RICHMOND—A slew of zone changes as well as property annexations had their first readings and more change orders were approved at the Richmond Regional Sports Complex during the regular Commission meeting on Tuesday night. 

Plus, the City will soon matchmake EKU students and local businesses for internships and full-time job offers in an effort to aid recruitment and keep local talent in the area. 

Proclamations

Mayor Robert Blythe designated October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Alpha Delta Kappa Month, and Manufacturing Month.

For recognizing the impact of domestic violence on communities, Hope’s Wings Executive Director Jennifer Lainhart thanked the Commissioners for their support and partnership, and honored the 50 Kentuckians who lost their lives to domestic violence this year.

The Richmond chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa is an organization of women educators who support the work of various community organizations such as Redeeming Hope, God’s Outreach Food Bank, and the Glenn Marshall Family Resource Center, the group's committee chair, Whitney Hamilton, told the Commission. She thanked them for the recognition and invited any female educators to join their organization. 

Drawing attention to the "many rewarding, high skilled jobs ... and to highlight the many quality products that are local", Blythe presented the proclamation to Grayson Eaves who manages economic development projects for the City.

Recognition

The Haven is Richmond’s first heated pilates studio. It received recognition from the City for being a new business. Studio owner Elizabeth Noland said the studio caters to students and young working professionals who might be facing financial constraints, by keeping rates low. The studio is located at 311 West Main Street and is open on Monday through Friday from 5 am to 9:30 pm. There are also classes on Saturday at 8 am and 9 am.

Ordinances

The Commission unanimously authorized the closure of an alleyway connecting Heath Street to Big Hill Ave. after a second reading of Ordinance 26-27. The adjoining land owner, MBR properties, asked for the closure of the alleyway, according to City Attorney Chris Johnson. 

Ordinance 26-28 which would annex 0.35 acres at 217 Pleasure Drive and zone it as R-1C, single family residential small lot, was given its first reading. The Commission also heard a first reading of Ordinance 26-29 to annex 0.8 acres located at 223 Pleasure Dr. and 611 Benjamin Dr., and zone it as R1-C.

The property owners requested the annexations because they wanted to connect to City sewer services, according to City Manager Rob Minerich. 

The Commission also heard first readings of three zone changes for Carriage Place, the 200-acre housing development off Berea Road. 

The first was Ordinance 26-30, which would rezone 88.6 acres at 96 Punkin Run Road from vacant R1-A, single family residential large lot, to R1-C and R3, multi-family apartments. This zone change request was approved at a Planning and Zoning meeting in August to accommodate more housing development as well as an assisted living facility, as previously reported. 

The two other Carriage Place zone changes that had first readings were Ordinance 26-31, rezoning 49.53 acres from agriculture to R1-C, and Ordinance 26-32, rezoning 18.09 acres from vacant agriculture to R1-C.

Orders

The Commission unanimously passed Order 26-161 to donate a vacant property at the corner of Orange Street and Hallie Irvine Street to Habitat for Humanity for use as affordable housing. The building was not in use by the City, Minerich said.

Commissioner Tammy Cole asked if the Commission could discuss partnering with Habitat for Humanity to provide more affordable housing in the same area and fund it through a Community Development Block Grant from the Kentucky Department for Local Government. The City of Winchester received $1 million from the DLG to redevelop homes along one of their streets for an affordable housing project, she said. 

Minerich said the City had previously done a similar project on the corner of East Irvine Street and Estill Ave. The first step would be to contact Habitat for Humanity and determine an appropriate area to establish affordable housing, he said. 

The Richmond Industrial Development Corporation was officially dissolved after unanimous approval of Order 26-162. Minerich first brought up his intentions to dissolve the RIDC and rely on the City’s Department of Economic Development instead during a workshop meeting in July. 

The RIDC was registered as a non-profit, non-stock corporation established in 1995 under the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act. It was created at the time to aid the City’s industrial and business growth, according to their official website. 

“We’re not dismantling something here, what we are doing is evolving in economic development. In order for us to be competitive in the global market for new manufacturing, we had to up our game.” Minerich said. “It’s a benefit to us if you all approve this dissolution of RIDC. It makes us more efficient, it allows us to get to you all quicker for decisions and turnaround in the market.” 

The Economic Development Department will have a $950,000 budget compared to the RIDC’s $24,000 annual budget, Minerich said. The department consists of Director Brad Sowden, who works on large manufacturing projects, Kerri Hensley who works with small businesses, Project Manager Grayson Eaves, and Director of Grants and Marketing Stephanie Nelson, he said. Together they are currently working on 15 projects, according to Minerich.

Minerich thanked the RIDC and said that the City was able to have three industrial parks, two build-ready sites, and 189 acres of new property because of their efforts.

“Over the years, those people have stepped up and made us what we are in industrial development,” Commissioner Mike Brewer said. “We owe them a big thank you.” 

One of the first projects planned by the Economic Development Department is a career program that would help EKU students get working experience, internships, and job offers within Richmond, Eaves said. 

Order 26-163, passed unanimously, authorizes the Department to apply for a talent recruitment grant from the state to support this career program. The grant would fund up to 80% of the proposed $50,000 cost and would require the City to pay the rest.

Eaves said he came up with the idea because of his own experience trying to find a job in Richmond when he was a student at EKU. He knew of many students who had difficulty finding internships or job offers.

“I’d ask [the students] what’s your plan. [They said] I’m gonna go to Lexington, I’m gonna go to Cincinnati, Louisville, back home, where they believe opportunity is,” Eaves said. “And a lot of that boiled down to they didn’t really know where the opportunity was here.” 

The four-tiered career program is slated to begin next spring, Eaves said. Tier one will introduce students to different industries through job shadowing and site tours. Tier two will involve partnerships between businesses and classes to work on real world projects. Tier three will be for internship placements and tier four will help students get their first full-time job offer after graduation.

Students and employers will have to apply to be part of the program and the Department is preparing to market the program, Eaves said.

Order 26-164, accepting a $187,010 bid for landscaping at the Richmond Regional Sports Complex, passed unanimously in a roll call vote. The money will come from the sports complex project fund, according to the order. Lexington’s Ecton Nursery was awarded the bid out of two other bids. 

The order listed the original bid price as $257,360, however Minerich requested a motion to amend it to $187,010 instead. 

“Parks Grounds Director Josh Cole, Tim Gross, and myself reviewed the package and we eliminated several things we didn’t see deemed necessary which reduced the contract amount by $70,350,” Minerich said. The number of trees and shrubs were reduced and the engineers and landscaping contractors are aware of the reductions, he said. 

Johnson also said that the bidding was done per unit, meaning contractors gave prices per tree or bush, so there was no possibility of another bidder claiming they could have offered a different price had they known the City would change the terms of the bid to include less trees. 

Commissioner Tammy Cole said she wished that the Commission could award the bid to the only local bidder, the Jones Brother’s Group but Ecton's bid came in lower, she said.

Additionally, Order 26-167, which approved $78,253.11 worth of change orders at the sports complex, was unanimously approved by the Commission. The money will come from the sports complex project fund, according to the order. The change orders were awarded to Lexington-based Rising Sun Developing, but there was no word on what the construction would entail. 

“Commissioner Cole, there goes that $70,000 we just saved,” Minerich said. 

“You didn’t say final,” Commissioner Mendi Goble said of the change orders. 

“I want you to say final,” Cole added. 

Minerich promised that construction at the sports complex would be completed soon. 

Resignations, retirements, and new appointments

The Commission unanimously approved Order 26-160 to promote Officers Charles Campbell and Austin Miniard in the Police Department to Master Police Officer. The Master Police Officer program is a professional development pathway to build future leaders, Police Chief Rodney Richardson said. 

Campbell serves in the emergency response unit and is also a member of the bicycle patrol unit. He received an exceptional service award in 2023 for his work in drug investigations and for removing two children from a home with drug traffickers. In 2024, he received an award for an exceptional number of arrest warrants served and in 2025, he received an award for disrupting gang operations that provided school children with firearms. 

Miniard currently serves on the collision reconstruction unit and previously served as a school resource officer at Madison Central High School. He received a perfect attendance award and the Chief’s Award of Excellence in 2023, which was awarded based on the number of people in the community that called and wrote to the Police Department to thank Miniard for his help.

The Commission also unanimously passed Order 26-156, authorizing the Police Department to hire a police records clerk. 

Ceremonial Order 26-154 accepted the retirement of Scott Coomer in the Fire Department. 

“Scott’s one you hate to lose, he stayed six years past retirement,” Fire Chief Patrick Tudor said. “He was always the one who would take the new guys under his wing and show them the ropes.” 

Currently there are five firefighters in the department that are past retirement and Tudor anticipates that 16 more firefighters will be retiring in the coming years. Additionally, unanimous approval of Order 26-157 promoted Colby Rogers in the Fire Department to Firefighter II. 

Ceremonial Order 26-155, which was unanimously approved, accepted the resignation of Tyler Causey in the Public Works Department. Order 26-166 to hire three equipment operators for the Public Works Department was also unanimously approved by the Commission. 

The Commission also unanimously passed Order 26-158 to update the job description for the Battlefield Curator to include reporting to the City Manager, the Battlefield Association, the Madison County Historical Society, and Richmond Tourism. Previously the curator only had to report to Tourism. A new Battlefield Curator, Lashe Mullins, was also hired after unanimous approval of Order 26-159. Mullins previously worked with Kentucky State Parks, which includes White Hall State Historic Site, and is currently the park director at Waveland State Historic Site. 

Tourism Director Lori Tatum was appointed as a member to fill a vacancy on the Architectural Review Board after unanimous approval of Order 26-165. Johnson said there is no conflict of interest because her new board appointment will not involve voting on anything tourism related. 

Public comment 

Ed Brown spoke on behalf of the Richmond Downtown Neighborhood Association and invited the public to donate clothing for homeless people on November 12 from 4 pm to 6 pm at Millstone Park. Items they are looking for include socks, sweatpants, sweat shirts, coats, gloves, and hats. 

City manager report

Local youth sports will be given priority to use the Richmond Regional Sports Complex, Minerich said. He met with the Madison United Soccer Association last Sunday night and told them they would be allowed to use four of the artificial turf fields starting November 9th for soccer practice, he told the Commission. 

The Halloween Hoedown will take place on October 28 at Main Street in Downtown Richmond from 6 pm to 8 pm, and trick-or-treating will take place across Richmond, Berea, and Madison County from 6 pm to 8 pm on October 31, Minerich said. Applications to participate in the Christmas Parade are available online and due November 13.

Commission comments 

Commissioner Jim Newby asked if the City could bring back an Irvine McDowell Park softball field that was previously removed in 2013. Currently there are three softball fields at the park.

“We put a lot of attention to our new parks and it’s great, but Irvine McDowell is the history of Richmond,” Newby said. “That’s the park we all grew up in. And I think the girls would greatly appreciate if we give it the same amount of maintenance and respect that we give the other fields.” 

Minerich agreed that the softball fields needed an upgrade and that the City plans to improve lighting at the park for the fields. The City has invited the Richmond Fastpitch Club, Richmond’s girl’s softball league, to a workshop meeting for further discussion of what the league needs.

Cole said that the Millstone Festival was "amazing" and praised everyone who was involved in organizing the event. Vendors were happy and many sold out of their goods, she said. Minerich said the City would expand the festival next year to include more vendors along First Street next to the courthouse. 

Commissioner Mendi Goble said that many vendors had left the festival before it ended and asked if there was something the City could do to prevent them from doing so. Minerich said that the City could consider starting and ending the festival earlier. 

Brewer said that this year was the best Millstone Festival the City has had. He also mentioned a complaint he received from a resident who was fined for parking in a lot next to Irvine McDowell Park that is owned by EKU. Currently the City leases the parking lot to EKU, which makes the lot unavailable to the public during certain hours unless they acquire an EKU parking permit or pay for parking. Minerich said the City could try to reach an agreement with EKU about adjusting the hours. 

Blythe said that the Japanese delegation from Hokuto City enjoyed their visit and he invited the public to visit the museum at Irvine McDowell Park. He also said that he almost got into two car accidents because drivers ran red lights.