Jessica Dockrey, SurfKY News Reporter
HOPKINS COUNTY, KY (6/7/12) – The City of Madisonville has been preparing for their second year of participation in the nation-wide America In Bloom (AIB) competition.
SurfKY News has been keeping the community updated on what the Madisonville AIB committees have been discussing within their committees weekly. Today, June the 7th at 10 a.m., Madisonville Mayor David Jackson, the AIB steering committee, and committee chairs, gathered at City Hall to discuss what each committee has in the works, and to direct focus on what the city hopes to achieve this year overall.
The Madisonville AIB Steering Committee members include Mayor David Jackson, Mike Franklin, Shane Browning, Rick Welch, Andy Rideout, Sue Jones, and Leslie Curneal.
Curneal and Browning opened the meeting up to the committee chairs to hear from each of them individually. Each of the AIB committees and/or categories and a description, as well as their respective chairs, is as follows:
Overall Impression (Tricia Noel): Overall cleanliness, including a lack of litter and graffiti, as well as maintenance of public open spaces (medians, boulevard strips, streets, sidewalks, walking and biking trails, curbs, ditches, road shoulders, receptacles, etc.).
Floral Display (Jenny Gibson): Quality, color, arrangement, and maintenance of visible floral arrangements.
Urban Forestry (Chris Oeschlager): Distribution, variety, policies, preservation and maintenance of trees.
Landscaped Areas (Lisa Moberly): Overall design and maintenance of plants and “hardscape” elements such as public art, monuments, etcetera.
Heritage Preservation (Bob Adkins): Preservation and restoration of properties, as well as cultural heritage promotion.
Environmental Efforts (Robert Janes): Sustainability practices—the best practices for reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Tricia Noel, chair of the Overall Impression Committee and Hopkins County Tourism Commission Executive Director, started things off. Noel identified projects her committee had been working on. Among those were the monthly Madisonville Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce sponsored Golden Broom Award, the taking down of old Christmas lights downtown, and the Exit 42 facelift.
As previously reported, the city will be utilizing inmate labor to remove overgrown brush, and to mow alongside the Pennyrile Parkway near Exit 42. Noel projects that the project, which will be starting sometime next week, will take around two weeks to complete.
“We feel real good about that project,” stated Noel. “That exit is our front door to visitors.”
Jenny Gibson, chair of the Floral Display Committee, announced that her committee had successfully distributed 59 large flower pots to different businesses downtown to be displayed. The committee is already discussing what colors they want to promote for next years contest so that they will not run short on local flower supplies. This year the theme “Red, White, and Bloom”, caused purple petunias to become scarce, as local greenhouses weren’t prepared for the numbers of flowers that would be needed. The committee has plans to work next year with FFA at North Hopkins High School, using their new greenhouse, to help provide what will be needed for next year’s contest.
Gibson has proposed a project to do some low maintenance landscaping around the sculpture park on Center Street via the Lowe’s Hero’s Program, which has the potential to donate up to $1,500 towards the project if it qualifies. Gibson also reported on the Oak Street in Bloom neighborhood project she has been spearheading. The project received around 20% participation this year, and Gibson projects that next year participation levels will rise as the project expands. She plans to get a much earlier start on things that way more neighborhoods will be able to get involved, and perhaps the different neighborhoods might host cookouts on planting days to generate more interest and participation. Gibson also pitched her long-term project idea, which has received a lot of local support; to turn the “grass buffers” around town alongside the city roads into built-in flower beds for highly invasive flowers, such as evening primrose, to beautify the city.
“The hope would be if we could do some test pots, and it could work, that not only could we beautify our city throughout the season, but we could reduce the matenience burden on the city by not having to mow these areas and maintain them,” explains Gibson.
Christine Oeschlager, co-chair of the Urban Forestry Committee and a Forester with the Kentucky Division of Forestry, presented information as to what her committee has been working on over the last couple of weeks.
The Urban Forestry Committee has undertaken a mulching project around town, as many trees go improperly mulched. They have also been taking unnecessary stakes and tags off of local trees.
“It was a lot of hard work,” says Oeschlager, “I think the visual improvement was immediate.”
The Urban Forestry Committee has plans to educate the public and get as much information out into the community as possible. They will be handing out brochures tomorrow at Friday Night Live with information pertaining to general tree and plant care. The committee has plans to get certain areas in the community certified as National Wildlife Habitat Areas. The Madisonville City Park has already applied, and the Urban Forestry Committee is working with other various entities around the community to explore the same possibility. The committee still plans to hang tree watering bags on young trees around town.
Lisa Moberly, chair of the Landscaped Areas Committee, also expressed her committee’s wishes to dress up Exit 42. The committee has been entertaining different ideas as to what might be a good, large, visual piece, that expresses the heritage of Madisonville. Moberly also discussed her hopes that the city might vote on an official city tree and plant that citizens could use to honor and beautify the city.
“The one tree that keeps coming up is the redbud,” says Moberly. “There are many different varieties of redbuds people could plant. There is nothing prettier than a redbud in winter, the beautiful color of the bark. Of course, in spring time, they are simply gorgeous.”
Bob Adkins, chair of the Heritage Preservation Committee, pointed out ideas his committee has proposed. There are proper nameplates needed in the Ruby Laffoon Cabin located beside the Historical Society of Hopkins County. The entire Historical Society needs upgrades. They require proper labels within their filing systems, more professional displays, and updated brochures for their historical walking/driving tours. Adkins also suggested that the Ruby Laffoon marker be refurbished and moved to the actual location of the Ruby Laffoon cabin.
“One thing, and I’ve talked to Judge Executive Carroll about it, the Ruby Laffoon historical highway marker on the lawn there at the old courthouse doesn’t need to be there,” says Adkins. “I think it needs to be in front of the Ruby Laffoon cabin, out on the lawn. It makes more sense to me. So far, everyone I have talked to seems to agree with that.”
Robert Janes, co-chair of the Environmental Efforts Committee and Director of Sanitation for the City of Madisonville, pointed out the focus of his committee. The city will be participating in a voluntary single-stream curbside recycling program which will be kicking off on October the 1st. Sign-ups for the recycling program will take place in July. Janes will be handing out education brochures at Friday Night Live, and 4th Fest to spread some recycling knowledge around town and to inform the public about the new curbside recycling program. There are also plans to transform the inside and outside of the recycling center which is in great need of a makeover. The Environmental Efforts Committee also plans to have a community-wide vote regarding a new recycling mascot they would like to utilize to promote recycling education at local schools.
“The best way to get curbside recycling participation is by educating the kids,” says Janes.
Collectively, the group discussed all ideas brought to the table, and then reviewed the timeline of the itinerary for the AIB judges’ who will arrive July 11th. Each committee chair will make a presentation to the judges, and the judges will be given a full tour of Madisonville. Each committee chair will present to the judges the projects they have been working on, what has been done, what is currently taking place, and what the future plans are for that committee. Committee chairs will recognize any weaknesses the city has, and in turn, ask the judges about different ways they might go about fixing those trouble spots.
July 12th, there will be a closing reception held for the judges and everyone involved in the AIB project.
“I just want to thank everybody for all their hard work,” says Mayor Jackson. “I’m already seeing the tangible results. This goes beyond getting judged. This is a definite improvement to our whole community and I really appreciate all your dedication and hard work, and also your committees, please pass my appreciation onto them as well.”
If you would like to support the AIB project in some way, please contact either Leslie Curneal at (270) 824-2102 or Shane Browning at (270) 245-2250 for more information. Business sponsorships are welcome as well.
You can also keep up with the project as it progresses by checking out Madisonville’s official America in Bloom Facebook page by clicking here. You can also visit the City of Madisonville’s online site here.
To learn more about American in Bloom, including the program’s history and award categories, please visit their official website here.
To read previous articles regarding Madisonville’s participation in the AIB project click the titles below.
—Put Your Words to Work, Shape Madisonville’s Future Today
—What Does Your Front Door Say
—Color – Impacting Madisonville
—Tree Hugging Isn’t Just for Hippies
—New Recycling Program to Cost City $364K
—Fresh Focus Bringing Visual Beauty to Madisonville
—Heritage Preservation – Community Involvement Welcome
Jessica Dockrey
SurfKY News
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