Morgantown holds first City Council meeting of 2026; announces ladder truck for fire department

MORGANTOWN, Ky. – The City of Morgantown held its first City Council meeting of 2026 on Thursday, with a huge announcement for the Fire Department.

During the meeting, each board got to speak to the Mayor and Council on how 2025 went for them.

Among the successes of last year, the Morgantown Fire Department has had a few struggles in terms of fighting fires from above.

Currently, they do not have a ladder truck that can help with this problem. However, Mayor Billy Phelps surprised the department during the meeting with a huge announcement: they’d finally be getting one.

“We’ve not had one in the county before at all… and so now, we’re going to have one that will be usable in a lot of places, and it will really help secure the areas we have that are going to need them,” he says.

The Mayor also gave his State of the City address, where he said the steady progress, community pride and high turnout to city events means one thing: people believe in what is happening in Morgantown.

“One of the clearest signs of the belief is the incredible turnout we’ve been having at our city events. The gatherings are about more than just entertainment. They build community pride, support local business and showcase what makes Morgantown special,” Phelps says.

Events like the Holiday Hoopla, which brought in over 8,000 people to Morgantown, not only helps bring awareness to the community, but helps the economy out as well especially with the many small businesses in town.