Nelson Fiscal Court approves paving projects contingent on state road tax funds
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 — In what was a first in the recent history of Nelson Fiscal Court, Judge Executive Dean Watts and the magistrates opened their Zoom videoteleconference meeting and immediately went into an executive session to discuss litigation.
The members of Fiscal Court emerged from the closed session about 20 minutes later but announced no action regarding the litigation.
PAVING REQUESTS. The magistrates submitted their paving requests to fiscal court on Tuesday — with the exception of District 5 Magistrate Eric Shelburne.
Shelburne said he was still in discussions with County Engineer Brad Spalding about his paving requests, though Shelburne asked the court to consider removing the county engineer from the evaluation of county road conditions.
In May, the court voted 3-2 to change how paving money was distributed among the five magisterial districts. In prior years, the paving money was divided equally among the five magistrates. The magistrates and the county engineer then worked together to develop a list of paving projects for each district.
But the change in May allocates paving money by the square footage of paved roads in each district. The result was the districts with fewer roads receive less money than other districts.
Shelburne said some of the magistrates were unhappy with the way the new system worked out. He suggested that the court hire an independent third-party to review the county roads and develop a list of roads in greatest need of repair. This would relieve the county engineer of being caught in the middle of the process and insure fairness, Shelburne said.
Several magistrates said that it was a good idea, but perhaps one to look at for next year due to the need to approve paving projects now rather than later. Judge Executive Dean Watts warned the court of the possible cost of having someone review the roads. Shelburne said it wouldn’t hurt to at least get a cost estimate.
The court took no action on Sheburne’s request but it did approve the paving requests for Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Spalding noted that due to the reduced amount of paving money provided by the state, the county is basically paving as much as it can afford to. Watts said if the state’s gas tax revenue projections change, some changes will be need to be made — to cut money somewhere else in the budget, or to cut some of the paving projects they approve.
DISTRICT 1. In Magistrate Keith Metcalfe’s district, the court approved the following paving projects (provided the state gas tax revenue estimates are accurate):
- 500 feet of Jim Clark Road – $4,812
- 5,400 feet of Fogle Road, from Hwy 49 to Holy Cross Road, $48,247
- 6,800 feet of Icetown Road, $55,089
DISTRICT 2. In Magistrate Gary Coulter’s district, his paving allocation focuses on two projects:
- — 10,850 feet of Wire Lane, $80480
- — 2,112 feet of Maywood Avenue, from the stone entrance to Remington Drive, $33,899.
DISTRICT 3. Magistrate Bernard Ice has three roads slated for paving in District 3, including:
- — 3,300 feet of Shady Lane, from the railroad tracks to Keith Knob Road, $27,600.
- — 6,674 feet of Leamon Ford Road, from Greenwell Ford to the end, $46,364.
- — 2,275 of Leo Crume Road, $12,034.
DISTRICT 4. Magistrate Jeff Lear’s list includes five road slated for paving work, including:
- — 9,251 feet of Whiteside Road, $69,811.
- — 6373 feet of North St. Gregory Church Road, $44,948.
- — 1,595 feet of Meadowbrook Lane, $14,464.
- — 1,250 feet of Forest Springs Drive, $15,114.
- — 450 feet of Forest View Court, $7,193.
DEPUTY JAILER SALARY. At the request of Jailer Buck Snellen, fiscal court’s personnel committee will meet to discuss a request by Newton to raise the deputy jailer’s salary.
The court gave Deputy Jailer Jessica Raikes a 10 percent raise effective July 1st, but Newton said that Raikes’ pay — $24.69 an hour — is still below the state average for deputy jailers.
The committee will meet by teleconference at a time to be announced later.
EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT. In his report to Nelson Fiscal Court, Emergency Services Director Joe Prewitt updated the court on the latest COVID-19 data available from the Lincoln Trail District Health Department.
He noted that the joint city-county mask program still has approximately 40,000 masks in stock available for purchase by local businesses. They are also distributing hand sanitizer with each order for masks, and they have 160 cases of santizer available.
Watts said the need for masks is likely to continue well into the fall.
Prewitt also noted that as of July 20th, everyone who enters a business should be wearing a mask or face covering according to Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order.
In other business, fiscal court:
— approved a request by solid waste coordinator John Greenwell to obtain the needed easements for the new force main sewer line that is being planned to replace the existing line that serves the landfill.
— approved a request to seek bids on another garbage truck. It took seven months for the county to get the latest one, and Greenwell suggested getting bids in advance of ordering a second one in the near future.
— said farewell to county recreation director Bryce Greer, who is leaving his job for other opportunities.
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