By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Grayson City Council announced at their meeting on July 8 that Taylor Duncan had been hired as the city building inspector, and his duties will also include assisting with code enforcement for the city. Duncan has worked for Carter County, the City of Olive Hill, and has also been employed by the City of Grayson various times over the course of his career.
The latter included being the city building inspector on an as needed basis. Duncan’s qualifications include a lifetime of experience in construction and being certified as a level one building inspector since 2003. The new building inspector will be keeping an office and regular hours at the city building and be available to the public during those hours.
Kentucky Christian University (KCU) President Terry Alcorn addressed the council during the public comment and guest portion of the meeting.
“I just wanted to address the council and express our gratitude from the university,” Alcorn told the council. “We want to thank the city and tourism for supporting all of the activities we have had this summer.”
Alcorn mentioned concerts such as the Ricky Skaggs concert, the military band concert, and the upcoming events for first responders on July 25, and with Josh Baldwin on August 1.
Alcorn also spoke about the previous press conference the university held to announce its 7-million-dollar capital campaign. During that conference, Alcorn told the council, the university announced that it was now debt free. Being debt free will allow the university to better focus on improvements which will benefit both current and future KCU students as well as KCU itself.
Deana Miller from the Grayson Tourism Commission presented the budget for both the tourism commission and the Grayson Sports Park for the upcoming year. The budget reflected a total income from the hotel tax that was estimated at $62,529, and other income from activities such as the Easter egg hunt, Hometown Holidays, and cabin rental fees bringing the estimated income to $80,000. There will be an estimated influx into the budget from the restaurant tax of approximately $110,000.
Grayson Mayor Troy Combs told the council that there was a large revenue carry over from different sources such as the occupational tax, the general fund, municipal road aid, and alcoholic beverage (ABC) funds. Combs said he would like the council to consider how best to utilize those funds, whether that be to pay off city debt or fund other city projects.
Combs told the council that one thing he encouraged them to consider was the purchase of property belonging to Paul Sluss. The property in question was formerly the Inflation Station and the Dyer’s Apartment Complex. Combs told the council he had made no offers on the property, but thought the property would be worth purchasing for the benefit of the city. The property has been surveyed by the current owner and has been separated into two parcels, one or both of which the city can offer to purchase.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
