BEREA CITY HALL—Many locals have been wondering what's up with the funky smell that's been hanging around the North end of town for the past week or more. Now City officials think they have the answer.

"I know there's been a million people asking you about it, but it feels like there's been a sewer break at Exit 77, and there is, in fact, not," Councilmember Steve Caudill said during Tuesday evening's second regularly scheduled Council meeting.

"You're exactly right," City Administrator Shawn Sandlin said. "There is no sewer break or leak in that area."

Instead, Sandlin said it's just the "organic matter" that has sprung up in a low-lying area near the I-75 Southbound on-ramp that is not fully draining all the recent heavy rain water, compounded by the presence of still, stinky water sitting in the ditch alongside Hwy 595.

"You can see the cattails growing up in there, which indicates everything is proper. There's nothing dead in there," Sandlin told Council. City officials have teamed up with the state and a haz-mat crew to evaluate the water. The haz-mat team has also determined the water isn't contaminated, but testing continues, he said.

To help move the water along, the state transportation cabinet has agreed to dig bigger ditches alongside 595, according to Sandlin. "'Cause we have major flooding down there, all the time," he said.

Sandlin said he will have an update on the situation during Council's next regularly scheduled meeting on September 1st.

Civics lessons

At the top of the meeting, Jackson Schill, 17, a senior at Berea Community High School gave a presentation to Council about his summer spent shadowing various officials and department heads in City Hall.

The opportunity arose when earlier this year Schill asked Mayor Bruce Fraley about high school internships with the City only to learn there were none. So, with Fraley and Sandlin's help, Schill created his own City Hall adventure. He listed the highlights of his learning, including public works and economic development, and said he came away with "immense respect" for the work done by the City on behalf of Bereans.

"The reason I am here today is to ask the Council to expand and create new opportunities for kids in Berea to get the same experience I did," Schill said. He gestured to a row of his classmates whom he said were personally eager to learn more about municipal functions and how to become an active participant in civic life. "This would make them want to step up and lead our community," he said.

Fraley commented that mentors think they are teaching their students, but in fact they are learning from them. In this case, Schill taught Council how important it is to proactively engage the community, Fraley said.

"Sometimes we think people know the way things work, when they really don't so it's a good way to share those things," he said after Schill's presentation. Fraley agreed to look for ways to institutionalize civic participation opportunities in the City.

Sandlin told Council he too liked the idea and suggested that similar to the County's Citizen Police Academy, there could be a sort of citizen's academy for civic functions.

In an interview following the meeting, Schill told The Edge that the City's business development director, Donna Angel, opened his eyes to what is possible for cities and towns through economic development. "After I spent the day with her, I learned a ton of stuff and it made me want to learn more. Hopefully, as I get older, I will get more experience and learn more about how to grow a city, and make sure that businesses are still coming in, while also preserving our city," he said in the interview.

Ed. note: The Edge is the recipient of a Listening Post Collective seed grant for the purpose of educating citizens about how local government works. Our first event, details still to come, will be A User's Guide to Planning and Zoning.

Resolution

Minus Councilmembers Jerry Little and Katie Startzman who were absent, Council unanimously passed Resolution 04-2026 allowing Fraley to work with the state economic development cabinet on behalf of the City, to obtain an Appalachian Regional Commission grant to cover the cost of an engineering report on what to do with a 100 acre flood plain off JC Chambers Lane in the Berea Industrial Park.

In a work session prior to the Council meeting, Fraley explained his vision would be to create a recreational complex there, as it is "a particularly beautiful spot along Silver Creek". He said the engineering report would examine whether soccer fields, a kayak launch, a mountain bike training loop, and a public restroom facility would be feasible in that location. The flood plain is next to Berea's mountain bike park.

In the work session, Councilmember John Payne endorsed the idea of a water launch in the southern portion of Madison County, noting that currently all water access points are in the northern part of the County. Silver Creek is listed as a US navigable waterway, with up to Class II rapids, depending upon rainfall. Still, Fraley said portions of the waterway require portage where the water is too shallow to paddle.

The cost of the engineering report, according to Fraley, is around $300,000. The ARC grant would pay half, the state would pay 90%, and the City would pay the remaining 10%, or about $13,600 dollars, Fraley told The Edge in an interview following the work session.

Municipal order

Municipal Order 05-2026 created Council standing legislative committees for the current session that includes newest member Virgil Burnside. Committees are now:

• Audit and Finance: Caudill, Startzman, Teresa Scenters, Barry Poynter
• Public Works: Little, Caudill, Payne, Virgil Burnside
• Parks: Startzman, Payne, Burnside, Mike Barnett
• Personnel: Poynter, Little, Startzman, Scenters

Ordinances

Ordinance 12-2026 updating the City's contract with the trash hauler, Waste Connections, received unanimous roll call approval in its second reading after having been vetted over the course of two previous work sessions. The ordinance sets a rate of $25 for overfill charges by commercial customers of City customers of Waste Connections, but only after first attempting to reach the customer with photographic evidence of their trash transgressions, which historically has been mostly not closing the lids of Dumpsters, making it more difficult for the trucks to empty the receptacle.

Previously, Waste Connections unilaterally began assessing $100 overage charges to customers whose Dumpster lids were open, something outside of the City's original contract with the hauler. Sandlin confirmed at the meeting that at this time, all customers who'd been assessed the $100-per-violation in the past year have been fully refunded. This elicited praise from Fraley and Payne who credited Sandlin for his months of successful negotiating with the trash company on behalf of Bereans.

Ordinance 13-2026, which cedes the right of way at 150 and 171 76 Boulevard to Todd and Erin Holbrook, was also passed unanimously by a roll call vote. This right of way will no longer be open to the city, in exchange for a new road to be built onto Nandino Circle by Jarod and Amanda Hembree, who are purchasing both addresses from the Holbrooks in order to build a luxury RV park and water theme park on the combined 18 acres.

Ordinance 14-2026 keeps this year's ad valorem (real and property) tax at the same rate as last year, or 0.089 per every $100 of assessed value. The rate has remained the same since 2024, although during the work session, there was disagreement over whether this was a good idea.

Scenters and Burnside argued in favor of keeping it as is in order to avoid citizen ire at a time of higher cost of living, while Caudill said it made sense to take the full amount allowable by state law, which is 4%, to both keep apace of inflation and to not avoid a more dramatic rise in the future which, by state law, could trigger a recall vote. A 4% increase would have pushed the rate to 0.091 per every $100 of assessed value.

In the work session, City Finance Director Susan Helton said that over the past year, valuations in the County have gone up 4.7% for real property and 5.2% for other property. However, she stressed that values are leveling off from their high in 2024, which saw real property values spike by 13%. Currently, the real property valuation average in Berea is $150,000, according to Helton.

Mayor and Councilmember comments

Fraley reiterated his gratitude to Schill and congratulated him on his initiative, while Payne announced the Citizen's Police Academy is now taking applications for its 2026 cohort. The other Councilmembers had no further comment.