After hearing a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month the Hopkinsville City Council accepted zoning recommendations from Community and Development Services and narrowly passed a budget amendment to address the repairs needed at Bluegrass Splash water park at their meeting on Tuesday.
Hopkinsville Mayor, J.R. Knight and Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission member Nikki Chambers read the proclamation which recognized African Americans for their vast societal contributions.
Chambers highlighted the theme for this year’s Black History Month of recognizing African Americans in the arts. She shared how African Americans have not only made innumerable contributions to the art world, but how they have used art to preserve history, spread empowerment and much more.
Following the proclamation, the council was presented with zoning recommendations by CDS Executive Director Tom Britton. First, he recommended for a property consisting of six homes along Pyle Lane to be designated as a one-and two-family residential district.
Next, Britton recommended the partial closure of Ellen Street a short dead-end street off of Falls Lane. Britton says the applicant, Derrick Quarles made the request after he acquired properties along with street and started to repair them and that one of the homes partially sits on the end of the street.
The council accepted both recommendations from Britton which will be voted on at a later meeting.
At their meeting on January 23, the council heard from Hopkinsville Public Works Director, Mike Perry regarding the repairs needed at Bluegrass Splash Waterpark. Perry said the repairs would cost around $103,000, but requested $125,000 in case they run into any additional repairs.
On Tuesday’s agenda was an ordinance to amend the 2022-2023 capital budget. The ordinance amended insurance proceed revenues, Hopkinsville Police Department expenses and the repair costs for Bluegrass Splash. The council voted to discuss and vote on the Bluegrass Splash repairs separately from the other amendments.
After the insurance proceeds and police department revenue amendments were approved the council discussed the Bluegrass Splash repairs. Perry shared that the Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority is going to reimburse them for the pipe leak repairs and the funds that don’t get used for repairs will go back to the city.
Ward Seven Council member, Doug Wilcox suggested that the council postpone voting on the repairs in order for them to have more time to discuss how to approach the repairs and vote on a motion by the end of the month. However, the first payment for repairs is due before March 1.
Wilcox then asked why this motion was not brought to the council earlier, to which Knight said the leak needed to be found and a bid for repairs had to be put out and approved before it could be brought to the council.
The council narrowly approved to move forward with repairs for Bluegrass Splash with a vote of 6-to-5 and one abstention.