Minutes August 9, 2021
CITY OF WINDY HILLS
Minutes of Regular Council Meeting
August 9, 2021
The Council and Officers of the City of Windy Hills met at the Sojourn Community Church, 2501 Rudy Lane, at 7:00 P.M. Mayor Davis called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL: The following were present:
| MAYOR | COUNCIL MEMBERS | OTHER CITY OFFICIALS |
| Helen M. Davis | Bruce Blue – absent | Lisa Kraft |
| Kate Greer | Attorney -absent | |
| Marcia Myers | Steve Teaford | |
| Marianne Rademaker | ||
| Suzanne Spencer | ||
| Laura Trachtenberg |
MINUTES:
Councilwoman Greer moved to approve the minutes of the July 12, 2021 Council meeting; seconded by Councilwoman Rademaker. The motion passed unanimously.
FINANCIAL REPORTS, APPROVAL OF BILLS:
The financial reports for July 2021 were moved for approval by Councilwoman Rademaker, seconded by Councilwoman Trachtenberg. The motion passed unanimously.
Councilwoman Greer moved to approve the July bills, totaling $12,631.10, and was seconded by Councilwoman Rademaker. The motion passed unanimously.
RESIDENTS’ COMMENTS/CONCERNS:
Martha Davis, a resident at 613 Rudy Lane addressed the Council about the status of the trees on Brownsboro Road. The Mayor explained a letter from our arborist Caroline Westphal has been forwarded to the Kentucky Department of Transportation (KDOT).
MAYOR’S REPORT:
“As I reported in July, I completed an open records request for the MSD records pertaining to drainage fees paid by our residents since 2009 and the projects completed and the dollar amount spent in our city during this time frame. They did not respond to the residents’ fees but did send me the WH projects that totaled $106,000. I thus used my own MSD bill and calculated that our residents had paid approximately $1.8 million in storm water fees to MSD since 2009.
Our attorney, David Spenard, Marianne Rademaker, and I met with MSD and discussed our drainage concerns. We shared the pictures of specific problems within the City. I believe it was a very productive meeting and the MSD staff agreed to meet with us again on site so hopefully we can develop a plan to address our issues. The problems won’t be corrected overnight but at least we are on MSD’s radar and I thank David for setting up the meeting.
The City received our 2021 funds from the American Rescue Act totaling $256,462.50. Marianne Rademaker, Suzanne Spencer, and I met with the retail business owners at the Brownsboro Shopping Center to discuss the City plan to offer grants to those businesses that were adversely affected by the Covid shut-down. I had created an application that was vetted by our City Attorneys that met the Federal requirements for documentation and reporting. We passed out 9 application packages and explained that the forms would also be available in an electronic format. I also emailed a copy of the form to Bonnie Jung as a prototype that other cities could use if they so choose. The form is available in both Word and PDF formats. The deadline for submitting applications to the City is September 30, 2021.
Bailey Loosemore, from the Courier-Journal, interviewed me about our American Rescue Act funds. She is writing an article about the small Metro cities, the funds that the cities received, and any plans to expend said funds. I do not know when the article will be printed.
Police Report: There were 96 hours of Police support. The police made multiple checks at the Brownsboro Shopping Center, Sojourn Church, and the Summit Executive Suites. There were directed radar checks on Two Springs, Rudy, and Ambridge with no tickets or warnings. Three houses were on house watch. There was a homeless person asleep on the sidewalk in front of the Gasthaus.
There was a car stolen out of a drive on Waterford but the residents contacted Metro police not our police. Chief Throneberry notified me that Graymoor-Devondale and Metro police responded this afternoon to a “suspicious” package containing a white substance at a house on Killiney Place. Since I did not get an update, I am assuming that everything was alright.”
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Finance/Ordinances: Councilwoman Rademaker reported we received the American Relief Act funds and the City ended the fiscal year in a surplus.
Code Enforcement: Steve Teaford asked if there were any questions about his monthly report and there were no questions.
Windy Hills Green/City Maintenance/Newsletter/Tree Board – Councilwoman Greer:
Councilwoman Greer reported The Tree Board met in July. A long range plan for Westport Road was discussed. The trees on Westport Road are not suitable and need replacements. Also, the wooden fences at several of the entrances need to be painted.
Newsletter – Councilwoman Myers: Councilwoman Myers reported an issue of The Windy Hills Breeze was sent to 714 residents and friends e-mail addresses on Friday, July 30th. It will also be posted to the city website “newsletters” page. This issue included information about upcoming Food Trucks and the Fall Festival scheduled for Saturday September 25th, Windy Hills garden photos.
Next issue is a print issue. Deadline is Monday, August 30th at noon.
Fall Festival Report and Recommendations: Covid Concerns –
With the rapid rise in Covid cases among the unvaccinated including young children and among fully vaccinated persons, the Council needs to consider the health and safety of our residents at this event. With school starting, it is likely that cases will continue to rise significantly toward the time of the event. Louisville Metro is expected to be a red county very soon meaning that our incident rate in the county is deemed “critical”.
It is an outdoor event, which is the safest venue.
Plans have minimized necessary bunching, crowding, but persons are likely to forget social distancing as they visit with neighbors, line-up for food, etc.
We must ask everyone to mask up when they go inside for food or restrooms.
For Council Consideration and Decision:
Councilwoman Myers asked the Council to vote on how to proceed with Festival in light of escalating Covid cases do we:
- Cancel the potluck and have a full catered picnic meal for those who make reservations?
- Cancel the meal, but offer ice cream and invite residents to bring food for themselves if they wish?
- Cancel the event?
A motion to cancel the Fall Festival was made by Councilwoman Myers and seconded by Councilwoman Greer.
A roll call vote was held:
Councilwoman Greer – yes
Councilwoman Myers – yes
Councilwoman Rademaker – abstain
Councilwoman Spencer – yes
Councilwoman Trachtenberg – yes
The Fall Festival will be cancelled with 4 votes yes and 1 abstention.
Community Caring/Health & Fitness/Welcome to Windy Hills – Councilwoman Spencer:
Councilwoman Spencer reported the following:
- Welcome to Windy Hills – We had 4 new residents in July.
Public Works – Councilman Blue:
As reported by the City Clerk in his absence:
- Councilman Blue contacted Hall Contracting and asked for a bill for the current project on Copperfield. It will be paid out of 2021-2022 budgeted funds.
Ordinances/Community Standards – Councilwoman Trachtenberg: Councilwoman Trachtenberg reported the food truck turnout in July was good. The food trucks will continue through October. She is still working on a Swale Ordinance.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None
NEW BUSINESS: Vote on Grounds Maintenance Bids
The Mayor read the bid published in the Courier Journal Legal Ads. We received inquiries from 5 different companies or individual, but only received 3 Bids.
Brownsboro Lawn Care Co. $36,465.00
Greenway Landscape $39,965.00
Klausing Group $32,855.56
A motion to accept Greenway Landscape Services was made by Councilwoman Trachtenberg; seconded by Councilwoman Rademaker. Discussion followed: Greenway Landscaping was highly recommended by the City of Prospect. There was a question about “limbing and watering”. Greenway’s bid included these services at no additional charge.
A roll call vote was held:
Councilwoman Greer – yes
Councilwoman Myers – no
Councilwoman Rademaker – yes
Councilwoman Spencer – no
Councilwoman Trachtenberg – yes
The vote was 3 yes and 2 no to accept Greenway Landscape Services.
ATTORNEYS COMMENTS: No Report
Comments/Questions to the Council as a Whole:
Resident Allan Ware asked about Municipal Taxes and how they are dispersed. It was explained that payments come from individual insurance companies and not through the State.
The Mayor thanked Doug Maurer for all his hard work setting up for our meetings.
Ralph Williams asked about 726 Indian Ridge. The Mayor responded that the owners were in violation of the Rental Ordinance. Three letters were sent with no response so the city filed a lien for the cumulated fines.
Councilwoman Greer moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:59 p.m., seconded by Councilwoman Rademaker and the motion passed unanimously.
_______ __________________ _______________________
| Helen M Davis, Mayor | Lisa Kraft, City Clerk |
