Kentucky Law requires an annual report be issued by the mayor of each City
in the Commonwealth to the residents. This ends my second year as your mayor
and I consider it both a pleasure and priviledge – as well as a state
mandate – to make this report to you.
Certainly making a report on what your City has done is not a story without
a large cast of players. Even in the smallest cities in Jefferson County the
job is too demanding for a single person to effectively accomplish. In Prospect,
one of the larger cities in the County, government is a team effort which
requires a lot of people to help.
First and foremost, the members of your City Council devoted many hours to
the good of the City. The Council changed in the past year, with Raymond Burse
being appointed to replace Stan Fleck, who moved from the City, and Lee Zimmerman
named to the position vacated by Ann Simms when she became City Administrator.
Both Raymond and Lee were elected by you (in a large voter turnout) in November
to serve for the remainder of their unexpired terms.
Council stalwarts Alan Simon, Nan Milliman, Harold Smith and Sandy McLeod
will be entering the third year of their terms this January. You should know
that, because of the homework they do, our City Council meetings have significantly
decreased in time from an average of about three and one-half hours three
years ago to about an hour and a half.
Of course, Council Members’ activities are not limited to reading materials
and attending meetings. Much work is done between meetings and in a variety
of ways. Simon, for instance, is the motivator and planner for the annual
Fourth of July celebration, which requires untold hours of work. Milliman,
with her vast array of contacts and friends, is a most effective spokesperson
for citizen concerns. Smith, an engineer, has spent countless hours touring
the City, reviewing drainage, street, sidewalk and similar problems. McLeod’s
questions at Council meetings usually provoke comment and debate.
As an attorney, Burse can always be counted on to provide unique insight into
problems, not all of them of a legal nature. Zimmerman probably spends more
time than any other member of the Council driving around the City, looking
into problems and proposing reasoned solutions.
In short, you can be pleased with the work your City Council is doing. They
work hard in your interest, listen to your concerns and act upon them. Most
see our City’s government as it should be, a team approach, where we
are all entrusted to spend your tax dollars wisely in your best interest.
Many residents, too, have been very involved in various aspects of making
Prospect a better place to live. Dan Shomer, a former member of the Council,
for example, proposes many creative solutions to a number of problems. Officers
and members of the various homeowners’ associations – particularly
Carl Porter and Linda Epstein in Bridgepointe, Diane Fowler and Sally Ladd
in Fox Harbor, Joe Kehlbeck and Linda Greenwell in the Estates of Hunting
Creek and Kathy Brooks in Hunting Creek – have all contributed not just
to their groups, but to the City as a whole.
Lee Tucci and Peggy Kilmer have been very active in the Cornerstone 2020 project,
Mitch Bass has worked diligently in his plan for weather warning sirens in
the City and Robert Bivens has offered his services to help with traffic planning.
Indeed, a reading of the minutes of the past year would show that a large
number of residents have offered their concerns, time, and other contributions
to your City.
We were deeply saddened by the passing of our long-time City Administrator,
Catherine Chamberlain, on February 25. Catherine had, only a month before,
been presented with the Beach Craigmyle Award for outstanding service to the
City. This fall, we planted an evergreen tree in her memory at City Hall.
It is, and will be, our Christmas Tree and I like to think its twinkling lights
all shine to represent the many fine and good deeds this sweet woman did during
her wonderful life.
Ann Simms volunteered to help keep things going in City Hall in the wake of
Catherine’s passing and it soon became obvious she would be a perfect
City Administrator. I talked her into giving up her City Council seat and
she was confirmed unanimously by the Council. Ann, as a resident of Prospect,
brought a new dimension to the position: she is extremely effective, totally
interested and spends huge amounts of time on City projects, working with
residents and observing and correcting problems. It is good that Ann is classified
as an “exempt” employee under employment laws or the City might
go broke paying her overtime.
Ann’s staff of City Secretary Phyllis O’Donnell and Bookkeeper Pat
Weinberg have also contributed greatly. Phyllis has taken on many added responsibilities
in the past year and has been appointed Deputy City Clerk. Pat, who joined
us only several months ago, has undertaken the massive job of overhauling
the City’s accounts and bookkeeping procedures, has set up a new software
program which will give better information and reports and should provide
even greater accountability in the future.
Our City Engineer, Woody Smither, has been very active this year as we come
to grips with more drainage problems and the issues associated with balancing
the needs of builders and residents. Our City Handyman, Zane Kaiser, usually
amazes me in the amount of work he gets done, in all kinds of weather. And
although they are paid professional fees for their services, it would be unfair
to not call your attention to the contributions of City Auditor Steve Pennington,
who has worked very hard with Pat in getting the new bookkeeping system going;
John Evans, who as City Attorney, handles an almost unbelievable amount of
material on an extremely wide variety of issues; and Martin Welenken, who
has brought a new degree of professionalism to our payroll system.
Lewis Nugent, our Chief of Police, sergeant Bob Kyser and patrolmen Mike Day,
Larry Bush, Cody Chapelle, Jack Roberts and Larry Johnson comprise our police
force. These dedicated officers are all sensitive to the special law enforcement
needs of a City such as ours. We have an enviable low crime rate and we routinely
get letters from the public praising the work of our police. Nugent has come
up with several new programs this year and is working to implement more throughly
the Community Oriented Policing program which I believe will serve Prospect
well.
Yes, our police catch speeders, solve crimes, patrol streets and monitor school
bus stops morning and evening, but I like to think the posture of the department
is well characterized by something which happened in the middle of a heavy
rainstorm several months ago. An elderly lady had a flat tire in one of our
shopping areas and there was officer Day, trying to stay as dry as possible
and changing the tire for her. In may ways, that is what Prospect is all about.
Prospect Zoned As A Village
Perhaps the most significant thing to affect our City this year has been the
Cornerstone 2020 process which is seeking to establish a new comprehensive
development plan for Jefferson County. As your mayor, I have been successful
in setting up a special task force comprised of residents of Prospect and
other cities which has determined that our area will be designated a “village”
under the new plan.
In addition, County planners have decided that Prospect and its surrounding
area is to become the model for this village concept and will be working with
us during 1996 to show just what can be done to attractively mix residential
housing, local services and design traffic patterns to the benefit of everyone.
When Cornerstone 2020 is completed, each area of the County will have a general
designation and guidelines for development. These range from “city center”
to “shopping magnet” to “farm.” While all will allow for
reasonable growth, each will take into consideration the character of the
area, the area’s needs and the County’s needs as a whole.
The village concept means that the area should have shops and other services
for the area’s residents, but that it should not attract significant
numbers of persons from other places. It also means the old concept of acres
of asphalt in front of large shopping facilities is, essentially, a no-no.
In its ideal configuration, a village would support a variety of housing types
and a variety of supporting services. Those services, stores and offices,
could even be two-story in which the owners of the shops would live “over
the store.” Shopping areas such as these would be integrated with a variety
of housing: statistics show when an older couple sells their single-family
home, they move less than tree miles away. A village of this sort would make
shopping and other services available to them. In addition, there could be
a community area, a sort of “village green” with green space and,
possibly, a City Hall and/or a band shell and the like.
County planners will work with Prospect to create an overlay of what our “village”
could become. Change will not be instant. But gradually, over a period of
years, existing areas will change somewhat and new areas will conform to the
plan. We are excited about it and County planners are excited about it because
Prospect can well become a national model for how an existing area such as
ours can be changed over time to make it more people-friendly and more environmentally
pleasing.
Governance: A Good Solution
As you have no doubt seen in the newspapers, the Jefferson County Governance
Task Force has come up with a number of solid suggestions for changing the
way we govern ourselves. This process then goes to the County and the City
of Louisville for discussion and implementation, with, most likely, some participation
by the Jefferson County League of Cities.
By virtue of my position as president of the League of Cities, I have been
very involved in this project and have reported to you several times on the
Task Force’s activities in the Newsletter. I am pleased to be able to
report that my primary concerns have been addressed, that the Task Force has
confirmed the efficacy of retaining our suburban cities as a most responsive,
efficient and effective method to deliver services to residents.
One of the interesting and positive Task Force recommendations was that cities
be able to opt “in” to countywide services if they so desire. While
we have long been able to “piggyback” street paving with the County
Department of Public Works, we never had any say-so as to when this might
occur nor how much it would actually cost. While details have yet to be worked
out, this opting in proposal may allow the suburban cities some voice in the
overall planning and fiscal decision-making as well.
Until we see how this will shake out, and it will take some time, we cannot
predict how effective such a program could be for Prospect, but it certainly
holds some promise.
New Street Lights Are Coming
You are probably tired of reading about the new street lights which we have
planned for the City. The first phase of the actual construction should come
in the next month of so, but the street light program just proves it sometimes
takes longer to do it right.
I first proposed the new street lights in March, as part of my budget proposal.
That program was approved by the City Council in June and we began our survey
of existing lights, needed new lights and the like. This was done with LG&E
and those proposals were then broken down by street and sent to residents
to ask them whether they wanted the new lights.
We have finally received answers and have made changes in the plans, based
on residents’ input. We are now informing residents of the changes we
have made in our plans based on their recommendations. Once everyone has had
an opportunity to comment on that, we will begin the actual work.
The new lights will be acorn-shaped and should produce more light than the
present “lantern” shape. In addition, these lights have a little
more style and are not as common in the area as the present lights. We think
they will add a level of ambiance to the City.
Keeping Prospect Looking Good
Your City took a number of steps during the past year to alleviate what seems
like the never-ending problem of muddy streets, weedly vacant lots and general
building problems in Prospect.
With the help of the Homebuilders Association of Louisville and Jefferson
County, we designed a brochure with our requirements for constructing and
maintaining silt fences, keeping mud off streets and keeping lots clean. The
City Council changed the structure of building fee permits to, essentially,
penalize companies which do not live up to the terms of their building permits
by setting higher permit fees if the City is forced to order work to stop
because of violations.
The Council also changed the City’s ordinance on nusiances – which
covers many problems concerning construction, including noise – to allow
Prospect to act immediately to stop such nusiances. Particularly in the case
of noise pollution, the noise ended long before the 48 hours the former ordinance
required between the time we became aware of the problem and the time we could
take action.
We also instituted a $5 storage fee for signs which we pick up from public
property which are in violation of the sign ordinance. At the same time, the
sign ordinance itself was amended to allow residents more latitude in erecting
signs for such things as yard and garage sales.
You should know the City requires dumpsters on building sites when most of
the mess is being generated, requires portable toilets and erosion control
procedures. Mud must be removed from streets.
Police Study Being Conducted
A team of expert law enforcement professionals from the University of Louisville
School of Justice Administration has been hired by the City to conduct a survey
of the Police Department. This report should be finished during the first
or second quarter of next year.
In recommending the study, I told the Council there is nothing “wrong”
with the department, but since the City spends 38 percent of its budget for
police protection – its largest single expenditure – it is fiscally
responsible to spend $13,000 for the study. In addition, the study should
be a step leading to accreditation of the department, which should save the
City money in insurance costs.
All residents should receive a questionaire from the consultants about their
perceptions of the department. Your help in filling out and returning the
questionaire will be very helpful.
The Hoosier Bridge
I wish I had good news to report about “the” bridge. The present
study, being conducted by a committee under the auspices of KIPDA, is packed
with Indiana interests whose sole objective is to build a bridge in eastern
Jefferson County.
While the deck is certainly stacked as far as membership on this committee
is concerned, a final decision will still have to be made by the governors
of Kentucky and Indiana. We were successful in bringing our message to Gov.
Jones and the time will come, I am sure, when we will ask you to contact Gov.
Paul Patton and Lt. Gov. Steve Henry.
Other Projects
We had a number of problems this year associated with incorrectly computed
taxes, retirement funds and overtime for City employees, primarily those in
the Police Department, over the past five or so years. We called in federal
Wage and Hour and Internal Revenue Service representatives to get the issues
clarified and to determine what needed to be done.
As a result of this whole issue, we moved the payroll function out of City
Hall to a professional payroll preparation service. This program has worked
well and, once the new accounting software is fully functional, will allow
the City Bookkeeper to devote more time to directly interact with residents.
-The City Council adopted a Code of Ethics for the City
and its employees. The new propsal took effect in January and was approved
by the state.
-Established a “passport” program for youngsters
and the elderly to assist Police in the event someone becomes missing.
-Replaced more than 100 traffic control signs throughout
the City.
-Dedicated the Don Cowley Open Space at the intersection
of Hunting Creek and Westover Drives and planted trees memoralizing former
mayors Beach Craigmyle, Tom Pfau, Larry Foley and Cowley.
-Although the “mother of all thunderstorms”
washed out the Fourth of July parade we rescheduled the fireworks for Saturday.
With the help of donations from local merchants and the willingness of Hunting
Creek Country Club to use its driving range, it was the largest fireworks
display in the City’s history.
-Proceeded on several drainage projects and won praise
from consultants for our innovative plan to utilize used Christmas trees to
stop erosion in a number of areas where gullies have formed.
-Worked with the Louisville Water Co. to determine that
more than 100 persons and businesses had never been billed for sewer service.
We worked with affected residents to accommodate their problems in bringing
the charges up to date.
-Appealed a state division of water directive to close
our sewer treatment plants. This entire issue is an ongoing one.
-Set up a “Home Page” on the Internet to give
computer users access to City information.
THANK YOU
I am dedicated to bringing good stewardship to your City’s government.
As always, I welcome your insight, criticism and comment. This has been a
fun and rewarding experience, primarily because of the great opportunity to
meet, talk and work with so many of you. I look forward to more of the same
next year.