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At the first meeting of the new year, the Nicholasville City Commission welcomed new Mayor Alex Carter, new Commissioner and former Mayor Pete Southerland, and new Commissioner Dexter Knight, along with Commissioners Bethany Brown and Patty Teater.

The big news for this city commission are the new committee and department assignments for this term.

New committee assignments include the following:

• Commissioner Teater will stay assigned to the electric and meter department.

• Commissioner Brown will remain assigned to public safety.

• Commissioner Knight chose the water and sewer departments.

• Commissioner Southerland chose streets, roads and cemetery.

Mayor Carter chose the Nicholasville administration and council members for each committee:

• Annexation committee: Mayor Carter, Commissioner Teater, the city’s Deputy Utilities and Finance Director, Bob Amato, the city’s Director of General Government, Doug Blackford, Chair of the committee and Planning Director, Tim Cross. The following committee members are non-voting: Fire Chief Darren Sammons, Police Chief Todd Justice and School Board Representative Jason U’Wren.

• Cable Television Committee: Commissioners Knight, Sutherland and City Clerk Kathy Walker.

• Finance Committee: Mayor Carter, Commissioner Brown, Amato, Blackford, and the city’s Finance Officer, Laurie Young.

• Health Insurance Committee: Mayor Carter, Amato, Blackford, and the city’s Human Resource Director, Kathy Rhineheimer.

• Parks and Recreation Board: Commissioners Teater and Brown.

• Utility Rate and Fees Committee: Commissioner Knight, Amato, and Young.

In other commission news:

• The Jessamine County Joint Economic Development Authorities have a clean audit. They have applied for one grant for just under $1.3 Million and another for $2 Million. The Authorities are not sure if they have received it yet, but the deadline for notification is next Friday.

• Nicholasville will have a summer concert series on the first Friday of every month at Performance Park starting May 5, 2023, and will end in December. In September because of Labor Day, the concert will be on September 8 instead. Some of the bands to perform are The Band Encore, The Moron Brothers, The Local Honeys, The Commonwealth Band, and a couple of kids’ shows. The council approved a $2,000 budget per show.

The next city commission will be Monday, Jan. 23, at 5 p.m. at the Nicholasville Police Department.