Beech Tree News Network

A called meeting of the Morgantown City Council was held on Thursday, June 29 at 5 p.m. Councilmembers Russell Givens and Dustin Embry were not in attendance. Because it was a called meeting, no boards or committees were in attendance.

The purpose of the meeting was to vote to approve the first reading of ordinance 2023-04: FY 2023 Second Budget Amendment. This amendment was due to the need for the budget to reflect some additional costs associated with the park renovation. A motion was made by Dionne Cannon Merritt and seconded by Amy Deweese with approval by the rest of the council present, Bryan Locke and Sharon Johnson, to approve the amendment. 

Next, a meeting was called into session of the City of Morgantown's Industrial Holdings Corporation by Councilmember Sharon Johnson. She then requested a motion to approve going into closed session. The motion was made by Dionne Cannon Merritt and seconded by Amy Deweese. The meeting was placed in closed session in accordance with KRS 61.810 (1) (b), (c) and (g) – “(b) fordeliberations on the future acquisition or sale of real property by ITA whenpublicity would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property to beacquired or sold; (c) for discussions of proposed or pending litigation against oron behalf of ITA; and (g) for discussions concerning a specific proposal, if opendiscussions would jeopardize the siting, retention, expansion, or upgrading of the business."  

The Butler County Fiscal Court, all of whom were present at the meeting as well, followed suit with Judge/Executive Tim Flener calling the meeting to order and receiving a motion to go into closed session on a motion by First District Magistrate Stevie Givens and a second from Fourth District Magistrate David Whittinghill.  

Upon returning to open-session, Mayor Billy Phelps and Judge/Executive Tim Flener indicated that it has been approved for them to work together in negotiations for the possible sale of real estate belonging to both the city and county.