The city of Henderson has hired the firm Brandstetter Carroll to create its Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
Assistant City Manager Dylan Ward said a recent request for qualifications that the city advertised netted a return of five companies, all of which are very qualified.
A committee comprised of citizens who are members of the Parks and Recreation Board, as well as Parks and Recreation Director Trace Stevens, Ward and other city staffers selected Brandstetter Carroll, a Lexington firm that handles architecture, engineering and landscape architecture and planning.
Ward said a big reason Brandstetter Carroll was approved was because the firm employs a project manager who has previously created 40 similar parks plans for other municipalities.
Brandstetter Carroll also designed the city’s Fire Station #1, which will be built on Second Street.
The city commission also approved Ward’s request to begin negotiations with Brandstetter Carroll, which would involve the scope of work and payment.
In another matter, the city commission gave preliminary approval to a request from City Manager Buzzy Newman to hire Madisonville firm Associated Engineers to handle permitting and surveying needed to bring a boat dock to the downtown riverfront.
The contract to handle the permitting is $25,800, and for surveying it is $6,900. The funding for these preliminary steps is already included in the budget because it can come from a line item reserved for projects in the Vision Plan, of which the city sets money aside yearly, Newman said.
Newman described the dock having a walkway out to a fixed floating barge that could either be moored at the riverfront year-round or be detached in the winter months. It would be placed on the river between Second and Third streets, he said.
Mayor Brad Staton said the city looked at bringing a boat dock to the city’s downtown riverfront before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the $4-$6 million price tag was too high.
Newman said the price for the current design is $1.5 million.
The contract with Associated Engineers will come up for approval at a later meeting.
In other news:
- The city awarded poll workers in Henderson County its monthly Community Spotlight award, which goes to groups or individuals that are doing positive things in Henderson. Henderson County Clerk Renesa Abner said election workers range from young to old and even included eight or nine Henderson County High School students this year. Carrie Smith, a county clerk employee who heads up the elections, said 93 people from the public plus 14 deputies from the county clerk’s office worked Nov. 5’s general election.
- Ward notified the commission that the city has won the Kentucky American Public Works Association Project of the Year for the new athletic complex. To qualify, a project must be complete or substantially complete, he said. The project won in the Parks division, Ward said.
- The Henderson Fire Department won a $25,000 Training Facility Grant Award that it will use to upgrade its training tower, said Fire Chief Josh Dixon.
- The city commission and some city staff went into executive session after Tuesday’s regular meeting with the aim of narrowing down the list of candidates for the city manager position, the mayor said.
Staton said the commission will hold one or two executive sessions in November in which the commission will interview finalists. He said he hopes an appointment will be made at the city commission’s Dec. 10 meeting.
Newman plans to retire at the end of February.