City authorizes sale of properties for homes

Fulton’s City Commissioners and Mayor signed off on a Municipal Order during regular commission session Monday evening, which will authorize Fulton City Manager Mike Gunn’s sale of 11 city properties to Community Ventures for housing development.

Each of the lots carry a sale price of $1,000.

Gunn explained that in the absence of a survey, the Property Valuation Administrator is the source for placing a value on the lots within the city. He also explained to Mayor David Prater, Commissioners Elaine Forrester, Mickey Reilly, Jeff Vaughn and Darcy Linn that some of the lots will be required to be joined with other lots to be sold, as a number of lot sizes will not allow for the construction of a home because of their size.

Property at 409 Fourth St., with a lot size of 75x 128 411 Fourth St., 80 x 131, 410 Pearl, 60 x 191, 802 East Stateline, 85 x 117 and 1125, 120 x 140, will be sold for $1,000 each.

Property at 104 Valley St., 46 x 195 and 604 Vine, 57 x 133, need variance, Gunn said, while property at 403 Vine will be joined with 407 Vine, and 404 Vine will be joined with 405 Vine. Each of those properties measure 93 x 105, 53 x 95, 50 x 90 and 34 x 90, respectively, requiring the combining of the properties to build.

Gunn said Community Ventures plans to build a spec house on the Magnolia Drive property and then sell it. Gunn shared with the commission that Community Ventures now has now secured a fourth person who has qualified for financing home construction. Dees to the property, to be conveyed to Community Ventures, will include a 36 month fall back clause, establishing that should no residential structure be constructed on any of the properties within 36 months, the property would revert back to the city.

A separate property at 302 Cedar St. was approved for sale to Joyce Lee-weeks, with the commission authorizing Gunn to complete the sale, for Lee-Weeks to add on to the existing structure at 300 Cedar. The sale price was $1,000.

A Memorandum of Agreement approved by the officials authorized Mayor Prater to execute the MOA, with Marshall County Health Department for the Occupant Child Passenger Safety Car Seat Program, with a Car Seat Check Up event scheduled for July 13 in Fulton. (See related story, page 1.)

The Memorandum sets forth terms and conditions for which partnering organizations, including the City of Fulton and Fulton Police Department, may use car seats provided by Marshall County Health Department, through a grant from the Highway Safety Occupant Protection agency, Commonwealth of Kentucky, for use y the Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians.

The Commission reviewed and accepted the letter of resignation submitted by Fulton Police Officer Tony Grogan, effective July 10.

Gunn updated the Mayor and Commissioners on the city’s receipt, approximately three years ago, of a land and water conservation grant, for which the city applied in 2020 and received notification as to the awarding of the $200,000 grant in 2021. The grant, Gunn explained included a dollar for dollar match from the city, and the funds were to be used for the city’s expansion and upgrades to parks, starting with Pontotoc Park.

Gunn said the city had less than 24 months to complete the parks project, and in addition to his skepticism as to whether materials and labor would be available to complete the project, prices had increase to the extent that the city’s matching portion could be up to $316,000, if not more.

Gunn said the city has experienced funding shortages in a number of areas lately, and two and one half years ago ARPA money was available when the city and the Parks Board first approached the idea of improvements to the parks system.

He noted Fulton Tourism Commission had funded the initial conceptual plan for the parks upgrades.

Gunn recommended the city decline the grant funding and return it to the land and water conservation’s resources.

Mayor Prater commended the city’s and Fulton Tourism’s efforts for the Fourth of July celebration, with Executive Director of Fulton Tourism Kenney Etherton, present for the commission meeting, stating Tourism had paid for the first 300 spectators’ admission to the July 4 Fulton Railroaders’ home game preceding the fireworks show and that a record setting crowd of over 500 was present for the game at Lohaus Field.

During the portion of the night’s agenda designated for comments from citizens, Misty Wheeler, who resides on Eddings Street, updated the commission about her concerns regarding her neighbor’s fence.

Wheeler said following a determination by the city that the neighbor had been in violation as to the construction of portions of his fence, adjacent to Wheeler’s yard, it had appeared the neighbor was disassembling the portions in violation. However, she said, the neighbor had again begun to add on to the fence, in a manner that is not in compliance with the city’s requirements to construct a fence.

Wheeler said she had spoken with Code Enforcement Officer Nathan Lamb and Lamb had said the person who had been contracted to re-build the fence within code, Mr. Johnson, was at a crossroads, as he had told the tenant who resides there not to continue with any work on the fence, nor make any more modifications. Lamb said Johnson was hired as the contractor, but was ready to discontinue working on the project. Lamb also said he had not spoken with the tenant’s landlord, the property owner Sam Hancock, in months.

Mayor Prater asked Lamb to get in contact with the property owner about the issues.

Micah Seavers, with Seavers Beavers, his company which removes unwanted wildlife from properties such as raccoons, skunks or rats, addressed the commission about an ongoing issue in the area of Fulton’s Magnolia Drive, which involved a substantial number of raccoons now being fed by individuals.

Seavers said the problem started during the time a business was open, the Smokehouse, and raccoon were being fed from that location. Once the business closed, Seavers said he had seen first hand, damage done as the result of the large number of raccoons foraging for food in the adjacent neighborhood.

He referenced the property of Katie Beck, who had also previously appeared before the commission regarding the city’s possible actions to take to establishment restrictions on the feeding of wildlife.

Seavers said Beck had spent over $1600 to make repairs on damage incurred from the raccoons, which were being fed by her neighbor, and he had trapped approximately 23 raccoons from Beck’s property alone.

He suggested the city consider some type of ordinance against the wildlife feeding, and that to his understanding the cities of Mayfield and Paducah were in the process of researching and developing such an ordinance as those cities also had experienced the same problems.

Seavers said the food provided could be intended for cats, however other wildlife, such as the raccoons, skunks, possums, and now rats, could be drawn to the area with the ongoing feeding. Seavers said he had communication with the neighbor who provides ongoing food supplies for the raccoons, and she was not receptive to discontinuing the provision of food for them.

Seavers said the animals could become aggressive, cause extensive damage and also become a safety hazard for domesticated animals, pets and small children.

Mayor Prater said, which he still believes Beck’s issues with her neighbor providing food for the raccoons could be a civil matter, the City of Fulton could reach out to other neighboring cities regarding their plan of approaching the problem. He also said the Kentucky League of Cities could be consulted for input.

Lori Attebury, who lives in the area where Beck lives, along with her husband Bruce, said she has seen the neighbor which feeds the raccoons allow up to 10 of the animals, two adults and eight young raccoons, use the neighbor’s pet door, to come into and out of her home at different times of the day.