It was inevitable.

After a unanimous vote to name the Leitchfield Bypass the William H. Thomason Bypass, a male voice on the City Council said it would be called Turkey Trot, a reference to the mayor's nickname.

Although members of the press did not see lips move, the consensus was that Councilman Leon Shaw uttered the unofficial name.

The motion to name the bypass for the mayor came from Councilman Kelly Stevenson, who pointed to improvements in parks, sidewalks and streets during the mayor's tenure. The mayor was obviously moved.

“I'm not the only one who worked on getting the bypass,” he said, and credited former Mayor Sherrill Watson and then-State Senator Virgil Moore as people who “worked hard on the project.”

He said the naming “is a great honor for me and for my family, and I truly appreciate it.”

In other business at Monday night's meeting, the council recessed and went to the site of the planned new fire station on 259 North near the Fairgrounds to dedicate the station site.

Named for long-time Fire Chief Ronald Hudson, who was present for the dedication, the station will serve the city north of the railroad tracks, long a worry of firefighters concerned about trains delaying fire runs from the firehouse south of the tracks.

The council also heard the second reading on a zone change for 2.5 acres west of White Drive, a change from ag land to “public institutional” as access to a planned women's drug recovery center planned for the area.

The vote was four for the change and two against it -- Councilmen Leon Shaw and Billy Dallas. They did not explain their no votes.

As it does every meeting, the council approved the previous bi-weekly bills, but noted the jump to $13,000 in the fuel bills so far this fiscal year, the result of rising gasoline and diesel prices.

Thomason, a member of the city's Utilities Commission, said that board would discuss the coming winter's natural gas prices tonight (Oct. 20) at its regular meeting, but said the current price of $6.22 per 1,000 cubic feet may double this winter.

The council discussed future possibilities, such as building storage tanks so that the city's supply could be bought when prices were low and stored in liquid form until needed.

The Utilities Commission is expected to discuss the gas purchases with consultant Jim Allen at Thursday's meeting, but must decide how it will buy natural gas and for how much by Oct. 31.

In other action, the council: