts the following hourly rates for monitoring of debris removal contractors: POSITIONS HOURLY RATES Project Manager/Assistant Project Manager $84.00 Field Supervisor/Data Manager/Inspector $64.00 Debris Site/Tower Monitor $42.00 Collection Monitor $42.00 Clerical/Data Entry/Communications $34.00 CITY MANAGER REPORT ❖ Tomorrow at WKCTC Former Commissioner Coleman will give a speech on presidential elections ❖ Calendar Items ❖ Saturday there will be a called meeting for executive session to interview the candidates for police chief. ❖ Civic Beautification has cancelled the Dogwood Trail this year due to the ice storm damage. ❖ Personnel Actions — no discussion ❖ Televised Meeting Services for the Hearing Impaired Citizens ❖ Pete Conrad, Intern for the City Manager, provided information per a request from Commissioner Abraham to see if the City could provide services to the hearing impaired that view the City commission meetings. He looked into several options that include purchasing another television camera and hiring a sign language interpretor. Hourly rate could range from $30 to $40 an hour. Another option is closed captioning. This would probably reach more citizens and would probably be one time maximum cost of $9,000 to purchase equipment but would require an offsite transcription service at a possible rate of $110 an hour. Commission is interested in providing the service and would like more information. ❖ Request a brief executive session for an economic development proposal. ❖ Downtown Development Director, Steve Doolittle, updated the Commission on the status of the renovations to the Julian Carroll Convention center and the progress on the purchase of the Executive Inn by Bill Parsons and his partners. Doolittle says the contractor renovating the Julian Carroll is ahead of schedule with an expected completion date of April or 3. The building can stand-alone even if the Executive Inn does not reopen. The utilities and fire suppression have been separated from the hotel. Regarding the Executive Inn, the prospective buyers maintain that they will have the hotel ready for the April AQS Quilt Show. The loan to purchase the hotel is expected to close in mid-March. Regardless, the Convention and Visitors Bureau is making plans to house the quilters in case the hotel does not reopen. COMMISSIONER CONCERNS Commissioner Watkins distributed a draft of a resolution regarding "2009 Resolution on the Spending of Federal Economic Renewal Grants". He would like for the Commission to take action on this resolution at a future meeting. EXECUTIVE SESSION Commissioner Gault offered motion, seconded by Commissioner Abraham, that the Board of Commissioners go into closed session for discussion of matters pertaining to the following topics: FEBRUARY 17, 2009 ❖ A specific proposal by a business entity where public discussion of the subject matter would jeopardize the location, retention, expansion or upgrading of a business entity, as permitted by KRS 61.810(1)(g0. Adopted on cal of the roll, yeas, Commissioners Abraham, Gault, Kaler, Watkins and Mayor Paxton (5). Upon motion the meeting adjourned. ADOPTED: March 10, 2009 S-201 / City Clerk