Anthony Cox, Falmouth City Councilman

07/03/2025

Special Meeting 6/30-

Not much to note here. The budget amendment was passed with a unanimous vote. Amanda Motioned, Joyce Seconded. Sabrina reported that the Auditor is already working on the Audit of the 24/25 FY Budget which will help shed light on what happened with the police budget and mayor/council before she took office. I will report back with findings once we have them.

EDIT: No, council did not give ourselves or the mayor any pay raises. that is set by ordinance on the amount and per KRS if we were to change that it is not allowed to take affect until after the next council is sworn in in 2027. Same with the Mayor. If you look at the worksheets from the 25/26 budget you will see more than just "salaries" go into the Mayor/Council expense category.

Good time to remind everyone that the Mayor is only paid $12k per year and Council is paid $5k each per year. Council pay comes out to less than $400 a month after taxes. Mayor nor Council receive any sort of benefits outside of that. No health insurance, no retirement, etc. Both roles are considered volunteer and the pay is a stipend- similar to that of the FD volunteer pay.

Next meeting is tomorrow, 7PM. The Ordinance and Finance Committees meet at 6PM. I will not be able to attend tomorrows meetings so I will not have any notes on how the meeting goes. Attached are the minutes which will be approved at tomorrow's meeting.

~Anthony

06/30/2025

6/29 Special Meeting-

Joyce and Craig Absent

First Reading of below ordinance/budget amendment of the 24/25 FY Budget (NOT the 25/26 that was just passed last week).

No discussion was held tonight.

We will discuss and vote on the amendment tomorrow night at 6PM.

Thanks,
Anthony

06/27/2025

Back to back special meetings on Sunday at 5pm and Monday at 6pm. Will share more information after the first reading meeting on Sunday.

Have a good weekend everyone!

06/26/2025

6/19 Regular Meeting Notes-

Shirley Merrill with KRT came to speak on some things that are going on at the Theatre. The summer "Jr" show is running through next weekend (29th closing day). There are 18 kids participating, many from out of town. The Summer Regular show will be running shortly after. We have a donation budgeted for them in this fiscal year coming from the LGEA account. (Attached).

Minutes for 6/5 (Attached) Approval - Amanda Motioned, Stephen Seconded, All Yes.

We then went into a long presentation of utility/maintenance needs & wants along with estimated costs. I have the document attached that Christian, Richard, and Dawn put together. I have attached the document for your information.

The 6 new Hydrants ordered will arrive in August. 4 4" hydrants and 2 6".

There was a lengthy discussion between Councilman Stephen Gales Jr. and Mayor Hazen about the maintainability of the fire department within the city without the county's run revenue to subsidize the cost. Expect further discussions on that in the future. I would like to hear your thoughts and concerns as a citizen about the feasibility of the city continuing it's own fire service after the 25-26 FY. This way I can bring those concerns forth to council as this topic progresses.

In similar fashion- the utility needs are quite extensive and expensive. This will further bring more 'tough' conversations. One of the first on the agenda is Garbage service. Expect the city to request bids for garbage service in the coming month(s). We will then take those numbers and then determine if we are able to adjust garbage rates, turn a profit for garbage without needing to subsidize it from other utilities, and still come in cheaper than an outside provider, or if it makes more financial sense to get out of providing garbage service to citizens. This is the only rate I would be okay in raising. Water, Sewer, and Electric rates we will be looking at breaking out into 3 categories: City Resident, City Non Resident, Commercial. City Resident goal is to remain the same. City Non Resident are those who live outside city limits but receive city utilities, those will likely be raised. Commercial rates would likely be raised the most as they are running a business and receiving profit off of said rates. This is a structure that is similarly followed in other cities. We have no numbers or solid plan as of yet as to how/what it will be raised to. I wanted to get this out there before the rumor mill started churning, and I will keep you posted as I know more.

There were some small changes to the budget, but seeing as it would unlikely change again (and we can always amend it as a council during the FY) before June 30th, Amanda Motioned, I seconded, all Yes to pass the budget as attached. REMEMBER ONLY THE "COVER" SHEET IS THE LEGALLY BINDING PART OF THE BUDGET, THE WORKSHEETS ARE NOT SET IN STONE.

The Text Amendment that was on the agenda was tabled for this meeting and no action was taken. Steve D will be talking to Brian on this subject before we take any action.

I've already touched on the committee report from the public works committee based on the notes above about rates. Councilman Stephen Gales Jr. feel free to comment as you see fit about the Finance Committee topics or anything I may have missed.

Next Regular Meeting- 7/3, . (There may be a special meeting called between now and then, will keep you posted if that happens).

~Anthony

06/19/2025

Reminder and agenda of tomorrow's meeting at 7. Public Works and Finance committees to meet at 6.

06/09/2025

6/5 Regular Meeting Notes:

Kenny Gibson with Pendleton Co Search and Rescue came to request a donation of $7500 as they have done in the past to help cover the ever increasing expenses they face. $6,800+ will cover their insurance which has increased again since last year. This will be reflected and accounted for in the budget.

Minutes Approval (Minutes Attached)- Joyce Motioned, Amanda Second, all yes.

Black Top Bids- Only 1 Submitted from Mago. Will run the options by Richard. Option we choose that they presented (gutter vs full mill) will also be largely dictated by the amount that we receive from road aid. (Requested $600k). Total with gutter milling - $176k, Total with full milling - $205k. See attachments for details.

KIA Projects- Sabrina to work with NKADD to review and re-prioritize projects. Sewer Line & Water Plant Electrical needs will be near the top of the list.

Police Coverage- K9 Officer Florer will be leaving the department for an opportunity with Boone Co Sheriff later this month. K9 will be retained by our department, another officer will be K9 trained to take over from Officer Florer. This will put us at 7 officers including Marty. We will not be looking to add another officer to replace Kyle. Without Kyle's salary ($26/hr) + benefits the city can put about $100k back into the general fund. The Police budget will still be just over $800k without the 8th officer. Council and the Mayor will be working on ways to help boost the budget over the course of the next year, and cutting back things that are not needed, to put more back in the general fund which can help alleviate the stress on utility funds in the maintenance department and city halls/clerks. Councilman Stephen Gales Jr. suggested we take some of that $100k saved from the cutting of the 8th officer position and putting it towards starting a general fund reserve account and earn interest off of it, a step in the right direction of a more stable long term financial plan.

Budget- I attached the proposed budget and its worksheets. NOTE: The first page with the 'summary' is the only legally binding part of the budget. The other pages are known as worksheets. This is nothing more than scratch paper that helps show how the numbers were achieved on the first page. Meaning, so long as the Police department stays within 800k total for the year of the whole department, it stays within the budget passed by council. They could spend more, or less, on salaries, training, etc as they see fit within their department so long as it all balances out to less than $809k.

Some things I brought up as I would like to see us look at appropriating for in the budget:

Maintenance Department Wood Chipper- We have 2 older units that have been constantly giving issues. we should invest in one newer one to minimize downtime and repair costs. These are used when the maintenance department cleans up trees out of and away from electrical lines.

Vehicle Maintenance Program- Since we have bought out our Enterprise lease agreement, which saves the city money in the long run, we have to perform our own vehicle maintenance. Right now that involves our guys to crawl around on the ground and use a hodgepodge set of tools. As someone who has a hobby in cars, this is not sustainable and have quality work. I stress that we should install a 2 post lift into the first bay of the maintenance garage, and invest in a 'nice' set of tools (sockets, wrenches, etc) for vehicle maintenance.

Dog Park- A suggestion by citizen Eric Love. I have reached out to our KLC insurance rep and received the green light and some recommendations from them. I also reached out to Cynthiana Mayor about advice for a dog park. Key takeaways: Double gated fence, rules sign, lot to have shaded areas, benches for owners to sit, cleanup bag signage/dispensers with garbage cans. Next steps are to look at city owned lots to decide which ones would be a good fit for a dog park.

Council Meeting Recording/Streaming- Still a want by Mayor Hazen and I, especially. We will be setting up a meeting with our new IT guy, Joe, to discuss options and costs. We will like to go with live streams, but if not, at least recording and then posting the recording after the fact.

We had the official first reading of the Budget Ordinance, this way we can have the second reading at the next meeting and vote on it before the end of June deadline. If you have any comments/questions/concerns please leave a comment!

Committee Report Outs-
Ordinance Committee: We primarily discussed garbage. Requested we put a reminder of the trash ordinance as well as rates for renting dumpsters in one of the next utility bills that goes out.

Safety Committee: Unfortunately I had not written notes down at this point. Councilman Stephen Gales Jr. can you remind me/the people what you had discussed? (Forgive me, at this point we were working on 2.5hrs into the meeting and we were getting a bit tired :) )

Next Meeting: June 19th. Regular Meeting . Public Works and Finance Committee to meet .

06/05/2025

It's been a while after a month of almost weekly meetings, but next regular meeting is tomorrow @7. We will begin discussing the 25-26 FY budget at tomorrow's meeting. I will share said proposed budget in my notes from the meeting when those are posted. Committee meetings for ordinance and safety committee to meet before our regular meeting.

05/23/2025

EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2025 THE ATTACHED MAP REFLECTS NEW ROUTE PICKUP DAYS FOR THE GARBAGE PICKUP IN FALMOUTH. We understand there will be confusion until everyone adjusts so we ask for your patience. Maps are available at City Hall. Any questions please contact City Hall. ** Wilson Lane will stay on the Monday route**

05/22/2025

While I'm not going to refute the fact that 13 dead, and several more barely working hydrants are certainly a problem. They are not a problem that occurred overnight nor will they be a problem that is fixed overnight.

I've seen 3 "Regulations" that we, the council that is not even 6 months into our term, many of us with < 1 year of council experience, are being accused of "neglecting"

"807 KAR 5:066, Section 10(2)(b)
Utilities are required to maintain working hydrants and flow rates.
They have not.
807 KAR 5:095
Mandates water infrastructure must be functional for fire protection.
They knowingly left it broken.
807 KAR 5:066, Section 10(5)
In case of fire hydrant failure, utilities must immediately notify public officials or the fire chief.
There’s no record of this happening."

Those are certainly 'real' regulations as found here: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/807/005/ Though the last one should be 807 KAR 5:066, Section 4, not Section 10(5) - that has to do with contruction materials.

However the issue with all these regulations is, they are that of the Public Service Commission, or the Kentucky PSC.

Why is that important? The fact that the PSC does not have regulatory authority over municipally (city) owned utilities as defined in KRS278.010(3): " 'Utility' means any person EXCEPT a regional wastewater commission established
pursuant to KRS 65.8905 and, for purposes of paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), and (f) of
this subsection, A CITY, who owns, controls, operates, or manages any facility used or
to be used for or in connection with..."

Don't believe me, here's the link: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=39893

Further evidence is the first question on this KLC FAQ on the PSC:
https://www.klc.org/UserFiles/files/PSCFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf

"Does the Public Service Commission regulate all municipal utilities?
No. Municipal utilities are generally exempt from Kentucky Public Service Commission
(“KPSC”) regulation. The KPSC regulates only the rates and service aspects of a municipal
utility’s provision of wholesale utility service to a public utility. A municipal utility that
provides retail utility service only is not subject to KPSC regulation.

What does this all mean, you ask?

While dead hydrants are certainly a problem indeed, and one that is high on my priority list as we go into budget time. These regulations are not applicable to the city owned and operated utilities.

5 of the 6 of us on council were elected by you, the citizens, in a highly contested race.

4 of the 6 of us on council have less than 1 year experience on council and are going into our first budget season that we can directly influence for what the city NEEDs.

This is a problem that has plauged us for years, at least give your NEW council some time until we can get a new budget formed for the 25-26 FY before accusing us of willful neglect of duties that we JUST stepped into.

Thank you for your patience and thank you for your support.

Anthony

05/22/2025

An update that was given yesterday by the police department as to suspect apprehension. I'll continue to provide or re-share updates as they become available.

Update on the May 17, 2025 Gunfire Exchange:

Ethan Groneck of Alexandria, KY, has been arrested and charged with seven counts of wanton endangerment and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

The Falmouth Police Department is currently seeking information on another person of interest, Adam Duncan of Newport, KY. Anyone with knowledge of Mr. Duncan's whereabouts is urged to contact the Falmouth Police Department immediately. (See attached photo).

Additional charges against other individuals may be forthcoming as the investigation continues.

05/21/2025

5/15 Regular Meeting Notes-

Minutes (Attached) Approval: Joyce Motioned, Anthony Second, All Yes

Electric Issue: Southern Elementary is reporting some voltage issues with their HVAC, though EPP Electric and Richard both suspect the issue regarding voltage is on the school's end and may need to find a way to step it down. However, they did note that one transformer located behind the school is leaking, and it should be replaced. It still operates, though it's a question as to when, not if, it fails. A cost will be put together on replacing that single transformer. Suggestions were made to put all 3 transformers underground but I believe that's a bigger bite than the city wants to take right now if only 1 needs replaced and they are otherwise operational.

Committee Reports:
Public Works Committee-

3 Topics were covered, Utility Rates, Street Needs, and Garbage. For Utility Rates, we discussed the need to adopt a rate schedule similar to that of Butler and Paris which charges Residential customers OUTSIDE city limits more, as well as commercial users. Attached a copy of butler's ordinance revised Aug 2023 as an EXAMPLE. We have not began to discuss any numbers or figures. My goal is to avoid a residential within city utility (water/sewer/electric) at least for the next few years but offsetting it with moving to a model that works like other cities, first. Ramona is going to work on getting a breakdown of usage based on at least residential/commercial to help us then figure out possible numbers. When I know more I will relay it to you, as always. Just know that if you are a in-city resident, I will fight to keep your utility bill as low as possible. The simple truth is there's a lot of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" going on as Sebastian pointed out during his term, and we are going to need to get real serious and have some tough conversations going forward if we want to right the ship.

As for street needs- A few streets that does not need any sewer work and thus are in a good position to get repaved are W Shelby, Silver, Dickerson, and Woodson. Of the 4, W Shelby is easily the most traveled road, and because of which, in terrible shape from Wyatt's to the tracks. We are working on getting our Road Aid money from the county and W Shelby is likely going to be the top of the list to be repaired. We have, however, put out bids for repaving (and possibly milling) several of these streets. We will see what the bids come back as, and the road aid amount is that is given to us and then fix as many streets as we can with said money.

Finally the Garbage- at $13/mo it's no surprise that the price doesn't even cost the labor to pick up garbage. The garbage is definitely a service that has to end up being subsidized from other utilities, and thus causing a burden on other utilities and causing improvements to be delayed. Garbage would very well likely see one of two things happen: Either a rate increase, or being outsourced to Rumpke. Before we can even start to entertain either idea, Sabrina is going to get in touch with Rumpke as to a cost to pick up the city. We will then break that down and determine if increasing the rate to make garbage 'profitable' for the city is the cheaper AND better route or contracting with Rumpke. The City's main 'issue' with garbage is it is the biggest workman's comp claim source. The reason we have so many ordinances and rules around garbage is to reduce the workman's comp claims. I say you can get workman's comp claims to 0 for garbage if you don't pick up garbage ;) With that being said if the number comes really close, let's say a few dollars difference per month, where Rumpke is still a little more expensive, I think the total reduction in workman's comp claims and the gain in service to the city by the fact that Rumpke is less picky about picking up garbage, the cost difference is acceptable. Important note: This will NOT get rid of the yearly leaf pickup service that happens in the fall.

Finance Committee- Looked at Preliminary Budget for 25-26 FY. Discussion of Employee Benefits. Making sure Allowances are aligned closely. (That's what my notes said based on their report out, I'm not on that Committee. Councilman Stephen Gales Jr. is so perhaps he can fill us in on the comments).

Joyce & Stephen swapped places on the Ordinance/Safety Committee. Stephen, having a background on Fire, is a natural fit for the Safety Committee. Ordinance and Safety Committees meet on the First Thursday of the Month, 6PM Before the full council meeting.

We then went into a closed session to Interview one of the 3 candidates for City Attorney. No other actions were taken at this meeting, so I will use this as a segue into the RFQs and interviews for City Attorney.

All in all, the 3 candidates (two were pairs of two attorneys) were all very strong candidates. It primarily came down to rates. Steve Doan was fine with an all inclusive, flat fee retainer, the same as Brandon. $2500/month. This is most advantageous for the city at the moment as we need to financial stability and predictability. Voss and Otis suggested a Hourly Rate and Eviston and Smith was unsure of the rates but when we gave them context as to what we had paid the past attorney, they didn't seem to bite as to wanting to do the same thing. Steve Doan has had experience representing several cities in N KY. He also served on Erlanger's City Council in 2021-2022. Steve was a very personable guy and reassured us that he would be here to help us, all of us. I will attach his RFQ and Resume. One thing I know that may catch some of your eyes: He was one employed at Gatlin Voelker, which is the law firm that our previous attorney is a partner. Please know that he primarily worked under Jack Gatlin, not Brandon. Also, he left the firm because of disagreements on how some things were done there. So with that being said, I do not think we are going to have any problems with Steve. We did suggest that he keeps his time noted on what he does for the city, that way in 2 years when it comes time to re-bid, if he wants to rebid at a higher rate or switch to hourly, he has the data to back up his request. At that time, depending on how the 2026 election goes, it could be with a new Mayor or Council, which is exactly why we're wanting to go with a 2 year contract cycle. The vote to have Steve Doan as attorney happened at the special meeting this past Monday. The vote was unanimous.

Lastly, though not related to a council meeting- I've been having some people notify me about 'whispers' regarding the hydrants. Please know that I've pestered both Luke and Sabrina about the non-working hydrants since I took office. Also please know that one has been replaced in front of Southern just last week, so that knocks one off the list. Sabrina is first targeting all the ones that we can replace ourselves (the 'cold tap' ones with a valve). I can't explain the inaction of repairs of previous administrations but I can tell you Sabrina is not playing around.

EDIT: I misspoke, the one in front of Southern has not been replaced yet. It was the one at 919 Main St. I misunderstood as to what southern had to do with it but found out it's because this one on Main St is on the main line from the reservoir which southern is down stream of. The concern was if something went wrong and southern lost water pressure they would have to shut down the entire school system.

The irony of it all is I've had the information as to the which hydrants are bad since November of last year in an album on this page. No one needs to go out wasting time searching for dead hydrants. Instead, search my page. I'm willing to bet most questions that I *do* know the answer to would be answered in great detail, with supporting documents.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122173271804171016&set=a.122173271714171016

Next Meeting: Regular Meeting 7PM June 5th. Ordinance and Safety Committee Meetings the same day at 6PM.

P.S. for common questions, statements, and accusations I have seen recently:

No, the school sale is not finished, but that is going to be the first task of the new attorney, to get the purchase contract drawn up to finish the sale.

Yes, we are allowed to do that with an 'appointed' mayor.

No, we are not legally required to have a city attorney to run a council meeting.

No, we are not required, nor are we even allowed, to run an ad-hoc election outside of the state election cycle. We ARE required to fill the open Mayor/Council seat within 30 days of it being vacated by appointment.

No, public participation is not required in open meetings, it's not even protected per KRS. Open Meetings act only gives the right to SEE and HEAR what happens at a meeting, there is no right to speak or address the government entity.

Yes, we did appoint a "truck driver" to council, and he has been doing very well in his new role. We chose the best person who applied for the position through the correct channels and showed up for the interview which was all publicly announced.

No, I was not 'bribed' to sell the school to Trinity, nor did it have anything to do with my Step Son. I already painstakingly went over my reasoning of what happened that meeting and how I made my decision in those meeting notes. Please read those.

No, I was never on the school board, EVER. (Maybe you are thinking of Anthony Strong?) And I was not on council prior to October 2024.

No, I was not involved with the removal of Sebastian- as stated above I wasnt even on council at the time. In fact I was a citizen against the removal when it happened and even wrote him a letter of support.

No, The city did not own the old middle school at all before the purchase in 2023, thus we did not "buy back" the building. The board of Ed sold it in 2018 I believe (don't quote me on that) and then we bought it in 2023, and now sold it again. I had NOTHING to do with the original sale from the BoE, nor the purchase by the city. In fact, similar to above, I was originally on favor of the purchase as a citizen.

If you are going to refute ANY of these PLEASE provide supporting documents and not just copy/paste Chat GPT response or a 'nuh-uh', or I will not waste my time with a response.

~Anthony