By Lee Bratcher/OC Monitor
HARTFORD, Ky. — The Ohio County Fiscal Court met Oct. 10 for the first of its two regular meetings of the month. During the meeting, the fiscal court approved a resolution it had previously approved after a mistake was discovered, two personnel items were approved, a meeting to discuss the Chiggerville Ln. waterline project was scheduled and a waterline project was moved to the top of the county’s waterline priority list.
Third District Magistrate Bo Bennett was not present for the meeting.
— The fiscal court received the Ohio County Health District’s 2023 tax rates. The health district’s 2023 tax rate for both real and personal property will be 4.5% The motor vehicle/watercraft tax rate will also be 4.5%.
The 2023 tax rates were the same as the 2022 tax rates.
The fiscal court had to acknowledge it received the tax rates from the health district. If the health district had taken a tax rate higher than the compensating rate, then the fiscal court would need to approve the tax rate.
Fourth District Magistrate Kenneth Calloway made a motion to acknowledge the fiscal court received the 2023 property tax rates from the Ohio County Health District. Second District Magistrate Jason Bullock seconded the motion. The motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
— Christina Carpenter, OCEDA Assistant Director, was at the meeting to seek the court’s approval of a resolution.
Apparently, the resolution was approved at a previous meeting, but it was later discovered there was a mistake. Carpenter corrected the mistake and asked the fiscal court to again approve the resolution.
Resolution 2023-24 was approved at the March 28 fiscal court meeting. The resolution was to allow the county to act as the fiscal agent for the Green River Regional Industrial Development, Inc.
The mistake in the resolution was that OCEDA, not the fiscal court, was named as the fiscal agent. Because OCEDA is a department of the fiscal court, the grant could not be approved.
Carpenter was not made aware of this until the end of the grant process. The mistake was corrected in the new resolution up for approval. That was the only change made in the resolution.
Bullock made a motion to approve Resolution 2023-24 making the Ohio County Fiscal Court the fiscal agent for GRIDDA. Calloway seconded the motion. After a roll call vote, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
The grant will be used for a road extension in the Bluegrass Crossings Business Centre. GRIDDA was asking for around $250,000-$300,000 in grant money for the project. The grant is a matching grant, but GRIDDA will pay the match. The county will not have to pay any money.
The road extension will give the county the ability to market the most visible part of the industrial park.
Before Carpenter took her seat, First District Magistrate Michael McKenney thanked her for her and OCEDA’s work on the Mainly Local publication.
— Ohio County Judge-Executive David Johnston had two personnel items to bring before the court.
Johnston made a motion to hire Julie Boyken as a part-time substitute Meals on Wheels driver at the Ohio County Senior Center at a pay rate of $13.53 per hour. After a roll call vote, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
Boyken will only work as needed. Meal drivers work anywhere from seven to 18 hours per week.
Next, Johnston made a motion to hire former Ohio County Jailer Gerry “Rip” Wright as an administrator in the Judge-Executive’s Office as at a pay rate of $19.04 per hour beginning Oct. 15. After a roll call vote, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
Johnston said Wright may not start Oct. 15, but he wanted to set that as the start date. Currently, Kenny Autry is employed in this position but has informed Johnston he will be leaving in October.
Wright will be a part-time 100 employee, meaning he can’t work more than 100 hours a month.
— Next, Johnston had two board appointments for the court’s approval.
Johnston made a motion to appoint Chris Creech to the Ohio County Extension Council. After a roll call vote, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
Johnston then made a motion to appoint Patsy Eddins to the Ohio County Extension Council. After a roll call vote, the motion passed by a 5-0 vote.
— During the time for committee reports, Johnston announced that at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, the fiscal court will hold a Water Committee meeting. Since the Water Committee consists of the fiscal court members, this will be an open meeting.
The court will invite the Ohio County Water Board and Eric Hickman, the general manager of the Ohio County Water District to the meeting.
“We want to talk about water issues, (and) basically talk about this Chiggerville Ln. waterline (which) is the main reason (for the meeting),” Johnston said.
The Chiggerville Ln. waterline project had been a regular topic at fiscal court meetings over the last year, however, there has been little to no mention of the project for the last several months.
The county received $850,000 from the state for the project, but there are concerns, including the prospect of having to regularly flush the line if installed. The regular flushing could cost the OCWD thousands of dollars per year.
There was also talk of potentially looping the waterline into the county’s system in hopes there would be no need for regular flushing of the line. However, that would cost more than the $850,000 the county received and that solution may not negate the regular flushing of the line.
— McKenney and Johnston had a meeting with Carla Sandusky, of Charter Communications, to discuss the upgrade and extension of high-speed broadband internet in Ohio County. McKenney hoped to get all of the potential broadband internet providers together for a meeting and begin mapping out a plan to extend broadband internet access.
— Dave Jolley, owner of Green River Waste, was at the meeting. He was there to offer his company’s services to the county if needed. Johnston told Jolley the county advertised for bids on dumpsters in June.
— Bullock reminded the magistrates to speak to County Treasurer Anne Melton about donating to the first responders’ dinner to be held in February 2024. More information on the meal will be provided at a later date.
— Bullock mentioned that the county didn’t take out the loan it approved at the Sept. 26 meeting. The county used the $300,000 it had in TVA money and money from its Reserves Fund to match the $300,000 grant from the Green River Area Development District.
The loan was to be applied for if the county couldn’t come up with the money another way. Since it did, the loan was not applied for.
— Also at the Sept. 26 meeting, the fiscal court advertised for bids on a new van with a wheelchair lift for the Ohio County Senior Center. The county has two older model vans in need of repair that were going to be given to the senior center after the vans were fixed. McKenney and others thought it might be a good idea to see what a new van would cost before sinking thousands of dollars into the older vans.
At the Oct. 10 meeting, Johnston informed the court the county received no bids on the new van.
— At the Sept. 12 meeting, Calloway asked the fiscal court to place a waterline project on Herbert Road on the county’s rural waterline priority list. The waterline will be around 220 ft. long and the county was waiting for a price quote from East Daviess County Water District, which will install the waterline.
At the Oct. 10 meeting, Calloway informed the court the project would cost between $22,000-$23,000.
Calloway then made a motion to move the project to the top of the rural waterline priority list. Bullock seconded the motion. The motion passed by a 5-0 vote.