Note: Commissioner David Guess was unable to attend this meeting.
To view the entire meeting, visit https://youtu.be/z8K4NMx9Is4.
Mayor George Bray’s Opening Remarks
Mayor Bray thanked the Board for a productive strategic planning session. The Board met with City department heads on Friday, February 4 to hear each department’s priorities. The Board then met on Saturday, February 5 to review the 2021 priorities and determine 10 priority areas for 2022. Additional information about the 2022 priorities will be presented at upcoming meetings.
Robert Cherry Civic Center Update
Parks & Recreation Department Director Amie Clark and Architect Jeff Canter with PFGW Architects updated the Paducah Board of Commissioners on the design options for the renovation of the Robert Cherry Civic Center located at 2701 Park Avenue. The City plans to renovate the 9377 square foot Civic Center to provide enhanced community assembly space and administrative offices for the Parks & Recreation Department. To gather public feedback about the assembly space, Canter interviewed nine different stakeholders including corporate entities, community organizations, and caterers/event planners. At this meeting, PFGW provided two floor plan options.
- Option A – This option uses approximately 77% of the existing building footprint to provide assembly, kitchen, and storage space with a seating capacity for 160 people at rectangular tables. The parking lot would have 85 spaces. The remaining building square footage is designed to provide office and reception space for the Parks & Recreation Department.
- Option B - This option increases the building footprint by adding 1240 additional square feet to the back of the Civic Center. This expanded footprint allows for the public assembly space to be larger with a seating capacity for 224 people at rectangular tables. The square footage for the Parks & Recreation Department is similar to what is designed for Option A. However, the parking area would be reduced slightly to 72 spaces.
Once an option is selected, Canter says it will take nearly five months to prepare the construction documents and receive bids. The construction phase is estimated to take 12 to 16 months.
Department Update – Clerk’s Office and Customer Experience Department
City Clerk and Customer Experience Department Director Lindsay Parish provided the Board with an overview of the achievements of the Clerk’s Office and Customer Experience Department. A few of the highlights are as follows:
- In 2021, 18 kick-start meetings were held between city staff and project organizers.
- In 2021, the Scope My Project portal was used to scope 730 potential business projects.
- Assistant City Clerk Claudia Meeks completed three years of training in 2021 to become a Certified Kentucky Municipal Clerk.
- In January 2022, the Clerk’s office organized a training led by Kentucky League of Cities for members of various boards and commissions to learn about open meetings and records laws, inclusive recruiting, and effective meeting structure.
- Customer Experience assisted with the scheduling of 4100 COVID-19 vaccine appointments and partnered with West Kentucky Workforce Board for a job fair.
- To improve access to documents, the Clerk’s office is digitizing city ordinances, minutes, municipal orders, etc.
- Customer Experience is working with various departments and the public on the Paducah 311 service request portal and app. For the app, download MyCivic 311 and search for Paducah 311.
- The department has assisted the Creative & Cultural Council with the launch of a creative directory.
- Projects in the works are improvements to the special event permitting process and a recodification of the Paducah Code of Ordinances as required every five years by state law.
Street Closings for New Paducah School System Head Start Facility
The Board approved an ordinance closing segments of Polk Street and Otis Dinning Drive as requested by the adjacent property owner, Paducah Independent School System. These road closures are in preparation for the construction of a new Head Start Facility.
Additional Meeting Information
- New employee, Grants Administrator Hope Reasons, was introduced to the Board.
- Reappointment of Paul King and Jimmy Evans to the Building, Electrical, and Fire Code Appeals Board.
- Municipal orders approved for updates to the Position and Pay Schedule and the Job Grade Schedule.
- Municipal order approved accepting the donation of property at 1938 Center Street.
- Municipal order approved for an extension of the lease agreement with the W.C. Young Community Center located at 505 South 8th Street until June 30, 2023.
- Resolution approved in support of refinancing the KEDFA Revenue Bonds that were issued to Baptist Healthcare.
- Ordinances introduced to approve the sale of Paducah Water surplus property at 6071 Clinton Road and 158 Lovelaceville-Florence Station Road.
- Ordinance introduced to amend Code of Ordinances Section 2-211 to rename the Information Technology Department as the Technology Department.
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