Chantel Brown Bingham
Ann Miller
Gary Jones
Fred Powers
Joe Belford
Emily Porter
Lisa Johnson
Aaron Smither
By Scott White
Woodford Sun staff
Report for America corps member
The Versailles City Council candidates took their turn in the fishbowl to make their cases to serve at the Candidate Forum held Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Woodford County High School auditorium.
Like all of the forums, the candidates were asked to respond to the same question, in the same amount of time, with the first response rotating, while being timed by Nick Nash of the Woodford County Republican Party and Lynn Pruett of the Woodford County Democratic Party, two of the five sponsors of the forums.
The other forum sponsors are the Woodford County Farm Bureau, The Woodford Sun and former Midway Mayor Tom Bozarth.
A crowd of about 200, with another 125 on the Sun’s live stream, watched the event.
The evening was emceed by Bozarth and moderated by the host of KET’s Kentucky Tonight, Marvin Bartlett. Woodford County Clerk Sandy Jones, who is not seeking reelection, provided an overview of the county’s election day, as well as the preparations that go into administering the election in a nonpartisan process that adheres faithfully to Kentucky and federal law.
The candidates
Eight of the 10 candidates for Versailles City Council attended, with Mary Bradley and Brad Fister choosing not to participate and to explain to the voters the reasons they seek to represent them.
The candidates who did choose to face the voters in a nonpartisan forum were: Joe Belford, who has a 40 year career in finance and serves on the board of the Woodford Education Endowment Fund and the Woodford County Public School superintendent’s budget committee; Chantel Brown Bingham, an incumbent who is the director of the Housing Authority of Versailles; Lisa Johnson, an incumbent and the founder and executive director of Mentors and Meals, a local nonprofit; Gary Jones, an incumbent who started and ran a software company, is a co-owner of Versailles Brewing Company, a realtor and a board member of Mentors and Meals; Ann Miller, an incumbent, who works in the Office of Institutional Advancement at Kentucky State University and chairs the board of the Life Adventure Center, a local nonprofit; Emily Porter, who holds a Master of Business Administration and has been involved in governance at the elementary and high school levels; Fred Powers, retired after a 34 year career as a Medicare beneficiary advocate and cyber security specialist and served on the Woodford County Board of Adjustments; and, Aaron Smither, a small business owner in Versailles and a former council member.
Highest priority
The first question posed asked each candidate to identify their highest priority for Versailles.
The common theme, and which led to more than a few “dittos,” was the issue of growth. However, the approaches were somewhat varied.
Jones observed that, given the current zoning tracts, the city will grow; yet, he said it needs to be done in a controlled manner with the involvement of the council.
Miller said it would suit her to keep the “city limits where they are for the next 75 to 100 years,” and that the city needs to look at growing up, instead of out, with infill development and redevelopment to create affordable, workforce housing.
Porter said, “We need to be on a path for slow growth, and that infrastructure exists to support any new growth.”
Powers, too, referenced infrastructure, saying water, sewer and roads needed to be the current focus. “We can’t handle the traffic we have right now . . . council needs to look at overriding the Planning Commission” to accomplish infrastructure goals as a precondition to further development, he said.
Though Smither was one of the “dittos” on the issue of growth, he said downtown safety and traffic were a “very big issue,” which needed to be addressed now.
Belford, after chuckling about also being a “ditto,” pointed out there is a need to implement smart zoning policies, noting that the congestion downtown and on Troy Pike and other arteries is “unbearable at times,” with the high traffic on Montgomery Avenue “untenable.” He favored slowing down growth until those issues are fixed, which would include finishing the numerous stub roads that are precluding a connection to Troy and Huntertown Road.
Brown Bingham also called for “smart growth,” while highlighting the safety issues created by downtown traffic. She also noted that this is not just a problem there. “There are 1,500 vehicles a day driving down (Martin Luther King Jr.) Boulevard and Montgomery Avenue,” she said, adding that the City Council is working with traffic engineers and obtaining studies to find and implement solutions.
Johnson began her answer by disclosing that “growth” was the issue that triggered her to seek a council seat, when the council expanded the city limits to encompass Edgewood Farm located on Lexington Road. She also noted that there is soon to be a development on Lexington Road, closer to the Bluegrass Parkway, of 522 housing units and seven acres of commercial property, which she also opposed. “We can’t keep paving paradise to put up a parking lot,” she said.
Affordable housing
All of the candidates agreed that there is currently no affordable housing in Versailles, agreeing that there are too many people working in Versailles who cannot live here based on existing prices, with land cost being the biggest hurdle.
Smithers, noting the high costs of everything and interest rates, said, for now, the “math ain’t mathing.”
Jones, a realtor, said, “With every price starting with a 4, 5 or 6, I am taking young families and people who work here to Anderson or Franklin counties to find (an affordable) home.” Jones felt the answer was difficult, but one idea he was open to was exploring a joint venture between the city and builders.
Noting that this is a national problem that is not exclusive to Versailles, Brown Bingham, too, felt the answer could lie with a public-private cooperative approach. “The only way we are going to have affordable housing is (to) find a bold, creative developer who will build and be willing to take less,” she said. “(But) the high land cost is a real issue.”
Johnson posed what she described as a bold, perhaps out-of-the-box solution that would use the old Woodford Hospital for housing if Centerpoint Health moves ahead with a new facility on land it recently purchased. “We need to be creative, so I’ll throw this out there,” she said. “Take the old hospital, convert it into (affordable) condominiums, which people own and can build wealth.”
Both Miller and Belford discussed the possibility of manufactured housing as a solution, with both pointing to the recent pilot project the city did with one on High Street.
Porter and Powers, similar to others, thought working with developers and builders on affordable housing was the best path.
Downtown
Again, there was no disagreement amongst the candidates on the need to support and listen to downtown business owners on their needs or the need to continue holding downtown events. Most also pointed to either a lack of parking or a failure to publicize where parking is located.
Miller reminded folks that while she has served on the City Council, it has worked on projects that brought in The District and has partnered with downtown businesses on events to draw in visitors.
Smithers, whose business is located downtown, acknowledged some repetition, but said the biggest problem was semi-trucks using Main and Lexington streets. “There needs to be a plan to address this,” he said, while also saying crosswalks at Green Street and on Rose Hill, where The District is located, will promote safety and slow traffic down.
Belford agreed, pointing out the ongoing problem of jaywalking, and said he would advocate strongly for a crosswalk at Court and Main streets near Amsden Coffee Club and the American Legion Post 67.
Brown Bingham proposed, in addition to crosswalks, a shuttle service for folks to park outside of the city center, such as further down Main Street or even KCTCS.
Jones, too, supported a shuttle idea, but cautioned that cost would need to be assessed.
Highbramble financing
The candidates were asked if they supported the city’s use of its bond authority to assist in the financing of the Highbramble Park project, a training center for Standardbred horses and harness racing.
All of the incumbents, except Jones, voted in favor of the project. Jones said that, though he liked the concept for several reasons, he voted “no” because then-Mayor Brian Traugott did not provide all of the financial information to the council: “I won’t vote for a $5 million bond that the city is responsible for without the financials; I’m just not going to do it.”
Even so, like Johnson, Brown Bingham and Miller, the other incumbents, Jones said the city is protected, and the property is now on the market.
Belford pointed out that the horse industry is part of Versailles, the city is protected financially, and though “I could play Monday morning quarterback and become a keyboard warrior on Facebook . . . I would have supported it.”
Smither also said he would have voted for it, saying it is common for cities to use their bonding power for economic development and that equine is a signature industry for the community and should be supported.
Powers and Porter both said, as a general matter, they support projects that benefit the city and are financially sound, but said they did not have enough information to answer whether they would have voted “yes” or “no.”