THE CANDIDATES FOR VERSAILLES MAYOR, all of them, participated in a Candidates Forum on Tuesday night at WCHS’ auditorium. From left, Corey Cooley, Laura Dake, Nick Green, Fred Siegelman, and Jason DeVore. (Photo by Scott White)
Due to the Versailles mayor and city council candidate forums occurring on Tuesday evening, back-to-back, the number of questions posed and the number of candidates in each office, the Sun was unable to complete the story on the city council forum for this week’s edition. It will be in next week’s edition of the Sun.
By Scott White
Woodford Sun Staff
Report for America corps member
The second of five Candidate Forums was held Tuesday night at the Woodford County High School auditorium, with about 100 in attendance and nearly 150 watching the live stream available on the Woodford Sun’s Facebook page. (The livestream will be available to view until the day after the election, Nov. 3).
The five candidates – incumbent Mayor Laura Dake, Councilmember Fred Siegelman, Corey Cooley, Nick Green and Jason DeVore – responded to a wide array of questions posed by moderator Marvin Bartlett, the current host of Kentucky Tonight on KET and the former award-winning lead anchor on Fox 56 News.
While the topics ranged from traffic issues, affordable housing and the candidate’s highest priorities, much of the discussion focused on the city’s decision to assist in financing two major economic development projects (TKC Distillery and Highbramble Park) and the purchase of the former Yokohama plant with the Woodford County Fiscal Court for $8.5 million.
The sponsors of the event were former Midway Mayor Tom Bozarth, who emceed, The Woodford Sun, the Woodford Republican and Democratic parties and the Woodford County Farm Bureau.
Each candidate gave a one-minute opening and one-minute closing statement. Time was kept by Lynn Pruett of the Woodford Democratic Party and Nick Nash of the Woodford Republican Party.
Candidate priorities
After opening statements intended to introduce themselves, the candidates were asked about their top two priorities and how they would fund them. No one addressed the funding piece.
Dake listed road infrastructure as her priority, reminding folks she had convened a transportation summit last week, which brought together several transportation experts to focus on connectivity and an efficient network in the urban service boundary (USB), or city limits, for vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians and wheelchairs. Her other priority was affordable housing, or what she called “housing affordability,” noting the cost of land was the biggest impediment.
Green, a pastor who has recently studied political science at BCTCS, said he thought the focus on economic development projects was unnecessary, and that improving and funding infrastructure would be his priority. His other was to always balance what he thought was best as mayor, but to primarily advocate for what people want in their community: “If people don’t want it, you don’t advocate for it.”
Siegelman was succinct: “Lower taxes, upping services.” He went on to emphasize that his leadership style was to listen to people. “We work together to get great things for your city,” citing his decision in a prior mayoral term to cast the tie-breaking vote for merging the police department as an example.
DeVore, an Eastern Kentucky University graduate who works at Toyota and is involved in its LEAD training, also cited infrastructure as his top focus. “(Currently) our infrastructure is not enough to handle growth, so (we) need to slowly upgrade infrastructure to make sure we can grow sustainably,” he said. DeVore also said during his campaign folks have complained that the city’s business was not as accessible as it should be, and he believed transparency meant the city should make information and programming more available.
Cooley, a Marine veteran, chair of the Woodford Chamber of Commerce and an entrepreneur, cited working well with city department heads, who are the “boots on the ground,” as his key goal to determine the best approach to both current and future projects. He said he would apply the skills he learned in the military and in his own business to his decision-making. “I want to do a line-by-line analysis of the budget to be sure all (the city’s) spending is right and goes to the priority (items),” he said.
Traffic and roads
Given that nearly all of the candidates identified infrastructure and roads as priorities, Bartlett asked the candidates how each would address traffic and development on the Versailles Road corridor. The candidates used this as a jumping-off point to discuss traffic issues citywide, including downtown and the Troy Pike-Falling Springs-Bluegrass Parkway area noted for its congestion.
All the candidates said working with the state Transportation Cabinet, the state legislators for Woodford County and the Fiscal Court were fundamental to solving this issue.
Green said he believed much of the problem was due to 20 years of neglect that has resulted in funneling traffic into downtown and Montgomery Avenue. He said he would increase the police’s new traffic enforcement unit to address speeding, and consider seeking three lanes for Versailles Road.
Siegelman focused on the Troy Pike area, saying speed limits needed lowering and a dedicated turn signal installed at the Falling Springs intersection.
Cooley added that work with the city’s partners needed to determine a solution that would divert tractor-trailers out of downtown, noting it posed a real safety issue. He would also convene a committee of stakeholders and experts to further look for viable options, given the restrictions posed by state and federal highways outside of the city’s control.
Dake, as she said in her opening remarks, touted last week’s transportation summit and a traffic study performed two years ago at Tyrone Pike and Beasley Road as informing the City Council on decisions that needed to be made on connectivity and walkability. She also pointed out the state had funded a significant road milling and paving project for parts of Lexington Street and North Main Street set to begin soon.
Affordable housing
All of the candidates acknowledged the intractable nature of the lack of affordable housing, with the issue acute in Woodford County given the high price of land.
Siegelman said the issue was important, but in his view the only workable solution was to locate lots for Habitat for Humanity to build on.
DeVore said his approach would be to look into repurposing buildings into affordable housing units, “and look to sell the property to a contractor who could convert those at a minimal cost.” Cooley also said he would work closely with nonprofits, including Habitat for Humanity, to see what they need from the city to increase building housing, including rentals.
Dake pointed to the council’s housing task force, which she sits on, that has been studying the issue and working on solutions for over two years. She said an approach she favors is for the city to locate and use existing city-owned land in the USB to build affordable housing on. “This would eliminate the hurdle of the high cost of land, since the cost is zero,” she said.
Green said due to the high cost of land, building rentals would be “a good place to start.” He would focus on tax initiatives to attract rental companies to construct affordable housing.
Controversial projects
A series of questions about the purchase of the Yokohama plant with the Fiscal Court, the default on the bond obligations of the owners of Highbramble Park, possible conflicts of interest of Lucas Witt, the executive director of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority (EDA), and $250,000 owed the city by TKC Distillery (a “sister company” of the Kentucky Castle) took up the bulk of the forum and led to real differences amongst the group.
Though the candidates remained civil and respectful towards each other, strong differences in approach emerged.
When asked if they would have supported the purchase of Yokohama, Dake and Cooley said they would, with Green, Doster and Siegelman opposing it.
Doster said it was not a good use of taxpayer money, and Siegelman expressed his concern that the sale of the plant would take up to two years and “the city would lose money.” Green left no doubt as to his position, “Absolutely not . . . (it’s) not government’s job to bring business in (to Versailles), our job is to take care of infrastructure, to protect and secure the people. Because if we go down that road, eventually get headed for Marxism.”
Dake responded enthusiastically, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! It is a wonderful project . . . the property appraises at $9.5 million, we have a $2 million grant to fund carrying costs like utilities, no money is coming out of the general fund, and it gives us control over who comes into the factory.” Dake made news by disclosing that there are “three companies looking at the plant and (the city) could be making a deal by the end of the year.” Dake did not disclose any details or identify the three interested companies.
Cooley, though he supported the project, cautioned, “But, a real estate (purchase) should be a last resort; my promise is to exhaust all resources trying to find some other solution.”
When asked about a possible conflict of interest involving Witt and the city, all of the candidates but Green and Doster praised Witt. Cooley, Foster and Siegelman all said transparency was critical in the relationship involving Witt’s business interest in a commercial real estate firm.
Dake said Witt’s situation was closely scrutinized, which involved the city attorney, and was proper under the law. Green, though, argued there was “most definitely a conflict” and “EDA should be completely independent.”
The debate over Highbramble Park generated more fire.
Green said there should be no involvement of EDA officials in a project in which their private business interests are at stake. “Never, ever allow any close ties to government officials to use their official capacity to financially benefiting themselves,” pointing out that two of the owners of VSG, Alex Riddle and Michael Michalisen, sit on the EDA as a director and as the chairperson. “When you go from public service to self-service, I have an issue.”
Siegelman was also concerned by both Highbramble Park and the TKC $250K payment: “Absolutely must hold their feet to the fire. If you don’t pay your water bill for a few months, the city will cut you off. We are treating others differently.” He also argued there was a lack of transparency, pointing out he has raised the issues at “eight or 10 council meetings. Where is our money from (TKC)? Our constituents want to know (what is happening), and there are way too many times we are discussing things in executive session (not during the public part of the meeting).”
DeVore said the problem posed by Highbramble was in getting involved in these projects in the first place. “The main way to protect your taxpayers is don’t get involved in these situations,” he said.
Cooley believed the city’s rights to protect itself in any situation in which tax incentives or bonding are used for economic development should clearly be set out in the original documents, which he said would be mandatory for him to ensure taxpayers would not be left holding the bag.
Dake defended the Highbramble Park project, saying the City Council believed it was a good project for the agriculturally zoned piece of Edgewood Farm, and that no taxpayer monies have been used yet to cover the bond payments. “The property is now for sale, and the city will be all right as well as recoup any money when it is sold,” she said. Dake said the city is “working through the process” and hopes the project gets turned around before the city has to decide whether to bring a foreclosure action.
In her response, Dake again made news by announcing the Highbramble Park property was now for sale.
Siegelman and Dake sparred over the TKC $250K debt it owes due to its failure to break ground on its proposed Edgewood Farm location by a date certain. Unlike Highbramble, the city sold the land to TKC outright for several million dollars. The $250,000 penalty for not stating on time was a part of the deal.
Before responding to the question on affordable housing, Dake responded to Siegelman wanting to sue TKC now, saying, “We have been speaking with TKC, and we are working on a payment plan . . . had we sued, we would have paid our lawyer, but instead we thoughtfully are working on a plan (to collect the penalty fee).” This was also news broken by Dake at the forum.