Nelson Fiscal Court discusses garbage rates with an eye for future solid waste needs

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday Oct. 15, 2019 — The county’s garbage collection rates were on the agenda for Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting, with a look at the capital needs for county government’s solid waste department.

Judge Executive Dean Watts told the court that the county’s garbage rates have been the same — $14.50 — since 2013. The fee currently generates sufficient revenue, but with the anticipated capital expenditures in the coming years, Watts told the court that the fee probably needs to be increased.

Nelson County has the second lowest monthly residential garbage of the surrounding counties.

Breckinridge County’s rate was the highest at $21.54 monthly. Hardin County’s rate is $18.78; Washington County’s monthly rate is $16.30, and Spencer County’s rate is $17.92.

Four of the county’s eight garbage trucks are more than 10 years old, and the county will need to look at purchasing one or more replacement trucks in the next few years. A new garbage truck costs approximately $175,000. An adjustment in the garbage rate would allow the county to fund the purchase of one or more trucks in the coming years without borrowing money, Watts explained.

The magistrates discussed the need for future revenue, but took no action.

SHERIFF’S EVIDENCE ROOM AUDIT. Fiscal court approved a request from Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa to pay the cost of consultants to conduct an audit of the evidence room at the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.

The county will pay the $7,000 fee for the audit. Pineiroa requested the audit to make sure the property or evidence logged into the evidence room is actually there.

An evidence room audit was completed earlier this year after Pineiroa took office as the new sheriff.

LANDFILL SEWER LINE. The magistrates approved a schedule of fees for the engineering services of Louisville engineering company HDR the county will use to evaluate and oversee planning for a new sewer forced main line that will be used to pump the landfill leachate to the city’s sewer treatment plant.

According to John Greenwell, the county’s solid waste coordinator, the new line will either be a 6 inch or 8 inch line. The line will replace an existing sewer line. Before that line was built in the 1990s, the county had to truck the leachate from the landfill to the sewer plant.

The line is intended to serve the landfill as it begins its future expansion.

WAR MEMORIAL. The magistrates unanimously approved the expenditure of $5,500 to pay the costs of a new World War I / Korean War memorial.

The memorial recognizes “Nelson Countians Who Served And Gave All” in both wars.

These names of those who died in World War I include: Russell Cahoe; Chester Stewart; Charles Boblitt; Joseph L. Nally; James A. Clayton; William T. Rapier; George B. Allen.

The names of those who died in the Korean War include: Raymond Cecil; Lewis P. Howard; Kenneth A. McAllister; Charles L. Newton; Clarence H. Tingle; John Richard Newton; and Jesse Liesure.

CLERK FEE INCREASES. Nelson County Clerk Jeanette Sidebottom told the court that effective Jan. 1, the fees her office will collect to record deeds, mortgages, and other documents will see significant increases.

For example, the fee to record a deed will increase from $17 to $50. The last time the state issued an across-the-board fee hike was 2007.

The fee increases are mandated by legislation approved by the Kentucky General Assembly earlier this year.

In other business, the county:

• approved a $10,000 donation to Bethany Haven to assist its program to provide transitional housing to homeless women and families. The county pays the annual rent for the main Bethany Haven building. Watts said the donation approved Tuesday would not be an annual contribution unless the magistrates wished to make it one.

• approved a request by Useful Things, a High Grove business, to place a remote sign for the business on private property visible from the new portion of US31E.

• approved the expenditure of approximately $10,000 to fix county-owned truck.

• announced that the county’s Feeding America program will take place in November at its usual date — Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019 — but that the Feeding American program will move its food distribution to Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, the week before Christmas.

• approved a complete list of surplus property the county will sell at auction. The list includes several pickup trucks, an ex-police Ford Crown Victoria; two former ambulances; two gradall excavators; 167 chairs formerly used in the Nelson County Civic Center; and the stove and dishwasher that was used in the Nelson County Jail.

NEXT UP. Nelson Fiscal Court will next meet at 9 a.m on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019.

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