Stanford PD was active in September

Published 11:28 am Thursday, October 19, 2023

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Abigail Roberts

Correspondent

STANFORD – Stanford Police made 29 arrests in September, bringing the total since the beginning of the year to 203 arrests.

Email newsletter signup

According to the monthly report provided to the Stanford City Council, SPD had a total of 711 contacts through 911 between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30.

Officers wrote 186 citations and gave 42 warnings, according to the report.

SPD responded to a total of 29 accidents in Sept., and 25 incidents/cases were reported.

Officers completed two hours of departmental roll call training.

SPD Chief Zach Middleton updated council members on the recent hire of two more School Resource Officers including Eric Taylor and Jeff Peek. Taylor previously worked for SPD for three years and Peek is a certified officer who retired from Danville PD as Chief in 2007.

Middleton also expressed his appreciation of SPD officers and surrounding agencies’ quick response to the threat called into the high school a couple of weeks ago.

“I want to express how proud I am for the department’s response to this situation,” Middleton wrote in a monthly letter. “We prepare for these events and the officers did an excellent job in their response. The event went as smoothly as possible for what all needed to be executed. Our local law enforcement partners (Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Kentucky State Police, Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, local FBI officer and UK PD) and emergency services partners (Emergency Management, EMS, Fire, dispatch, jail staff) were a huge asset during this event and we are grateful for their assistance.”

Middleton said the threat remains under investigation and there were no new details to release at this time.

The Stanford Fire Department (SFD) also provided a monthly report to council members.

From Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, SFD responded to a total of 64 incidents, including:

• Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire – 1

• Excessive heat, scorch burns with no ignition – 1

• Medical assist, assist EMS crew – 5

• EMS call, excluding vehicle accident with injury – 22

• Motor vehicle accident with injuries – 3

• Motor vehicle accident with no juries – 1

• Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) – 3

• Vehicle accident, general clean up – 1

• Public service assistance, other – 1

• Assist police or other governmental agency – 1

• Public service – 2

• Assist invalid – 2

• Cover assignment, standby, move up – 1

• Dispatched & cancelled en route – 3

• Authorized controlled burning – 6

• Smoke scare, odor of smoke – 2

• Bomb scare – no bomb – 1

• Alarm system sounded due to malfunction – 1

• Alarm system activation, no fire – unintentional – 3

• Special type of incident,other – 4

Stanford Code Enforcement reported that 21 business licenses were issued or renewed in August.

Code Enforcement issued two porch/deck permits, two certificates of occupancy and one commercial building change of use.

Code Enforcement also reviewed two plats and verified one application for an alcoholic beverage license.

Stanford Waterworks General Manager Ryan Owens also provided council members with a monthly report.

Owens said as of Oct. 10, Rice Lake was down 7.5 feet and Harris Lake was down 11.5 feet.

According to Owens, work has begun on Phase 1a of the Sewer Rehabilitation project and several streets have been completed.

Stanford Waterworks is currently working on securing funding for Phase 1b of the Sewer Rehabilitation project.

“This project will be upsizing some of our major trunk lines, which means it will be dig and replace,” Owens stated.

The Stanford Planning and Zoning Commission also provided minutes of the group’s July 27 meeting.

During that meeting commissioners discussed zoning of property off of Danville Avenue and the west end of Lee Drive. Within the B3 zone, which extends along Danville Avenue and borders Hwy. 150 on the south, there are four residential dwellings.

Commissioners asked if this was an oversight in mapping in years past and if the dwellings should have been incorporated in the R1 Zone.

Board Attorney Joseph Vanhook explained a zoning change was not needed but if a resident of those dwellings needed a zone change for the purpose of obtaining a residential home loan, they could apply for a Letter of Opinion from the mayor.

Commissioners also discussed the possibility of the old Food Lion building being acquired as a drug store by Ephraim McDowell Health. If obtained, the drug store would require a drive-thru which is currently not specifically addressed in the zoning ordinance .

“After discussion, it was found that the current veriage in the zoning ordinance would apply to a drive-thru in a B2 zone, the same way a bank drive-thru would apply,” the minutes state.

No complaints were reported in the July 27 minutes.