Magistrate’s request to rotate bulky item pickup areas fails in Nelson Fiscal Court
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 — A move by Magistrate Gary Coulter to change the order that areas are picked up during the county’s bulky item pickup failed at Tuesday’s meeting of Nelson Fiscal Court.
Coulter said that part of his district are in the area that is historically collected first, which means residents must put their items out the last week of February, often in snowy or muddy conditions.
The weather makes it a hardship on many of his constituents, Coulter said, and ultimately, it wasn’t fair to those constituents to have to be first every year. That’s why he asked the court to consider approving rotating the areas of the county and when they would be picked up during the annual event.
County Engineer Brad Spalding said that in his experience, county residents have grown accustomed to the way bulky item has been done and the order the areas are picked up.
Coulter asked the court again to consider rotating the order the items are picked up during bulky item, and he made a motion for the county to adopt a rotating schedule. The motion was seconded but failed, with only Coulter voting for the motion, and Magistrates Keith Metcalfe, Bernard Ice and Jeff Lear voting against the motion. Magistrate Eric Shelburne abstained.
A second motion was made to keep the current pickup schedule, which was approved with Magistrates Metcalfe, Ice and Lear voting for, and Coulter voting against. Shelburne again abstained in the vote.
Bulky item pickup will begin Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, with the areas east of US31E (Louisville Road) north of Bardstown and east of KY 49, Loretto Road, in areas south of Bardstown.
The areas south of the Blue Grass Parkway and west of Loretto Road will be picked up starting the week of March 9, 2020. The northwest part of the county, north of the Blue Grass Parkway and west of US31E, will be picked up beginning the week of March 23, 2020.
WHITESIDES CULVERT QUESTION. After considerable discussion between the magistrates and county engineer, the court approved a contract with the state’s Transportation Cabinet to install a box culvert in a driveway on Whitesides Road.
According to Brad Spalding, county engineer, when the most recent section of US31E, Louisville Road, was rebuilt, a private driveway on Whitesides road with two culverts became prone to flooding, which also led to flooding on Whitesides, a county maintained road.
Spalding said the state was doing the right thing by taking responsibility for creating a problem their design actually created by proposing to replace the two culverts in the driveway with a larger box culvert that can handle heavier rainfall without flash flooding.
County or state money normally is never spent on a private driveway, but in this instance, the state decided to pay to correct the problem, Spalding said.
The state’s grant to fix the problem will pay up to $60,000 for the new box culvert. Judge Executive Dean Watts said he if the bids for the project come in higher than than, he would ask the state to come up with the difference, adding that no county money will be spent on the issue.
In other business, the court:
- approved a request by the property owner to start the process that will close approximately 370 feet at the end of Simpson Creek Road. According to County Engineer Brad Spalding, the property owner has had problems with unwanted criminal activity on his property.
- approved a bid from South Central Roofing to replace the 25-year-old roof on the original animal control building located at the rear of the Nelson County Fairgrounds.
-30-
