Danville to help finance Veterans Memorial restoration; passes food truck ordinance

Published 1:07 am Saturday, April 29, 2023

BY FIONA MORGAN AND LANCE GAITHER

The Danville City Commission approved allocating $1,000 for the restoration and beautification of the Veterans Memorial at the Millennium Park Fairgrounds at their meeting on Monday.

Jack Hendricks, who is in charge of the Veterans Memorial, said they have two projects that need to happen. One involves rock under the flagpoles that was put in about 15 years ago. Hendricks said over time it’s gotten dirty and weeds keep growing around it.

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“I’ve had numbers of volunteers come out and help remove weeds, and it’s just gotten to the point where I can’t keep up with it anymore,” Hendricks said.

He said the best thing they can do is put concrete under the rock. It will be a stamped concrete that looks like inlaid rock, and will be a medium gray color with a shine to it.

The other project involves repainting a tank that’s been at the site for about 18 years. Hendricks said he and others have hand-painted the tank three times over the years, but now it needs a professional paint job.

Hendricks said he doesn’t ask for much funding from the local governments, as they receive many donations. He said since they started in 2002, they have received $54,686 in donations from local people and businesses.

But with a high project cost of at least $9,000, Hendricks is asking for $1,000 each from Danville and Boyle County. He said they have already raised the rest of the amount.

Food trucks

The commission passed Ordinance 2010, which amends the food truck ordinance to change regulations on food trucks. This is the second time in recent months that the city is amending the food truck ordinance.

Several months ago, Danville passed changes to the ordinance with stricter and more regulations on food trucks. After it passed, many local food truck owners came to the city with complaints about the changes.

They said the changes made it more expensive and difficult to operate in the city; for example, one vendor at a previous meeting said the changes added over $1,000 to their annual operating cost, which was to buy more liability insurance required by the ordinance.

The city held a meeting with food truck vendors about the ordinance and what changes could be made. City Manager Earl Coffey said from the meeting, they made a list of changes that could be made, and put it into writing in Ordinance 2010.

Coffey said they removed requirements of liability for automobiles pulling food trucks, since vendors said that insurance may not be necessary. They also eliminated language about push cart vendors, and clarified language about where trucks can be located to operate.

In other business, the commission:

• Passed the second reading of Ordinance 2009 to rezone roughly 12.5 acres at 2170 Shaker Town Road from agricultural to institutional campus development. This was done to facilitate the growth of Danville Christian Academy.

• Approved the buyback of five burial plots in Bellevue Cemetery for a total of $4,950.

• Discussed adding a possible memorial for Boyle County citizens who died from Covid-19 at one of the city’s parks.

The commission has approved the following resolutions:

• A change order of $510,231 to ensure all traffic signals along Main Street match those replaced during the Streetscape project. City Engineer Josh Morgan explained that signals have needed to be replaced for some time and it was decided to be done alongside the other improvements for downtown. This is expected to be the last major change order for the Downtown Streetscape project.

• Morgan said they had to change the estimated substantial completion date from June 1 to July 1. The goal was to have the project completed before the Brass Band Festival. However, Morgan said they expect Main Street sidewalks to still be done by June 1, but crews will likely still be working on South Third and North Fourth streets during June. Major repaving of Main Street will likely happen in late June over a few nights.

• A quote of $121,471 from Little Tikes Commercial for new playgrounds at Jackson Park and Cowan Street Park. The city previously received a grant for these projects.

• Procurement of 11 heat pumps in total of $68,091 to heat classrooms at Jennie Rogers.

• A bid of $54,714 to Kidd Glass Inc. for the elevator enclosure at the parking garage.

• A bid of $77,000 to Aesthetic Industrial Contracting for the demolition of the old Central Fire Station.

• Nighthawk Security LLC will now be providing nighttime security at the parking garage on a yearly contract, rather than a three-month contract.

• A contract with WatchGuard Technologies for eight new body cameras for Danville Police Department’s newest carts. The cost will be $11,700 over five years.