By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Olive Hill City Council met in regular session on April 15, at their new venue inside the Olive Hill Police Station with an agenda aimed at expanding and improving the city. Council members Eric Rayburn, Shane Tackett, and Kirk Wilburn were present in person. Councilman Tony Williams was present via video conference. Council members Shannon Leadingham and Chris Bledsoe were absent. Olive Hill Mayor Jerry Callihan presided.
The council had the second reading of Ordinance 2025-03, annexation of Rt 2 BP into city limits. That ordinance was approved by a vote of 4 to 0. The annexation came at the request of GK Real Estate, LLC, the owners of record of the property. The property is contiguous to the city boundary and is urban in nature or suitable for urban development without reasonable delay, which makes it desirable for the city to annex and is beneficial to both parties.
The annexation is a matter of public record and documentation is available upon request from the City of Olive Hill.
In the open discussion portion of the meeting one council member proposed a Beautification Project to the council. That council member, Eric Rayburn, presented a Beautification PowerPoint to the council, and in that presentation broke down the project into phases of implementation.
The project would begin with the city purchasing a green space to convert into parking in the downtown Olive Hill area. Phase one of the plan would also provide assistance to downtown businesses to remove scrub greenery, weeds, clean the exterior of their buildings, and also assist with a fresh coat of paint.
“I have already spoken with several property owners,” Rayburn said. “They are very interested and want to be involved in the process.”
Rayburn said that one goal of the project is to make the properties in question a ‘blank canvas’. Then, once the cleaning and painting is finished, the next step would be to add sign boards with mural style paintings made by students from local schools.
“The sign boards will allow us to move the paintings if repairs need to be made to the structures,” he said. “We could even use these to cover damaged windows until they could be replaced, then relocate the paintings to a different location.”
The Beautification Project, combined with the efforts and community enrichment proposed by other community organizations such as Trail Town, should combine to give the city a more friendly and accessible appearance.
The Beautification Project, Rayburn said, could be funded through Olive Hill’s new Tourism Commission, and as such would be designed to make the city more attractive to visitors and tourists, and generate interest from new businesses to locate in the city.
In other business, the council requested that Trail Town speak to the council during their next regular meeting, when all council members could be present. Clerk Thomas was asked to speak with all council members and schedule a special meeting in the next two weeks to discuss this along with board vacancies for the city.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
