Several councilors not sold on budget

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June 23, 2009

By TRICIA NEAL, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Tue Jun 23, 2009, 07:51 PM EDT

Somerset — Somerset’s city council has passed its 2009-2010 fiscal year budget, but a few members have reservations about the final product.

The $66.7 million budget includes construction of a wastewater treatment facility and a water plant.

Water and sewer rates for Somerset residents will remain the same as the previous year’s rates. Residential and business utility customers outside the city limits, however, will have their rates raised.

The new budget also recommends a 25 percent reduction in the city’s property tax rate.

While revenues are up and there are many positive aspects to the budget, three council members voted against its approval because of a few issues with which they don’t agree.

Council member Jim Rutherford said his “no” vote wasn’t cast in protest against anything the City of Somerset had in its budget.

“It’s the whole process,” he said. “There’s a better way of doing it.”

Rutherford said he believes the city needs to be more efficient — and not spend money just because it has money. He believes that the city should first determine what its expenses will be, and then adjust its revenue to match its expenditures. The city’s revenue could be adjusted, he said, by cutting user fees, lowering rates, and taking other steps that would help taxpayers.

Councilors Jim Mitchell and Tim Rutherford said they didn’t agree with the city’s $20,000 cap on projects or pieces of equipment that do not have to be bid out by the city.

Previously, Mitchell said, any project or piece of equipment that would cost the city more than $10,000 had to be put through a bidding process and approved by the council. The limit has now been raised to $20,000 — and Mitchell and Rutherford feel that isn’t restrictive enough.

“(The city) can spend up to $20,000 without the council’s approval,” Mitchell said, adding that a $10,000 limit would “put more of a handle on the executive department.”

He believes the lower limit would “give the council more input on what taxpayers’ money is spent on.”

“There were other little things (in the budget) that need to be adjusted that I really didn’t agree with,” Mitchell continued.

Some employees received $8,000 raises last year, for example, Mitchell said, but those same employees are slated to receive $1,000 cost of living raises in the coming year.

Rutherford said one reason why he voted against the budget was that he felt he hadn’t been given enough information about some departments’ needs.

“Charlie Dick is over the city’s gas, water and sanitation departments,” Rutherford said.

“He is responsible for $42 million of our budget, and we didn’t even talk to him about his budget (during the planning sessions). ... He wasn’t at the meetings.”

The council also approved a revised pay and classification plan for the city. The plan now has maximum salaries attached to each city position in addition to base salaries.

Mitchell also voted against the revised pay and classification plan.

“I would like to see more of a level playing field,” he said of the employee salaries listed in the plan. He said some gas employees make $9 more per hour than some sanitation employees.

Tim Rutherford voted in favor of the plan, partly because he was satisfied with one change he had requested.

Under the new plan, Assistant Fire Chief Skip Norfleet and Assistant Police Chief Doug Nelson will no longer receive overtime pay. Those two men will instead be eligible for the use of comp time.

Rutherford said city employees who report directly to the mayor are exempt from receiving overtime pay. Since there is no fire or police chief in the city, Norfleet and Nelson are filling those positions, Rutherford said.

In the last two years, according to Rutherford, Norfleet received $42,000 in overtime pay.

In other business:

• Councilor Rutherford said he hoped the city’s department heads would review their lists of employees who drive city-owned vehicles home with them.

“They take vehicles home with them in case they have to be called out for an emergency,” Rutherford said.

“Some of our water, gas, and other employees who use a city vehicle are never called out. ... It would save the city a lot of money if those people would leave the city vehicles parked at the city garage and drive their own vehicles to work.”

• Rutherford also said he believes the city needs to enforce its ordinance on properties that have become nuisances. Many of the council members receive complaints about abandoned houses that are falling into disrepair or that have unruly lawns. Rutherford suggested that the warning time given to owners to clean up their properties should be shortened. City Attorney Carrie Wiese said she would see if there are ways to make the process quicker.

• Councilor Jim Rutherford said he recently visited Glasgow’s city park, and was impressed with it. “We can do something like that,” he said, adding that an upswing in the economy and “a little bit of elbow grease” would be required.

• The council heard the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the reissuing of industrial bonds for the Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Company of Somerset. A public hearing will be held in July, and a second reading of the ordinance will be considered at that time.

• The council approved the second reading of an electric franchise agreement. A public hearing will be held in the near future, and the council will award a contract at that time. The franchise is expected to be awarded to Kentucky Utilities.

• The council approved a resolution allowing Mayor Eddie Girdler to submit a grant application to the Department of Homeland Security for the purchase of new taser devices for the Somerset Police Department. The department already has 12 tasers, but Assistant Chief Doug Nelson is hoping to obtain more to be issued to the Lake Cumberland Area Drug Task Force officers. Nelson said the tasers would cost the department approximately $30,000, so he is hoping to be able to obtain a grant to pay for them.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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