Nelson Fiscal Court agrees to increase hourly pay for part-time jailers
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022 — County Engineer Brad Spalding reported that the Hilton Lane bridge replacement project is completed and the new bridge is open to traffic. Some additional work on the approaches will be done as weather allows, he said.
Work continues on the construction of the new Caney Fork bridge. The beams for the bridge are expected to arrive next week, Spalding said.
PART-TIME DEPUTY JAILER PAY. Nelson County Jailer Buck Snellen asked the court to raise the pay for part-time deputy jailers from $16 to $18 an hour.
Snellen explained that the current pay isn’t much above what some fast food restaurants pay, and without sufficient part-time jailers, he’s ends up paying considerable amount of overtime that exceeds the cost of paying part-time deputies more per hour.
Magistrate Eric Shelburne suggested that the court wait and allow the next judge-executive and fiscal court to make this decision. The argument failed to gain traction, and the court voted 4-1 to approve the pay raise, with Shelburne casting the vote against the measure.
CLERK’S OFFICE FLOORING. Judge-Executive Nicky Rapier told the court that the flooring in the Nelson County Clerk’s office is in need of replacement, particularly the carpet.
Rapier presented the court with bids for two options. The first bid of $27,250 was to replace only the carpet in office; a second bid to replace all the tile flooring as well was $42,6 19.
After a short discussion, the court voted to replace all the flooring in the clerk’s office, which will be paid for out of the excess fees the clerk’s office usually returns to the court.
APPOINTMENTS. Fiscal court approved four appointments to the Nelson County Extension District Board. The new members include Joseph Howard Rogers, Madeline Peake, Roth Stratton and Dee Colvin.
The court also approved the appointment of J.W. “Wally” Dant, president/distiller at Log Still Distillery, to fill an unexpired term on the Bardstown-Nelson County Tourist Commission.
In other business, the court:
— heard that Judge Executive Nicky Rapier signed a proclamation last week for Nurse Practitioner Week in Nelson County.
— accepted two short roadways into the county maintenance system — Wolf Woods Drive and Delaney Lane Road.
— heard from Nelson County Clerk Jeanette Hall Sidebottom that election hardware vendor Harp will be at the next fiscal court meeting to make a presentation. The county will need to replace its current voting machines by 2024, she said.
— agreed to pay $8,801, which is half the cost of upgrading the interview room equipment in the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office. The upgrades will add more cameras of better quality, and utilize cloud storage rather than require video files to be burned to individual DVDs.
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