Commentary: A Decade of Divide

 

Commentary by Jeff Jobe,
Community Publisher / Barren County Progress, JPI

For many reasons, I did not want to write about politics this week.

Voicing an opinion on politics only divides a community and Glasgow has been absolutely destroyed by a “Decade of Divide” and needs no more.

However, after attending Monday evening’s forum hosted by an organization called Concerned Citizens of Barren County, I find myself energized and feel compelled to speak up.

Glasgow has people hurting and businesses struggling to stay open. Yet, we have a group of long-time serving council members who have evolved into a tax and spend machine.

Because of them, we are sitting on the biggest single-year income to expense deficit in all the 20 years I have covered local news and making our way to being among the most taxed poor cities in Kentucky.

Not long ago, I hired an accountant to estimate the tax dollar losses associated with losing two large employers, RR Donnelly and Sitel.

I did this because a newly elected City Councilman Patrick Gaunce was leading a push to spend $6.5M to build a water park at the exact same time. The city hadn’t even begun to feel the loss of the estimated $700K in annual tax revenue and Gaunce wanted to spend surplus money from the landfill fund to make this happen.

I wrote it then and I stand by it now, Glasgow was fortunate to have a strong, fiscally sound councilman in Wendell Honeycutt leading the finance committee and an independent thinking Jake Dickinson to stand against Gaunce to protect our city.

Our current city finance chairman Terry Bunnell is no Honeycutt, although back then he voted along the lines of Honeycutt and Dickinson.

Since then, Bunnell has changed and has endorsed a payroll tax increase, something Honeycutt wouldn’t have done and he now supports Gaunce’s big spending philosophy to a point that this fiscal year’s budget shows increased spending of more than $9M for a total budget of $38.3M. Balanced only by taking from surpluses coming from years past with additional in budgeted spending for land never planned of almost $7M.

Bunnell is also the council representative on the Barren County Economic Authority board where he supported spending $1M in tax dollars to fill sinkholes on 33 acres in Cave City. Land was given by Gaunce to establish an industrial park back during his tenure on the IDEA board and election cycle for his first term on Glasgow City Council.

To date, according to official records, this small section of land surrounded by land retained by Gaunce has more than $1M spent on it from BCEA and another $450K coming from Cave City and has yet to sell a single lot. Certainly of no value for Glasgow.

The only lot changing hands was a small section at the entrance of the industrial park given free to Bunnell to build a new bank location. He indicated having to purchase additional land and records show in total his bank owns 1.94 acres.

Cave City Public Properties gave at no cost .98 acres and the William T. Austin estate sold the remaining .96 acres.

To date, the only people benefiting from this costly project is Glasgow’s finance chairman and a councilman who own land neighboring another Cave City “tax dollar sinkhole”.

I asked Bunnell if he felt it might be a conflict to vote on spending tax dollars on property next to him and he said, “No because it isn’t actually inside the industrial park.” However, it is located at the entrance of the industrial park with a second entrance to his bank inside the road maintained at the entrance.

I also asked him if he would support giving some FREE land from the $6M property purchased recently in Glasgow to other entrepreneurs and he said, “No, we bought it to make money on.”

I didn’t ask Gaunce because he has a history of disregarding financial conflicts when voting.

Initially, few took Gaunce and his references of “Daddy” too seriously because it was crazy to think a small town should spend $6.5M on a water park and have a $50,000 a month payment during a time of losing $700K in tax revenue annually.

However, over the years, his attacks on former Mayors Rhonda Riherd Trautman and MD Armstrong have elevated him to a leadership position with a loyal group of “yes-men” in Chasity Lowery, Joe Trigg, and Happy Neal.

They have supported Gaunce in almost every vote and he can count on them to even change their vote to join him for meetings he missed as seen recently. Lowery initially voted against allowing the sale of medicinal marijuana in a meeting in which Gaunce couldn’t attend but changed to support it with Gaunce when he was able to make the next meeting.

They begrudgingly approved former Mayor Armstrong’s plea to help fund an independent consultant to evaluate our energy options prior to signing a 20-year contract with TVA. Gaunce was alone in his vote not to seek a consultant.

I was amazed but soon realized they had a backup in place and her name was Libby Short. Short sat on the Glasgow Electric Plant Board at that time, and she sided with Gaunce against former Mayor Armstrong and his fellow councilmen in not allowing Glasgow to have all our options explored.

Short did this to us all, and after I shared with her that I had spoken with a gentleman at East Kentucky Power who indicated his company had already placed money in their budget to expand their power lines for this possibility and they had no interest in changing any employee incentives including the 20-year retirements now being offered at the GEPB and she refused to even call the man.

Of course, a newspaper can cause division but this newspaper is doing all it can to help identify from where it comes.

We sincerely believe truth matters and it is our belief this council has lost their way in understanding that what is best for them is not always what is best for Glasgow.