County approves 911 agreement, other busines
By Allyson Dix, Managing Editor/Barren County Progress
After many years of battle, board members of the Barren-Metcalfe 911 center have come to an agreement to amend the interlocal agreement, as announced by Barren County Judge/Executive Jamie Byrd in the October fiscal court meeting.
Changes to the agreement require 100% approval from the 911 board, which is comprised of two judge executives (Barren and Metcalfe) and four mayors (Park City, Cave City, Edmonton, and Glasgow).
Historically, the local 911 center has received the bulk of their funding from landline phone taxes, a move made decades ago. Landlines have significantly decreased in recent years reducing the center’s funding. The board has struggled to agree and, at times, has become quite a contentious battleground.
The major change in the 911 interlocal agreement is the ability for each jurisdiction to utilize other means to acquire taxes to fund the center outside landline phone taxes. This could include a property or utility tax, but at this time, those decisions have not been made.
Another change to the agreement concerns debt responsibilities for the two different counties. These are based on each county’s population and the audited bills.
Byrd said the “fairest way possible” for splitting the debt between the two counties was to utilize population, which means Barren County will be responsible for 81% of the bills and Metcalfe County, 19%.
“This is historic honestly,” Byrd, who chairs the 911 board, said. “If you’ve not been to a 911 board meeting, you would not understand the importance of this.”
During department reports, Building Inspector Jim Griffin reported to the court that Glasgow-Barren County is continuing to grow and “issuing permits like crazy.”
Also prompted by phone calls he said he’s received, he requested the court to consider banning incoming mobile homes in the county that are older, perhaps anything older than 10 or 20 years old. Due to the county not having planning and zoning, which Griffin said he was a supporter of, the county may not legally be able to do that. He said other cities and counties such as Bowling Green-Warren do utilize their planning and zoning boards to limit the age of incoming mobile homes.
Barren County Coroner Tim Gibson reported that in September, his department investigated 14 deaths. Thirteen of those were of natural causes and one was an accidental motor vehicle. In mid-October, six natural death investigations occurred.
County Clerk Helena Birdwell reported that over 700 absentee ballots for the November 5 election have been requested as of October 15. Also, her department has hired a part-time employee to assist in election duties at the office.
Birdwell also reported her department has submitted the following monies to the court: September $135,000; $173,000 in delinquent tax bills from 2023; $396,000 excess fees for the 3rd quarter; and a year-to-date excess fee amount of over $1.1M.
Parks and Rec’s Chris Jennings reported he’s received a lot of positive feedback about the Jackie Browning Park.
Road Department’s Jamie DeGroft reported they are completing their last mowing cycle of the season and clean-up efforts before winter’s arrival. He also said the Old Davidson Road project was “pretty much completed” and should eliminate the flooding issues. Winn School project is “close to being completed.”
Sheriff Kent Keen reported the department has taken 850 CAD calls in the last 30 days. Tax bills will soon arrive in the first few days of November and no payments can be accepted before November 1. Taxpayers have several options for payment: in person, drop box outside the sheriff’s office, or online. He reminded people that no yellow cards will be sent out this year, similar to last year, there will be a sheet of paper and a QR code on the back for online payments. There is an approximate 2.75% cost of the total bill to pay with a credit card.
The court also approved the following: $8,420 to Guyer Shutter Company and $7,332 to Barren County Business Supply for petitions, both items for the Barren County Development Center; $55,000 to Clemmons Electric for a generator rewiring project (only one quote received after advertising); $8,460 (ton truck) and $25,034.02 (single axle dump truck) for stainless steel inserts on the county’s snow equipment due to rust to Duke’s Enterprise; $30,668 for 600 feet of guardrails on Winn School Road and $6,085 for guardrails on Old Davidson Road, both to EFI Guardrail.
