High Grove resident questions county government’s process for renaming roads

Don Thrasher gestures while addressing Nelson Fiscal Court Tuesday morning about its process of naming county roads.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017 — The process of renaming roads in the county — and the role of Nelson Fiscal Court — was discussed during Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting when a High Grove resident questioned the name given to his portion of the former US31E, Louisville Road.

The address of Don Thrasher’s High Grove home used to be Louisville Road. But with the stroke of a pen — via an executive order signed by Judge Executive Dean Watts — his street address changed from Louisville Road to Salt River Road.

The owners of the 95 individual properties listed by the PVA on this Nelson County section of the former US31E were not asked for their input about a name for their road, he explained. And to Thrasher, that’s just not good government.

“We had no say, no vote,” he said Tuesday.

Thrasher said it isn’t just that he doesn’t like the name his road was given; he doesn’t like the process that Watts followed. And Tuesday, he questioned if Watts has the power to change a road name without the approval of Nelson Fiscal Court.

Watts explained that for the past few years, as part of the county’s move toward improved 911 dispatching, the county’s E-911 Dispatch Board has worked to identify roads and streets that need to be properly addressed in order for fire, police or EMS to find the location of an emergency situation.

Dozens of private roads were identified during the E-911 re-addressing process. All private roads had to have a name in order insure that 911 dispatchers could accurately dispatch emergency services to the proper location.

For residents of private roads, once the road was identified, the residents were contacted and given an opportunity to weigh in on possible names. A name was then chosen and forwarded to Nelson Fiscal Court. If the residents did not respond, a name was chosen for them.

But Thrasher’s road naming was different because it wasn’t a private road. The renaming was necessary when the new portion of Louisville Road opened between Cox’s Creek and the Salt River bridge. When the new road opened, the “old road” had to have a new a name.

For Thrasher, it boils down not having any input on something that directly affects him. County residents are represented by a magistrate, and as he sees it, the people’s representatives on fiscal court had no say, which he said did not seem like a very democratic process.

Watts was sympathetic, but remained firm in his belief that state law — KRS 179.330(3) — grants him as judge executive the power to rename a road.

“I’m open to debate on that, but not at this time because I want to do more research,” Watts said.

“I still think there should be some kind of input from the public and fiscal court,” Thrasher said.

Watts reminded Thrasher that there was nothing in the statutes that require fiscal court to approve his’ decision to rename a road.

“But if you can get me something in writing from somebody higher up, I will be glad to listen,” Watts added.

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