Magistrates vote 3-1 to OK telecom franchise for Kentucky Wired
Members of Nelson Fiscal Court talk prior to the start of Tuesday’s meeting.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday April 3, 2018 — Nelson Fiscal Court approved creating a telecommunications franchise Tuesday morning despite the Kentucky General Assembly’s failure to fund the Kentucky Wired initiative.
Kentucky Wired and its local partner, Bluegrass Networks, has been in discussion Nelson Fiscal Court since last fall in regard to its desire to build its section of Kentucky Wired’s infrastructure through Nelson County. But several members of fiscal court expressed reservations about the nature of the public-private partnership at the last fiscal court meeting.
Magistrates Sam Hutchins and Keith Metcalfe discuss an issue prior to the start of Tuesday’s meeting of Nelson Fiscal Court.
The ordinance the court approved Tuesday did not mention specifically Bluegrass Networks or the Kentucky Wired project.
The measure passed 3 votes to 1, with Magistrate Keith Metcalfe voting against the franchise agreement and Magistrate Jeff Lear recusing himself.
Metcalfe said he felt the nature of the public-private partnership gave Bluegrass Networks an unfair advantage over other network providers. Metcalfe questioned the financial benefit of the partnership to the state and the county.
“I just look at taxpayers money and their right-of-way and ask if this deal is fair,” he said Tuesday.
ROAD NAMES. Judge Executive Dean Watts signed several executive orders regarding the names of public and private roads.
The old section of Louisville Road — from 6688 to 8865 Louisville Road — was renamed Old Louisville Road.
The section of the old Louisville Road north of the connector road with the “new” US31E — from 6455 to 6645 Louisville Road — will be known as Old Louisville Court. The connector road between the “new” US31E and the Old Louisville Road will be called Old Louisville Road Connector.
Watts also signed executive orders related to the names of two private roadways.
A private road located off Higdon Loop in the New Haven postal area was named Davis Run Road. A private road located off Lutheran Church Road was named Welch Farm Drive.
ROAD ISSUES. County Road Engineer Brad Spalding told the court of three road issues that had popped up in recent weeks that the county will need to address sooner rather than later.
TREE TOP DRIVE. A pot hole that recently appeared on Tree Top Drive is due to the failure of a metal culvert under the roadway. The four-foot pipe rusted partly away, causing a portion of the roadway above it to collapse. A replacement section of pipe was inserted to support the area, but the entire 70-foot pipe will need to be dug up and replaced.
WOODLAWN ROAD SLIDE. A failing box culvert on Woodlawn near Thomas Lane has caused the roadway to slide. The culvert is 25-feet deep, which is beyond the reach of the county’s earth moving equipment.
LEONARD HALL ROAD. Spalding explained that Leonard Hall has suffered a series of slides, both above and below the roadway. The county road department has been repaired slides and road failures in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2016.
The state may be able to stabilize the roadway with a series of pilings driven into the ground once it is determined how far down the bedrock is.
At this stage, there’s no estimates on the costs for repairs.
CORONER’S PAY. The court voted to give the county coroner’s office a $2,000 per year pay raise for the next three years.
The coroner’s annual pay is currently $11,902.32, Judge Executive Dean Watts told the court. The increase is justified Watts explained because the number of cases the coroner’s office handles has doubled.
Watts said the pay increase brings the coroner’s office pay up closer to that of neighboring counties of similar size. The increase will take effect on the first day of the coroner’s next term.
In other business, the court:
— voted to give Watts the authority to advertise for bids for roof and brick work for the Old Courthouse building.
According to county engineer John Greenwell, the roof needs to be replaced and brick repaired. The county is awaiting approval for the project from the state’s Heritage Council.
— voted to declare the county’s old low-boy trailer as surplus property so it can be sold. The court also declared large yellow poplar hand-hewn timbers as surplus property.
The timbers were recovered from the recently demolished bridge over Higdon Loop. Magistrate Metcalfe said the contractor told him when the bridge was demolished, they discovered that the concrete supports for the bridge was resting on the yellow poplar timbers.
— approved the sale of property in the Nelson County Industrial Park to Takigawa Corp., a Japan-based flexible packaging company that invest $46 million in its first U.S. manufacturing operating in Bardstown. The company plans to create 180 full-time jobs.
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