Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 114, No. 40	October 3, 2007

City/Chamber officials continue process of office relocations

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

Although Meade County Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Russ Powell is on a two-week vacation, that doesn’t mean that work will stop at his office.

“We have started with the process of helping Russ move out,” Brandenburg Mayor David Pace said at the Sept. 10 council meeting. “We also have done some clean-up at the new building (the former Picture Place retail store) and around the building. You are going to see a lot of changes there in the next few days.”

The office move, which has been discussed for the past several months, will allow the Chamber, the Industrial Development Authority and the Economic Development Corporation to share space under one roof, giving the previous space for use by the cramped city police department.

With the police department expansion, the city could achieve a better score from the Kentucky League of Cities, resulting in a lower tax rate.

The Kentucky League of Cities, along with Kentucky’s Association of Chiefs of Police work with the police department reviewing their operations and offering suggestions for improvements.

Police Chief Jeff Cox said earlier the department would benefit from the added space and it would appear more organized to those entering the office.

Cox said the department is at times marked down for storing crime prevention materials in their evidence room, due to a lack of sufficient space. The evidence room should be used solely for evidence, he said.

Cox also said the change would allow the department to have their own entrance and they wouldn’t be split up.

Occupants have signed a three-year lease for the new building, Pace said.

“It is going to have a nice floor plan and will be centrally located,” Pace said. “It’s going to be a big, big help.”

In a related matter, Pace said contract negotiations are ongoing for the Wheatley building, and he expected to have them wrapped up in a week or two.

The Wheatley building, currently located near city offices, houses an office for court-designated workers for the commonwealth of Kentucky.

“The lease will be for two years with a two-year renewal,” Pace said. City officials have allowed the state to write the contract and will review it when it’s returned, Pace said.

The occupants have requested officials recarpet portions of the Wheatley building in the past, but the city is considering cleaning the carpet and doing minor repairs to the hall tiles.

In other business, members learned work was halfway completed on the TLC/Broadway water main project.

City superintendent T.J. Hughes said samples were taken Sept. 11 to start the process of getting a daycare, library and a local residence reconnected to the water line.

In addition, crews are starting to work on blacktop approaches to the structures and repairing any additional areas, he said.

The project was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Meade County Fiscal Court earlier this year. The funds were awarded as part of a $1 million grant the county received. Those funds were sought by state Sen. Carroll Gibson and former state Rep. Gerry Lynn.

The award was spearheaded by Lynn, with the bulk of the funds earmarked for necessary water and sewer improvements at the industrial park, with the remainder to be used wherever the Court decided.

Council member Maggie Love was absent from the meeting.

Click Here to Go Back