BEREA—If the current slate of candidates running for a seat in City Hall differ in their opinion over what the City's priorities should be and why, there was little evidence of that discord during a forum held Thursday night.

Collectively sponsored by the three founding—and apparently the only—members of the Berea Restaurant Association, the event, held at Churchill's, revealed that if anything, those running for office share a professed love of Berea and are not duly exercised over how the town is being run.

Candidates described slight differences of opinion on how to define and enhance the City's self-proclaimed reputation for being the state's arts and crafts capital, but there was general agreement that arts and crafts are compatible with the Tourism Commission's emphasis in recent years on Berea's status as a Kentucky Trail Town.

"Years ago, I was part of the group that helped make Berea a Trail Town because I feel like our outdoor spaces are very much a part of what makes Berea," City Council incumbent and current candidate John Payne said during the forum. "I was very excited when Tourism began to embrace 'Explore Berea', where you come here for the crafts, but you stay for the beauty of the outdoors."

The only hint of controversy came when, during discussion of the City's restaurant tax, Council candidate Alex Sipple flashed some irritation about the blending of City Hall's and Tourism's respective budgets.

"Tourism is separate from the City," he said, "It's its own fund."

Sipple owns the adventure tourism outlet, Get Outside Kentucky. Berea Mayor Bruce Fraley appointed Sipple to fill an unexpired term on the Tourism Commission in 2024, but did not reappoint him in 2025.

Sipple's seeming non sequitur pointed to a deeper vein of discontent running beneath the question of how best to define and market the City's character to tourists.

Tourism Commission mystery

A long-standing issue among some members across the City's tourism and hospitality industry has been whether Fraley's administration has illegally subsumed the authority of the Tourism Commission.

To that end, The Edge has made several failed attempts to clarify whether Berea Tourism under Fraley is out of alignment with state statute.

Early in 2025, The Edge viewed, but did not record screenshots, of several years worth of the Berea Tourism Commission's annual filings of its status as a special purpose governmental entity in the Commonwealth.

An SPGE, as they are known, must meet four criteria: it must be local, mission-specific, governed by an authority unique to the SPGE that has the power to levy taxes, and have complete authority over its budget. School districts are classic examples of SPGEs.

Fraley took office as mayor in January of 2019. The last Berea Tourism SPGE filing The Edge viewed was for 2018.

Those records have since disappeared from the state's SPGE website. Multiple attempts by The Edge to reach the state's top tourism official, Nancy Allen Turner, about the existence of the records and Berea Tourism's operational status were unsuccessful. Calls to the state's Department of Local Government also were not returned.

If the Tourism Commission is in fact an SPGE, the Commission, and not Fraley, should technically be who appoints commissioners to the Tourism board. That self-selected board of commissioners should then have final say over the budget.

Administrative dissolution of an SPGE is possible in a multitude of ways, including by its governing authorities not filing the requisite paperwork for two consecutive years. There is no current SPGE paperwork on file for Berea Tourism.

In an interview last year, Fraley told The Edge that the City's Tourism Commission is in compliance with state statute, and is not an SPGE.

Outdoors emphasized

During Fraley's administration, the City's Parks and Recreation department in particular has worked closely with the City's Tourism department to fund multiple initiatives that benefit locals as much, if not more, than tourists.

Earlier this year, the City announced that Parks and Rec plans a $1 million overhaul of Community Park, to be funded almost entirely by Berea Tourism. Previous Tourism-funded projects in the City include the rehabilitation of Community Pool, the construction of pickleball courts, and the demolition and reconstruction of the trail head restrooms and concession stand in Community Park.

Other communities across the state such as Harlan, Morehead, and Irvine, to name just a few, have trended toward combining recreational and tourism dollars through initiatives such as the Kentucky Trail Towns. Combining outdoor activity with arts and entertainment is even encouraged by Governor Andy Beshear (D), whose office has made funding available to towns that do.

Restaurateurs react

The Berea Restaurant Association was formed earlier this month by Bill West, who owns Churchill's and the Honeysuckle Bourbon House off Lorraine Court, Camron Franklin, who co-owns One-Eyed Jack's off Richmond Road, and Charles Arnold, who owns the Dinner Bell on Plaza Drive and three Subway sandwich shops at various locations in town.

West served as a Tourism Commissioner with Sipple. Formerly the Chair of Berea Tourism, West, who lives outside the Berea City limits, also was not reappointed by Fraley when his term was up at the end of 2024. Tourism commissioners are not statutorily required to be residents of the jurisdiction in which they serve as commissioners.

Arnold previously served several years on the Tourism Commission under former Mayor Steve Connelly.

Franklin has not had a formal role in City government, but recently was embroiled in a months' long fight with Berea City Hall over whether One-Eyed Jack's, which initially opened as a private-member restaurant and social club for poker and other games, was operating legally. Eventually, the City insisted Franklin and his business partners separate the club from the restaurant before it would grant the establishment a liquor license. Now, there is a private poker club, and a separate live entertainment venue that serves food and alcoholic beverages.

The Association's main issues, according to Franklin, are Fraley's control over the Tourism Commission's budget and his power to appoint commissioners, and use of the restaurant tax for City activities.

"We're not against the restaurant tax, but much of that money is being collected off of locals, not tourists," Franklin said. "That tax is supposed to be collected for the outward promotion of Berea to attract tourists to our community. Instead, we're spending it on swimming pools, pickleball, and bathroom remodels."

Restaurant tax

Overall, the question of whether to end the City's 3% restaurant tax brought a chorus of groans from the Council candidates about the additional cost of dining in Berea establishments. But ultimately, they argued in favor of it, albeit with varying visions for how revenues from the tax should be spent.

"Through the City's partnership with Tourism, we're able to utilize that money to better serve, not only tourists, but also to provide services and quality of life improvements to the community that already lives here," Payne said during his time to speak at the forum. "It's about encouraging the best use of the tax."

The option for local jurisdictions to levy a restaurant tax was created by the state legislature in 1980. Berea City Council voted to apply the tax as far back as 2007, specifically to help boost tourism.

Discussion about the tax during the forum nearly culminated in a forceful statement from Council candidate Dan Sipple, but he juked toward an appeal for the City's seniors whom he said need monetary relief. Dan Sipple is Alex Sipple's uncle.

'It's obvious what's going on'

State statute requires a jurisdiction's tourism board to include representation by any formal organization of hospitality industry professionals in that locality. There's been no word from City Hall as yet on how or whether there will be a move to include the Association on the Commission.

News that the Association had been formed, that it was sponsoring the candidate forum, and that one of its founding members is also managing opposition messaging against the incumbent mayor did not sit well with Katie Startzman, owner of the two-for-one Berea eateries, Native Bagel and Night Jar. Startzman is also an incumbent Councilmember running for re-election.

"The creation of the Restaurant Association is just three guys who are mad at the mayor. Two of them don't even live in Berea. It's obvious what is going on," Startzman told The Edge in an interview. "And by the way, it also bothers me that Camron said they'd invited all the candidates before they announced to the public they were doing this. That is not true."

Franklin is also campaign manager for Berea mayoral challenger Ricky Clontz.

Franklin admitted to The Edge in an interview prior to the event that he had neglected to secure interest and commitments to participate from the candidates before publicizing the forum.

The Association membership status of forum moderator Rick Thomas, who previously co-owned several Sonny's BBQ franchise locations across the state and was co-owner of the Old Town Amish Store in Berea, was not clear. "I don't know if he's a member," Franklin told The Edge after the forum when asked about membership in the Association. The Edge was able to confirm only three members in the Association: Franklin, West, and Arnold.

Franklin said the organization is currently in the process of applying for its IRS nonprofit designation.

Flock Safety cams, housing, infrastructure

For their part, the 11 candidates who participated in the forum spent more time offering each other compliments than staking out their differences. Even the controversial presence of Flock Safety surveillance technology in town elicited a round of skepticism from all candidates about the surveillance tool's utility over its potential threat to civil liberties. Currently, Berea has 10 Flock Safety license plate readers posted along City streets.

"I am essentially not willing to give up our citizens' liberty for a sense of security," Alex Sipple said about using the technology in Berea.

Fraley said that he already had been meeting with local police officials to reassess the use of Flock products in town. Clontz said their use should be the joint decision of law enforcement and the citizens.

Fraley and Clontz each said how they considered the other a friend, and were not running against the other, but "for Berea".

Fraley shared his desire for Berea to offer more of what he referred to in the forum as "public" housing, which he clarified in an interview with The Edge following the event does not mean subsidized housing, but options for housing, including a range of multi-family dwellings and less expensive homes than the City's current inventory includes.

Clontz expressed his skepticism that the City's infrastructure can withstand the construction of "134 more apartments and a Walmart at Exit 77". The area around the exit off of Interstate 75 has often flooded in recent months. The Edge was unable to confirm details about the apartments. A new Walmart is being planned for the corner of Walnut Meadow and Mayde roads.

Both Fraley and Clontz advocated for a youth recreation center.

Candidates by name

There are 13 candidates currently running for office across the available eight seats on Council, and two serious contenders for the mayor's office.

The nine Council candidates who participated in the event Thursday night were: Dan Sipple, Teresa Wren, Ronnie Terrill, Payne (incumbent), Alex Sipple, Mike Barnett (incumbent), Brooke King, Leah Van Winkle, and Regina Hudson.

From the mayoral race were Fraley (incumbent) and Clontz. A third registered mayoral candidate, Troy Lane, has had no campaign presence in town, and did not participate in the forum.

Moderator Thomas neglected to mention whether the four missing candidates had been invited to participate. The remaining candidates include Startzman (incumbent), Steve Caudill (incumbent), Barry Poynter (incumbent), and Ali Blair, who is the owner of the venue, Rebel Rebel, which also serves food on occasion.