W’burg City Council opposes bills to make city races partisan

The Williamsburg City Council is in unanimous agreement when it comes to a pair of bills currently before the Kentucky General Assembly, which would make local elections for the offices of mayor, city council and soil and water conservation offices partisan races.

They see absolutely no need for it.

“It’s not broken. Don’t fix it. I don’t see any benefit to it,” Councilwoman Mary Ann Stanfill said about the proposed legislation during city council recent monthly meeting.

The city council approved a resolution urging legislators to vote against the passage of Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 50.

The resolution notes that out of the 415 cities in Kentucky, only six of them have partisan elections for their local cities.

“As a Home Rule city, this City Council feels that this issue should remain a local decision, and should not be mandated upon cities,” the resolution reads in part.

Mayor Roddy Harrison noted that the Kentucky League of Cities executive board also recently unanimously voted to oppose this legislation.

“I don’t know your party affiliation and don’t want to know your party affiliation,” he told council members.

In other business, the council:

• Appointed Mike Abbott to the Williamsburg Planning and Zoning Commission. Harrison noted that there are openings on other boards and commissions that he is currently trying to fill.

• Discussed traffic concerns on Penny Lane due to the opening of The Mint gaming center there. The state has proposed possibly building a new road to accommodate the increased traffic.

Harrison noted that he has asked the state to hold off doing anything until the waterpark opens this summer so officials can get a better idea of what peak traffic flow will look like in the area.

• Met in executive session for about 30 minutes to discuss pending litigation, but took no formal action.

• Discussed the school crossing lights on Main Street not working properly. Harrison said he would ask the state to fix them.