Crescent Springs City Council tabled a resolution to rename a bridge on Buttermilk Pike, also known as Kentucky 371, at Monday’s meeting. The renaming was intended to be a surprise for the family of the late co-owner of Crescent Springs Hardware.
But the surprise ended up a bit muddled after council realized the process was not as simple as they originally understood it to be.
Mike Daly, the city administrator for Crescent Springs, said the city received a letter from Michael Scott “Bubba” Wilson’s wife, Robin L. Johnson, requesting that the bridge be renamed after her late husband.
Wilson died in October 2022 at age 52. He was a lead mechanic in addition to co-owning the hardware store, a family-run business that will turn 51 in July.
“Bubba Wilson was a great man,” said Crescent Springs Mayor Mike Daugherty. “His business was one of the founding members of the city.”
This gesture, which the city intended to be an honor, came as a surprise to Rose Wilson, Bubba Wilson’s mother, who attended the meeting but left just before the vote to table the decision until next month.
“I’m going to leave on this,” Rose Wilson said as she stood up to leave. “Robin did not tell anyone she was doing this, so I think my other children will be dumbfounded when they find out about this in the morning. I think it’s an honor, but I don’t know why she didn’t (tell us).”
Daly said Johnson asked for this to be done in secret as a pleasant surprise to the family.
“She wanted this to be a complete surprise to the family, however, the more we investigated this idea and the steps the city and county had to take, we realized it wasn’t something as easy as just (asking),” Daly said.
Daly said the council needed to make this request public at the city council meeting as well as get permission from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, with the mayor’s reading of the resolution.
“We wanted to keep it a secret, but unfortunately, with all of the steps we are taking tonight, that proved really difficult,” Daly said.
Rose Wilson said she didn’t want to have a voice in the decision, but councilmember Carol McGowan offered to table the decision until next month’s meeting to allow her and her family to choose if they wanted to proceed.
Rose repeated that the idea was an honor, but that the surprise left her unsure how to react.
Councilmember Brian Barclay said he knows how it feels to have a memorial set up in a family member’s honor.
“I very much understand and appreciate what you’ve just said. Memorializing someone is a huge honor, but it’s also daunting,” he said. “I respect your answer very much.”
The commonwealth has to approve all street signs, Daly said before voting to table the decision. Crescent Springs would be asking the state to rename the bridge.
“We’d really be putting our weight behind it more than anything,” said councilmember Brian Barclay.
The vote to table the decision until July was unanimous.
