Resident Cathy Alexander requested that she be added to the Jan. 20 Bourbon Board of Aldermen agenda to discuss local safety issues and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws.

According to Alexander, the Bourbon Café and Coffee Saloon has some violations, starting with a large sign outside that has some legs that stick out.

“She’s got a sign that I tripped over,” Alexander said. “Okay, if I trip over it one more time, I’m probably gonna get a hold of my lawyer. There’s other people tripping over that sign.”

She said that the legs are less than the mandatory five feet away from the sidewalk.

Mayor Dave Lafferty said that he has talked to her about the sign.

“She said, ‘I’m gonna put it on a pole behind the fence, but that never happened,” Lafferty said.

Alexander said that she had a brother who was wheelchair bound for eight years, and that there is supposed to be five feet of clearance for them to get through. She also doesn’t believe the ramp to get into the building is ADA-compliant.

“There’s supposed to be a five-by-five landing at the top of the ramp; there’s a four-by-four landing....I believe the ramp is too steep....It’s supposed to be one inch to every 12 feet,” Alexander said.

Alexander then brought up that the town needs to look at their parking spaces.

“The law says every 25 parking spaces, there is to be an accessible space — must be van accessible,” Alexander said.

Discussion was turned over to Chief Scott Zwetow, with the Bourbon Police Department, to give the monthly service report.

“Last month we had 14 false alarms, six dealings, five domestics, four check the well-being, two deaths,” Zwetow said.

Then the board viewed a list of possible patrol cars because the 2017 Ford Explorer they currently have is starting to incur maintenance costs.

“It’s got a new battery...and you still got to jump it,” Zwetow said.

At first, Zwetow wanted to go with the cheapest car, but Alderman Ward 1 Margie Brine wanted quality over price. After discussion between Zwetow and all the aldermen, the board approved getting a 2023 Ford Explorer with a 4-0 vote because it had low mileage and everything in the current Ford Explorer would be transferable into the new one.

Mark McEuen, Public Works director, gave his report.

The water tower was inspected on Jan. 17, but the board hasn’t received a report to date. They assume that’s a good sign. 

On another note, McEuen believes that the town’s cable people plowed through a sewer line.

“Over on Park Wood. Every time I turn around, it’s clogged up,” McEuen said.

Bob Rohrer, Bourbon Park Board member, gave his report next.

“I presented sheets about the pickleball signage, and we voted on it for $55 a piece,” Rohrer said.

He plans to get three of them, one for the gate and one for each end of the pickleball court. The money will come from their fundraiser.

New picnic tables have arrived, and he plans have concrete slabs poured for the new picnic tables this spring since it’s too cold to do it now.

Afterwards, Alexander asked if there were any waste cleanup ordinances for pets. She was told there aren’t any at the moment, and Brine said she didn’t really want to make an ordinance for it either. No action was taken.

“That’s what I’m saying, who’s going to be doing that? We just got past the whole thing where we’re tagging dogs. Are we really ready to attack dog poop as one of our priorities?” Brine said.