There's just so much good news

CITY HALL—Good things are happening across Berea and residents are loved and well fed, or so City Councilmembers heard as news about the coming delegation from Hokuto City, the restoration of the Pinnacles amphitheater, a surprise discovery of a stand of American chestnut trees—as well as new national accolades for Berea College—and other pleasing events, was shared during their second regularly scheduled meeting of the month.

Plus, everyone is invited to several celebrations, including the 30th annual Spoonbread Festival, sponsored by the Berea Chamber of Commerce, and a fireworks display in Alumni Field.

Public comment

Hail Hokuto

The evening's amity began with an announcement from the Rev. Kent Gilbert of Union Church, who spoke during the public comment period, that in two weeks, a delegation from Berea's sister city, Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, will arrive, as happens every two years. A welcome celebration, to which all Bereans are invited, will take place in the Acton Folk Center in the evening of Friday, October 2, time TBD.

The delegation will tour Berea, including City Hall, the industrial park, and the fire department where the guests will be offered the opportunity to climb the aerial ladder device, as per usual.

This year, the sister city exchange program with Hokuto marks its 40th anniversary. Gilbert said a special rededication ceremony will take place on October 5 when the mayors of Berea and Hokuto re-sign the documents binding the two cities in the exchange program.

The delegation will also meet with officials from the Richmond City Commission and the County Fiscal Court.

Mayor Bruce Fraley thanked Gilbert for the update and for helping to run the exchange program.

Flock U.
Aaron Shaffer, a frequent critic of the City's use of Flock Safety cameras, was back to share his "disappointment" in City Council for approving the use of Flock's automatic license plate readers, and for not speaking out against them now that there has been more news coverage, including in The Edge, about their controversial role in some domestic surveillance operations.

Shaffer spoke at length about the connection he believes exists between Flock Safety and AI kingpin, Peter Thiel, whose surveillance company, Palantir, Shaffer claimed is named for the mysterious device of omniscience in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of Rings—the palantír stone—that in the "wrong" hands, unleashes chaos upon the world.

Shaffer said it was "stupefying" that Councilmembers did not speak out about domestic "spying" in Berea and elsewhere, and predicted it would only get worse. "This is not the country you grew up in," he said to Council.

Councilmember Jerry Little asked Shaffer to explain what Flock cameras do and how they do it. Shaffer responded with a tale about how they had been installed on splash pads and in gymnasiums. Little said there are no Flock cameras on Berea's splash pad.

Flock Safety cameras take photos of the license plates on every vehicle that pass by them, read the data off the plates, compare it to a national crime database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then alert local law enforcement if there are any matching data. Flock also makes other devices which are used to surveil people, not vehicles.

Nationally, there have been multiple incidents of law enforcement using Flock devices to stalk, harass, and persecute women and undocumented persons.

Berea Police Asst. Chief Aaron Boycan previously told The Edge that his department neither filters data according to specific criteria, nor shares Flock data with other law enforcement agencies unless it is to do with an identified match in the FBI's criminal database.

Shaffer said he knew he was passionate and excitable about this topic, and reassured Council that he voted for most of them, and thinks they do an "excellent" job, but that he takes exception to their support of the surveillance of citizens.

'We love you'

At the invitation of Mayor Bruce Fraley, Berea College Cheryl Nixon, PhD, spoke next, saying she was "pleased to come and share good news", telling Council and Fraley that Berea College "loves you", and referenced the College's alma mater song, "Berea Beloved".

Nixon went on to list multiple ways she said the College was working side by side with City officials to "spread the love" in the community. She began with the announcement that, because the College shares Bereans' love of the outdoors, it is committed to restoring the Pinnacles Amphitheater.

"Shakespeare's The Tempest was a test case," Nixon said, referring to the Kentucky Shakespeare's April performance at the outdoor venue. The performance was well-attended and the amphitheater demonstrated it is structurally sound.

Built in 1955 for the College's centennial celebration, the amphitheater once was host to commencement ceremonies and to performances of Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Paul Green's symphonic piece, Wilderness Road. In recent years, it has fallen into disrepair, but Nixon said that fundraising for its restoration is already underway. She added that restoration plans include electrical wiring for nighttime performances.

"We're excited to work with the City in the planning process," Nixon said of the project.

The other acts of love, in the order Nixon listed them, include improvements to outdoor spaces owned and operated by the College, but shared freely with area residents, such as the recently opened Pinnacle Knob Trails where Nixon said a small stand of the endangered American Chestnut tree, which was nearly wiped out by blight in the early portion of the last century, has been discovered. There is also new signage on the Brushy Fork trail, she said.

Nixon referenced the College's victory over East Kentucky Power in the County Circuit Court earlier this year. EKPC sought to build nearly nine miles of transmission line through the College Forest but was thwarted by the Court's decision. The utility appealed, and now, The Edge can report exclusively, arguments from both sides are due to the state's appellate court by next week.

On the student front, the College and City Hall have worked together to create "Bereaships", according to Nixon. These are internships that place College students in roles across the City, where they learn about municipal government, including, but not limited to, clerkship, tourism, parks and recreation, and emergency services. A similar partnership with the Chamber of Commerce is under development, Nixon said.

The College's community resilience program, Grow Appalachia, last year distributed more than 31,000 meals made from fresh, locally sourced food, to hungry children in the area, through Berea Kids Eat, Nixon said.

Also in support of area youth, Nixon discussed how her administration is encouraging a return to supporting Berea Community School. Over the past decade, ties to the school had faltered, but Nixon said the College now offers staff and faculty paid days off to volunteer their time at the school. The College is also "revisiting" the dual credit program for BCS students who wish to study at the College for college credit, among other ways her administration is supporting the secondary school, according to Nixon.

Nixon name checked the College's Center for Excellence Through Service, the CELTS program, for exemplifying what she referred to as the City's reputation for serving others, and said it helped the College earn the nation's top ranking in Washington Monthly magazine for most service-oriented institution of higher learning.

The buried lede in Nixon's roster of good works was the last item on her list: the College, which is the oldest tuition-free college in the nation, has now become the first college in the nation to fully fund the educations of all students. Beginning in the Fall of 2027, every cent of every entering student's education costs will be paid by the College. [Ed. note: The Edge will have full coverage of this announcement in the coming weeks.]

Nixon said this decision was made, in part, to help support the Appalachian region, which she said sends nearly three-quarters of the student body to Berea College, but which tends to be impoverished.

"It's a very virtuous way to give back," Nixon said.

The announcement will be celebrated during Alumni Weekend, Sept. 25 through 27, which will include a fireworks display on the evening of Sept. 26 in Alumni Field. That will follow a concert staged in partnership with Berea AMP, headlined by R&B recording artist, Devon Gilfillian.

"Everyone is welcome to come and together we will enjoy our love of the outdoors," Nixon told Council.

Little asked Nixon how long restoring the amphitheater would take. She said she hoped it would be a quick turn-around, but didn't have an exact timeline.

Councilmember John Payne thanked Nixon for the Berea Kids Eat program, and referenced how as a child, he had benefitted from the program. He then asked when the College would re-open the trails at Anglin Falls. Again, Nixon said she did not have an answer for that, and explained that while she understood the community's love of that trail in particular, it had been so badly damaged by floods and overuse, and so had needed to be restored. She promised Payne she would get back to him with an exact date for the trail's re-opening.

Payne, who has been working to catalog all burial sites in town, mentioned that the County's only burial site from the Revolutionary War is located on the College campus. "I did not know that," she said. "That combines history with the outdoors. It's perfect for our mission."

He asked about finding a grant to help restore and mark the site. This created a segue to the Mayor's proclamation.

Proclamation

Fraley proclaimed that Sept. 17 through 23 is Constitution Week in Berea, and bestowed the proclamation on members of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, founded in 1930. Local DAR president, Heather McNew Schill, told Payne her organization offers grants for burial site restoration, such as that for the Revolutionary War soldier's site.

Schill presented to Council, a banner with the names of all known ancestors of her DAR chapter's members, who'd fought in the Revolutionary War.

Resolutions

In a unanimous voice vote, Council voted in favor of Resolution 06-2026 to forego 1% of the City's occupational tax collection on Hyster-Yale, part of an incentive package offered to the forklift manufacturer that recently announced it will invest nearly $48 million to build a new line of forklift products at its Berea plant. Council's vote was subject to a Sept. 1 work session where the state's permission to offer incentives to the company through the state economic development cabinet was discussed.

Fraley told Council during the meeting that the total number of jobs to be provided by Hyster-Yale as a result of its expansion will be 507.

In a pair of voice votes, Council also unanimously voted in favor of Resolution 08-2026, and Resolution 09-2026, which together will reappropriate state funds from City sewer projects, to instead cover the cost of the City's utility meter upgrades instead.

Councilwoman Teresa Scenters told the audience in attendance the reason for this was that if the roughly half million dollars in state infrastructure funds were not spent by December 31st of this year, the City would lose access to them, and that while the metering project was nearly complete, the sewer projects are not.

The Resolutions give Berea Utilities General Manager Kevin Howard full authority to administer the funds. During a work session prior to the meeting, Howard told Council that a combination of City funds already allocated for infrastructure improvements, plus potential grant monies he is currently pursuing would be used to cover the ongoing sewer upgrades at the West End, Brushy Fork, and Hwy 595 sewer locations.

City administrator report

Shawn Sandlin, the city's administrator, reminded Council that this weekend will be busy as it is the 30th annual Spoonbread Festival. He encouraged them to visit the Chamber of Commerce's booth on Saturday from 1pm to 3pm when he will be serving spoon bread to guests of the festival.

He also reminded Council that BCS will have its homecoming parade on Sept. 23rd at 6pm, Madison Southern High School will host theirs on Sept. 24 at 6pm, and that on Oct. 2, Bereans are invited to watch a movie in Memorial Park. The event begins with free Kettle Korn, available while supplies last, at 6:45 pm. The movie, Hocus Pocus, will be shown beginning at 7:30 pm. Attendees are asked to bring their own lawn chairs and picnic blankets.

Mayor's comments

Fraley also encouraged Councilmembers to attend the Spoonbread Festival, despite what promises to be a very warm weekend. He also asked that as many folks as possible attend the welcoming event on the evening of Oct. 2 for the Hokuto City delegation. "They really rolled out the red carpet for us, let's do the same for them," he said, referring to Berea's delegation that visited Hokuto City earlier this year.

Fraley also thanked Hyster-Yale for choosing Berea, and thanked City staff for their efforts to make Berea business friendly, and said without the City's industrial partners, there would not be the funds to offer so many parks and other amenities across the City.

Council comments

Councilmember Steve Caudill reminded his colleagues that the expansion news is as exciting as landing a new business in the industrial park. He also said, "Go to Spoonbread."

Scenters read out an historical document about the Spoonbread Festival, which described the original event in 1996 as featuring clogging, porch stomps, and a "doodah" parade, even though she didn't know what that was.

Payne, who heads the City's parks committee, echoed Fraley's sentiments about industry-funded amenities, and told Shaffer that just because they are not saying anything publicly, doesn't mean that Councilmembers aren't studying the impact of Flock Safety cameras and forming an educated opinion about them.

Councilmember Virgil Burnside mused that it was through the vision of previous Councils that a cornfield was turned into an industrial park that now funds City programs, and said that is the kind of job Councilmembers are supposed to do.

Councilmember Barry Poynter said it's always good to hear about industrial growth and thanked the DAR for its presentation.

Little and Councilmembers Katie Startzman and Mike Barnett had no comment.