I say Merry Christmas because I'm a Christian

     It has been a few weeks since I posted anything on here. I have a lot of catching up to do. Hello everyone and welcome back. If you’re a first time visitor, I am glad you are taking time to read this blog. Let’s get right to it.

     Before I get too far into this blog post, I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. I say Christmas because I am a Christian, which means I believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only son of God. I am not offended by anyone who doesn’t say merry Christmas and it’s not my intentions to offend anyone by saying merry Christmas. 

     Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes in the little town of Bedford. In a public meeting, the Bedford City Commission discussed a report that the city truck was not safe to drive anymore because the frame was rusted beyond repair. The truck will eventually be sold, I am hopeful to get that discussion started in January. Other than the rusted frame, the truck is in great shape.

     As for snow removal and tending the city streets during snow events, the contract goes back to Hoskins. After all, he was the only one with equipment to show an interest in the job. I have heard from several people in the community telling me I should call this person or that person about the job and although I greatly appreciate that information I stand firm on the idea that we advertised to hire someone for this position back in the fall. It’s my opinion, and that doesn’t mean it’s right, but I think if someone is looking for work, he or she would call us (the city), not vice versa. And just to support that opinion, what if I called Bill and asked him if he wanted to clean the streets in Bedford this winter. While I was calling Bill, the other commissioners were calling people they knew might have an interest in the gig. Each person who received a phone call might have the notion that they were going to plow snow in Bedford this winter and start making plans with how that money could be used. How would those people feel when they learn that other people were called too and only one person is going to get the contract? I suspect the other guys might not want to talk to anyone about doing work for the city anymore and rightly so.  

     After reaching a decision to contract with Hoskins, three commissioners took it upon themselves to look into trading the sewer plant’s tractor for a new one to use for snow removal. Those commissioners meet nearly every day at the community center. It is a direct violation of Kentucky’s Open Meetings Laws, but this is Bedford so they don’t care. In their defense, two of the three are over 80 years old. It’s like three little boys sitting around talking about a fishing trip. The only difference is, they are discussing business that involves spending other people’s tax dollars and it’s illegal. What makes the meetings illegal is when the make decisions during those meetings. Those guys can say they didn’t make any decisions in their meeting, but the proof lies with a commissioner traveling to a tractor dealership trying to make a deal on a tractor trade. I suppose, he could say he never did that, but he accepted a check for his travel expenses. What’s more on that, two or three years ago the commission agreed that commissioners would not be reimbursed travel mileage. I am not going to name anyone today, but beginning in January, I will name these individuals if they continue to resist adhering to the open meetings laws that are described in the Kentucky Revised Statutes which be found here: Kentucky Open Meetings Laws. 

    I took my oath of office this past Monday following the commission meeting. It was the last meeting for Mayor Russell Clifton. Russell has been mayor since 1994, after being beating Mayor Jimmy Black in the November 1993 general election.  Russell has put his entire heart and soul into the town of Bedford and deserves recognition for always doing his best to care for the whole community over the years. I have learned many things from Russell. In everything he did, he gave careful consideration to every single person in this town. His actions were never selfish, though they could’ve been. His love and affection for Bedford and the people living here can be found throughout the pages of monthly minutes on record at city hall. So it’s not just my opinion, it’s fact and the same can be said about Jimmy Black. It is such an honor for me to follow in their footsteps; it would take me hours to express how humbling it is for me. There will be some differences in the way I do things, and after all there is a 20 year age gap between me and Russell, just like there was between Russell and Jimmy. But one thing remains, we are servants of the people and doing what’s right is paramount. When I first became a commissioner in 1992, Mayor Black repeated an old phrase, “You’re never gonna please all of the people all of the time.” I have big shoes to fill and I pray that God will continue to lead me to do what is best for the people in Bedford. 

     Moving on, the regular city commission meeting for January falls on Martin Luther King Day. City meetings must be established by ordinance and our ordinance states that if our regular scheduled meeting falls on a legal holiday, we must meet the Monday following. Therefore, my first regular meeting will be held on January 26, 2015. I am very excited and grateful to be in this position. I will be attending Kentucky League of Cities three day conference for newly elected officials January 21-23. There will be an enormous amount of information to consume during those three days, and I hope to take a lot of notes. 

    My next blog post will be closer to the end of January unless something comes up that I feel compelled to write about. I appreciate each one of you for taking time to read this post and welcome any and all feedback. So until then, Merry Christmas and May the New Year bring you great health and prosperity. 

Week Three

      This has been an eventful week in the city of Bedford. The city commission met Monday morning for its regularly scheduled meeting. I was very sick and wanted to stay home but I knew there was a lot to discuss so I went to the meeting. I am glad I did.

      In my last blog entry, I warned that snow was on the way. Monday morning people living in Bedford woke up to about 3” of snow. The untimely snow accumulation caught the Bedford city commission off guard in a number of ways leaving the streets of Bedford covered with snow. On the Friday before the snow, I learned the truck (the city uses for snow removal) has major problems. According to a certified mechanic, the frame on the truck is “pushed down and bent in on the passenger side.” He does not believe the truck would be safe to drive, let alone plow snow on public streets. So, where do we go from here? At the city commission meeting on Monday, I informed the commission of what the mechanic told me. During the meeting, I tried calling the mechanic but he did not answer the phone at the shop. I recommended that commissioners Harold Green and Frank Floyd begin research on purchasing a new truck and when they found something we would have a special meeting to decide on the purchase. Mayor Russell Clifton and the other commissioner Darrell Harmon agreed.  Thankfully, Jimmy Hoskins was available to clean the streets for the city. Hoskins is the sewer plant manager for Bedford.

     A few weeks ago, a young man came to my house selling Family Heritage insurance. He compared it to AFLAC on steroids. I explained to him that we have a no solicitation ordinance in town and that he would need to check in at city hall before going door to door in our community. I called Rita, the city clerk, to have her put him on the agenda for the meeting Monday. His first name is Justin and he may come knocking on your door to try selling you insurance. 

     The reason I wanted to clarify the door to door salesperson is because I want to protect the residents of Bedford. There have been reports of houses being broken into and people in the area being robbed and instead of worrying about catching the bad guys; I want to screen anyone who wants to go knocking on doors in this town.  If anyone has concerns about a suspicious salesperson he or she should contact city hall or the sheriff’s office immediately.  Most of the time, it is an honest person trying to make a living in sales. But, I would rather err on the side of caution.

     Members from the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department showed up at the meeting. It was nice to see them present. I realize those individuals have jobs and busy schedules and cannot attend every meeting so it says a lot for them to be in attendance when they have time. Going forward, I hope someone can represent them at every meeting.

     The commission decided to renew their contract with Republic Waste Services for the next year. Inside the city limits of Bedford, everyone is mandated to have trash pick-up. The city pays a percentage of the fee charged by whoever collects the trash. For years, Rumpke provided that service but was under bid by Republic last year and again this year. Both companies provide adequate service, but I wanted to award Rumpke the job because they have unlimited pick up every week while Republic allows for unlimited pick up once a month. For me and my household, the 96 gallon can is plenty. But there are people in town who have a lot more and no matter how many times they are told unlimited trash is once a month, they pile it on the curb and there it sits for three weeks. A sales representative for Republic said they would do unlimited trash pickup every week during the meeting and I hope her drivers are made aware of that so they can act accordingly.

     Now, I want to address the poll on my blog about the city of Bedford going moist. Although, not many people have voted on it I have received an incredible amount of feedback from it. I have to say, I had no idea how many people want some kind of alcohol sales in Bedford. Out of all the feedback, only two people contacted me to voice their concerns against it. I respect them and their opinions.  I hope they respect my position to serve all the people in town. Therefore, I am going to try to get something on a ballot so that all the people can vote on it. There is a lot of work to be done to get it on the ballot and it takes time.

    

     I will be attending conferences in December and January for newly elected officials. The meeting in December is located in Louisville and the one in January is in Lexington. Although I took part in a webinar last week, I am ashamed to admit the last time I was at one of these conferences was back in 1992. I look forward to the conferences and hope to learn ways to improve the city of Bedford. Regardless of how much I learn at those conferences, the status quo in Bedford is up to the residents. The city commission is ruled by majority. If nobody from the community shows up at the meetings to voice their opinions the group will do what they think is best for everyone, whether it is or isn’t. 

Snow is on the way

     Hello everyone. It was cold this morning and it looks like we’re going to get some snow in north central Kentucky this weekend. It’s not likely that any of it will stick, but we are nearing mid-November so it’s not impossible. As a child, I loved playing in the snow. Then when I started driving in it, it was fun too, at least for a little while. Now, I am concerned with keeping streets clean and the cost to taxpayers.

     The availability of salt is becoming scarce which translate into the cost shooting through the roof. As of right now, the city of Bedford has been buying the salt through Bedford Hardware in the form of 50 pound bags. The hardware store has secured at least 3/4 ton for us. With that little bit of salt, you should understand Bedford doesn’t have a lot of streets and they are small streets. Some streets are part county, part city and when the safety of others is concerned it does not matter where the boundaries are located. The point is people drive on these streets so they need to be cleared and salted.

     For the previous 30 plus years, the city has been fortunate to have a gentleman by the name of Jimmy Jennings to clean our streets. Mr. Jennings was hired back in the early 1980’s to be the sewer plant manager. His job responsibilities grew beyond keeping the sewer plant going and he was basically the city maintenance/sewer plant manager/snow plow driver. I think you get the picture that I am describing Jimmy as a jack of all trades and he was good at all of them.  Unfortunately, Jimmy retired from the city this past spring. He was a great asset to the city of Bedford for many years.  

   The streets of Bedford will now be cleaned by David Richmond. David has been the caretaker of the Bedford Cemetery for the last five years. He has exceeded the expectations in keeping the cemetery mowed and looking great. I have no doubt that he will continue to do an excellent job plowing snow and putting down salt this winter.

     Yesterday, I took part in a webinar through Kentucky League of Cities. The topic was ‘Open Meetings.’ Although I feel like I know all the open meetings laws in Kentucky, it was a nice refresher course for me. I think transparency is paramount in any form of government. Reviewing the laws will help keep me in check come January. 

Mayor Elect of Bedford

    Hello readers. Welcome to my blog. The first thing I want to say is thank you for stopping by to read what I have to say. I was recently elected to serve as Mayor of Bedford, KY in the 2014 general election. In Trimble County, there were other people elected to public office and I would like to congratulate and welcome them to the arena of being a public official.              

    The majority of people reading this blog reside outside the city limits of Bedford, KY, the town where I was recently elected to be Mayor for a four year term. I ran unopposed on the ballot this year, but the road to get to this seat has been long and arduous.

     The Mayor of Bedford gets paid $250 a month. Since the city of Bedford uses the Commission form of government, the position of Mayor has limited responsibilities.  In the commission form of government, there are four commissioners and one mayor. All the decision making powers rest in the hands of the majority with the mayor having a vote at his or her discretion. Like the mayor, commissioners have the right to abstain from voting on matters that come before the board. Each commissioner is assigned to an area of the city government to oversee. In Bedford, one commissioner is responsible for the streets and sidewalks, another one is over the operations of the sewer plant, another commissioner oversees the collection of trash, another commissioner is over the cemetery, and a commissioner is over the community center. Although each commissioner has a separate responsibility, he or she cannot make important decisions without consulting the commission in an open meeting.  The mayor's responsibilities are to preside over monthly meetings, act as personnel director for city employees, execute contracts, and certify the annual budget. At this time, the city of Bedford has one full-time employee and three contracted workers in various fields. For me, I want to add some flare to the office of mayor.

     The technological advances over the last few years have given people a soapbox to stand on. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. have provided the common individual with a platform where he or she can say, within reason, pretty much anything he or she wants at any time of the day. People who live rather mundane lives can communicate with hundreds and thousands of other people with a single tweet or status update to make their insignificant chores seem important and add value to their lives. I want to utilize the social networking sites to find out what the people want me to do as mayor.

     From this blog, I will write a weekly update for the people to let everyone know what is going on in Bedford. The blog post will come out every Thursday beginning today. Since the commission only meets once a month, there will be three updates a month that may not have a lot of information to share. My goal is to get more people involved with their local government. Everyone knows that voting is an important right, but it does not end there. People put too much trust in elected officials when all they do is cast a vote. That mentality has to change and the change must begin on the smallest of local levels. Some in the media say that people get the type of government they deserve. It’s a truth that few people understand and that is why I am proposing that more people take part in forming or transforming Bedford into the best town in the world. I know how many votes I received to become Mayor and I can pretty much identify every voter. I am so thankful for those votes. I am so grateful to have the support of my neighbors, friends, and family members who live in my town. But that is not enough! I want action. You deserve action.

     Throughout my many years as a city commissioner, I have heard countless complaints about the way the city government operates. People express a variety of opinions about how to improve the town, but when they are asked to come to a public meeting they stay quiet. I appreciate that people believe I can be their voice, but the whole truth is I can only do things the majority of commissioners agree to do. When people show up to meetings, elected officials listen to their constituents. I have personally seen cases where a commissioner said he was going to do something egregious. When the citizens showed up he passed the blame onto me and his idea was shut down. I am not going into the particulars on that case, but it is real. The point I am trying to make is that if you want something, you have to show up at the meetings and get your voice heard. If you want to sit idly by, I promise you that I will do what I think is best for the city and that may or may not be what you like.

     The swearing in of newly elected officials in Bedford will take place in December. By law, it has to be done before January 1. When I have a date and time, I will provide that to you.

     Please feel free to email me with any concern. After suffering a traumatic brain injury in 2007, I have a poor memory. Emails are a great way to communicate with me because I can re-read them so I know exactly what you want. If you want to meet in person, please schedule an appointment with me and I will meet you at city hall located inside the Morgan Community Center at 147 Victory Ave in Bedford, KY.  

     Thank you for reading my blog. God bless you, your family, Bedford, Trimble County, Kentucky, and the United States of America.