With several members in attendance, Ham Fest Committee members got approving news from Cadiz City Council Tuesday night — all but sounding an official endorsement of drafted governance between the two entities for Trigg County’s annual fall agricultural festival.
City Attorney Allen Wilson said “nearly all wishes” could be met through an agreeable ordinance.
In terms of legal considerations, Wilson said the committee will become “a public action agency” subject to the Open Meetings & Open Records Act, and that the council shouldn’t “inadvertently” create a “special purpose governmental entity” — which would make it “so much more complicated.”
Furthermore, because Cadiz is a mayor-council government, Wilson said the committee will continue to take specific actions, but certain executive authorities exist with the mayor’s seat, and separate legislative authorities for the council members.
Regardless, the loose ends, Wilson said, were few.
Wilson cautioned that having 17 committee members — seven specific community officials and 10 others appointed on two-year staggered terms — might be difficult to consistently cobble for a monthly quorum.
Cadiz-Trigg County Tourism Director Beth Sumner said attendance, however, has been “consistently strong” over the last couple of years, and likely longer, and that the duties of a committee secretary and treasurer could easily report in adjacency to the city for clear lines of communication.
Wilson further pointed out that, as an action committee, empowerment still exists before the mayor’s final signature, while Sumner, committee member Rayme Hopson and others affirmed.
Cadiz Mayor Todd King said timeliness in this endeavor mattered.
A special-called session of Cadiz City Council will be held 5 PM next Monday for first reading of the Ham Fest Committee ordinance, second reading of approved annexation and a Finance Committee meeting to discuss the city’s General Fund budget.
In other city council news:
+ Following the conclusion of an executive session, members voted in favor of the city offering $9,000 for the purchase of 67 Madison Street, which is near the Cadiz Sewer Treatment Plant.
+ City Administrative Officer Jack Lingenfelter also took a brief moment to outline Trigg County’s revealed six-year highway plan, which involves:
- $2 million for bridge work on KY 272 at Burge Creek and $750,000 of planning for I-24 from the 57 mile-marker to the 70 mile-marker in 2026
- $9 million for safety work on Glenwood Mill Road, $15 million for safety work on Kings Chapel Road, and $4 million for major widening of KY 276 from KY 139 and US 68 in 2027-30
- And $13 million in paving for I-24 from the 64 mile-marker to the 70 mile-marker and $5 million for major widening of KY 139 at Cerulean Road to I-24 in 2032
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