Beech Tree News Network

Morgantown City Council met on Thursday, September 11^th at city hall for their regular-scheduled meeting.

Drew Hensley from Hensley & Throneberry CPAs presented the council with the Fiscal Year 24 Audit Report. Hensley reported that the audit was great as the city had exceeded the budgeted revenue and came in below the budgeted expenses. Kendall Embry from Embry & Watts also recognized the city’s unprecedented growth in the last few years in assets, such as the city and river park.

Unfinished Business

Ordinance 2025-08: Street Legal Special Purpose Vehicle Operations and Restrictions and Ordinance 2025-09: Animals at Large Animal Control were both given their second reading. All council members had a month to review the ordinances and consider any opinion or concerns of their constituents. The council voted to approve both ordinances.

Planning and Zoning

The regular scheduled meeting was on September 2^nd, where three permits were presented to the commission, with all three approved. They also passed the reviewed ordinance regarding residential zoning.

Utilities

They are doing more water taps, completing more this year than in previous years. They are also working on more water leak repairs.

Housing

The Housing Authority of Morgantown filled their finance coordinator position. Jackie Lloyd, executive director, reported that their occupancy specialist, finance coordinator, and herself will attend the Kentucky Housing Association Conference for training sessions. There will be a pre-construction meeting with Valley Construction regarding drainage and parking at Huff Ingram. The meeting was on September 17^th with hopes of work beginning within 60 days following the meeting. The occupancy rate is 97%, with six open units. Two units are still in the turnover process.

MOGO Transit

There were 1,828 riders and 666 meals delivered.

Code Enforcement

There was one new case opened, bringing the total of open cases to 14. Six cases were closed, and one citation was issued. Three properties were monitored during the eviction process in the previous month. The eviction process is now complete and of the three properties, two are now being cleaned up for new move-ins and one is being torn down.

Fire Department

The fire department reported two county vehicle accidents, two county calls canceled enroute, two structure fires, one county call for assistance – one city, one county grass/wood fire – one city, five county medical assistance – two in the city. There were 17 total runs for the month of August.

Public Works

In August, they mowed the ride aways, park – dog park- river park – industrial park – Life Skills property, and hauled 25 loads of brush. They also installed 40 feet of drainage tile and cleaned drain ditches. They finished by patching potholes and trimmed back limbs off the roadways for the school buses.

Police Department

In the month of August, officers answered 217 dispatch calls for service, worked six motor vehicle accidents, made eight arrests, and opened three new criminal cases. They made 31 traffic stops and wrote 19 traffic citations, with 12 courtesy notices. Total number of calls for service was 920.

City Clerk

City Clerk, Allie Lee, reported they completed the work comp audit and gathered all the documents needed for the fiscal year 24 audit. They are working to gather all documents for the fiscal year 25 audit. They started on the required paperwork, sending in the updated budget, and gathered new quotes for the Walking Trail Grant.