City council agrees to settle 9-year-old city-county garbage collection lawsuit

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, July 23, 2014, 3 p.m. — A nine-year-old lawsuit between the City of Bardstown and Nelson Fiscal Court over garbage collection in annexed areas is heading for an out-of-court settlement.
After an executive session at its meeting Tuesday night, the Bardstown City Council voted to approve a settlement offer from county government that would give the county the right to continue garbage collection in areas of the county that were annexed by the city in 2005.

When the areas of the county were annexed, the city announced it would take over garbage collection; the county was currently serving the areas with garbage collection and disputed the city’s assertion that annexing the areas terminated the county’s right to continue to serve its garbage collection customers.

While Mayor Bill Sheckles would not offer details of the agreement, the Gazette’s sources report in the settlement the county agrees to rebate to the city approximately $2 of the garbage fee it charges each customer in the annexed areas. In return, the city agrees to handle bulky item pickup, leaf and debris collection in those areas, just like it does elsewhere in the city limits.

Nelson Fiscal Court will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday morning to give its final approval to the agreement.

The lawsuit has languished in the court system for nearly nine years, but was due to go to trial soon, and as Sheckles said after the meeting, “Anytime you can stay out of the courtroom its to your advantage.”

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