By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
The Glasgow Common Council Finance Committee agreed Tuesday evening to a request from its chairman to approve the creation of an ad hoc committee that will be tasked with closely reviewing the development proposals the city is requesting for the former Johnson farm property.
The previous evening, it was announced during the full Glasgow council meeting that the city would be advertising on Friday a request for proposals from companies wishing to develop the property along Ky. 1297, also known locally as Cleveland Avenue. The city purchased the nearly 162 acres last year with the intent to serve as a catalyst for an orderly, cohesive development of the area with residential, retail and recreational components. The engineering and consulting firm Qk4 was tasked with conducting surveys and studies of the land to determine whether there were any “fatal flaws” that would indicate it shouldn’t go through with the plan and, finding none, to also develop conceptual plans for where the various components would best fit. Those were presented to the community in early December.
In the interim since then, city officials and Qk4 have worked to produce a set of covenants and restrictions by which any developer working on the property would have to abide, and that was finally completed just recently, said Rob Campbell, vice president of Qk4 and project manager for the Johnson property work, at Monday’s meeting. Also during that time, the city has agreed to allow 15 acres of that land to be used by the county government for an indoor sports complex it is planning, and state transportation officials have committed to widening and otherwise improving that section of Ky. 1297.
Campbell said the proposals being requested by the city would be due just before Thanksgiving, and he would expect the thorough review process for those to take the rest of the year. Enter the Johnson Farm Development Selection Committee proposed to the Finance Committee.
Bunnell said that group would review the proposals, “move forward and then eventually have one request that will be selected, and then we’ll be recommending to move forward to the full council.”
The seven individuals proposed as members of the ad hoc group are: Thomas Grubbs, a member of the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County; Kevin Myatt, planning director for that commission; Nick Hurt, the city’s occupational tax and alcoholic beverage control administrator and a nonvoting member of the finance committee; Scott Young, former general manager of the Glasgow Water Co. and now executive director of the Kentucky Rural Water Association; Bunnell, who is also a banker; Qk4’s Campbell; and Royse.
Councilman James “Happy” Neal asked who picked that particular set of people, and Bunnell said it was done, “in discussion with the mayor and other folks that have been looking at this Qk4 project, so we’ve got a variety of representation from, you know, this committee. Nick’s been involved with us from the beginning, and we looked at the property.”
Bunnell went on to list most of the others again, noting their respective areas of knowledge.
Neal repeated his question about who decided on the group, Bunnell said it was a combination of input from different people.
“The thing is that, this being an ad hoc committee, we need people who will weigh out what it is we’re trying to accomplish,” Royse said.
Neal said he understood that; he was just asking about the selection process.
Royse began justifying some of the individuals, like Myatt, and Neal said that one was a no-brainer.
Councilwoman Chasity Lowery chimed in, restating the information to ensure her understanding, that the new group will examine the proposals, look at the vision each company has for the project and how that aligns with the city’s vision for the project, then narrow the selection.
Bunnell said that was correct, adding, “and we want to run it by the finance committee, because … we’re dealing with finances. We’ve got the investment in the property and how we move forward with it, and we wanted to get ….”
Lowery interrupted and asked for confirmation that all of those seven people are aware of the city’s vision.
“And I don’t know why this goes through my mind, but there’s not a single woman on this list,” she said, with Neal chiming in, “Yeah.”
“Or any minority voice – a diverse group of people to look at it from …,” she trailed off.
Bunnell acknowledged that they didn’t.
“Well, this group is the actual group,” Royse said, referring to the finance committee. “This’ll all have to come back to this committee.”
Lowery asked how many choices the ad hoc group would narrow it to before bringing it to them.
“Our hope is three,” Bunnell said, with the mayor naming that same amount almost simultaneously.
“So, hopefully they’re going to, they’re not going to be the sole decision maker of this?” Lowery said, “that it would come back to a group that we would be able to see.”
Bunnell said it would come back to the finance committee and then the full council would still have to agree to a final choice.
“We’re going to have a lot of eyes on this before we, uh, say yes to a particular developer,” he said.
Councilman Freddie Norris, slightly questioningly, said, “That committee would be open for anybody to sit in on, right?”
Bunnell and Royse confirmed that it would be.
“It’s a part, it’s a function of this committee,” Royse said.
“Think of it as an extension of this committee right now,” Bunnell said. “When we get into December, we hope we have three projects to recommend to the finance committee …, and then we will have discussions, and hopefully from those discussions we can say, ‘This is the one that we would like to go into more negotiations with.’ And then, once we finish negotiations with [whoever it is], then we would take it to the full council.”
Lowery asked more questions about the extent of the presentations they would make and such, acknowledging, though, that it may be a bit early for that.
“I think we all just want to do our due diligence,” she said.
Royse said this process would help make the choice more objective.
Norris asked when the ad hoc selection group would meet, and Bunnell said that hasn’t been set yet, because they won’t start until after the proposals are received.
Norris made the motion to approve the ad hoc committee, and Neal seconded, with a unanimous vote in favor.
Prior to this discussion, the finance committee had gotten quick overviews from City Treasurer Victoria Simmons of where the finances are with known major expenses subtracted and of major capital project statuses.
The highlights from the latter include: a plan to advertise for bids within the next month on construction of a new retaining wall between the West Main Street property and adjoining elevated parking lot; the commencement of the landfill bridge project; an early October completion for the current phase of work, including the aquatic center, at American Legion Park; the start of the review process for designs and review and finalization of bid documents for replacement of the pedestrian walkway from the parking structure to the north of the Glasgow Public Square.
Also, Simmons announced, “We are now a complete finance department.”
Andrea Price Thompson has been hired as the new finance officer for accounts receivable, and Shawna Craine is finance officer for accounts payable.
Craine has been working with accounts payable for the city for several years, but this is a slightly different wording of the job title. Royse said accounts payable had always been a primary function of previous finance officers, a job held by one person at a time before, so this just further defines those roles.
Simmons said Thompson started the job Monday and has hit the ground running.
