Richmond commissioners approve rezoning, bids and personnel actions; purchasing policy revised on first reading

Richmond commissioners voted on several routine orders and one ordinance Tuesday, approving a zoning change for property on East Irvin Street and adopting administrative orders for surplus property, a road-salt contract, personnel resignations and a police hire. A separate ordinance to revise the city purchasing policy was presented on first reading.

The most consequential land-use vote was Ordinance 25-19, a second reading and final adoption changing the zoning for property at 324 East Irvin Street from B-2 (neighborhood business) to R-3 (multifamily residential). The ordinance, which followed a Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation, passed by roll call. Commissioners Newby, Brewer, Cole, Goble and Mayor Blythe all voted yes.

Other actions adopted by the board included:

- Order 25-104: Declared items submitted by the police department as surplus and authorized disposal via GovDeals.com. (Adopted by roll call.)

- Order 25-105: Awarded the city's road-salt purchase for fiscal year 2025-26 to Morton Salt at $100.99 per ton, to be paid from the municipal aid road fund. The board thanked Wanda Bailey for facilitating the bid process. (Adopted by roll call.)

- Order 25-106: Accepted the resignations of two fire department employees: Austin Mercer, Firefighter I, effective June 30, 2025 (hire date cited as 02/2024 in the order), and Charles King, Firefighter II, effective July 2, 2025 (service since 02/2015). The board recorded appreciation for their service. (Adopted by roll call.)

- Order 25-107: Hired Victoria Young as a senior police officer, contingent on background checks and at the fiscal-year 2025-26 police pay scale, pay grade 4; her effective date was listed as Aug. 4, 2025. (Adopted by roll call.)

On the legislative front, Ordinance 25-20, amending the city purchasing policy to align thresholds with revised Kentucky statutes (KRS citations cited by staff), was presented for first reading. City staff summarized that the proposal raises certain bidding thresholds (the presentation noted moving some thresholds from $30,000 to the statutory threshold now at $40,000 and updates smaller bid thresholds, including raising the department-head discretionary level from $500 to $1,000). The ordinance will return for a second reading at the next regular meeting; no final vote occurred.

Roll-call votes were taken for the items acted on; the clerk read the vote for each item. For items adopted during the meeting the clerk recorded unanimous "yes" votes from the five commissioners present.

The board also approved minutes from prior meetings and heard several routine reports before adjourning.