Roads, Roads, and More Roads
Mary Burke asked the court to add a portion of her road to the county maintenance list. Photo | PJ Martin
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
The Metcalfe County fiscal court met in a special session on Tuesday, May 13th with all the Magistrates in attendance except Daniel Bragg.
The agenda was approved. The minutes from the April 24th budget workshop meeting were approved followed by the minutes from the fiscal court meeting that same day. Lastly, the minutes from the April 30th special called meeting were approved as written.
The first attendee to address the court was Mary Burke, “My road goes off of Holiday Hill (Road), and all my gravel keeps coming to the hill to Holiday Hill Road. and I’m just, I’m wasting gravel…Can you guys put chip seal it maybe come up the hill where it’s not costing me an arm or a leg every year to put gravel on it?”
It was noted that her road does not have a name. Judge/Executive Larry Wilson explained, “Your road is personal and we will need to adopt a portion or whatever of your road to do that…It’s a procedure and it does take a while…In the meantime, we will have our road foreman, he’ll go out, and he’ll take a look at it.”
The next speakers were Jerry and Josh Ferguson, owners of Golden Years Day Care who came to address the issue of the county selling the building where their business is located. Jerry began, “We do case management, we do transportation, so you have to have a daycare facility…So if we were to have to move locations because of losing a lease for whatever reason, then we got to file a certificate of need, which could take the rest of the year…Do we want to move? No, no, we’d rather stay right there.”
Jerry then introduced his son, Josh Ferguson who recently came to work with the company. Josh addressed the court by reading a letter he had presented to the court, “We have proudly leased a property at 770 Industrial Drive for over nine years. During this time, our organization has become an integral part of the community, employing and serving more than 600 individuals in Metcalfe County and the surrounding areas. We understand the county has recently engaged the property valuation administrator to access the property, potentially with the intention of placement for sale as a long-standing tenant.”
Josh asked if the courts would give them advance notice if they sell the property and asked if they could be offered the first chance at negotiating the purchase of the property.
Judge Wilson motioned to the magistrates when he replied, “Unless you all feel like I’m wrong, I propose that you all when you get all your inspections done…And would like to go ahead with an offer…And when you get ready to do that, you can come back here and we’ll meet with you.”
The Fergusons seemed pleased with that answer and thanked the court for their time.
Jerry Ferguson and his son Josh discussed the building housing Golden Years Day Care. Photo | PJ Martin
The next item on the agenda was a discussion about Fletcher Road; however, for lack of information, that was tabled until the next meeting.
Industrial Board Chairperson Lisa Boswell who attended a previous meeting had requested the RDAPP funds to pay on the bank loan for the Stave Mill at the Industrial Park. Judge Wilson stated that he was advised by the Frankfort representative to go ahead and request fiscal years 25 and 26 funds to save time processing. The total amount will be $307,692.
The Resolution to request and designate the RDAPP funds to go to the special purpose government entity (SPGE) the Edmonton-Metcalfe County IDA was approved after the motion was made by Magistrate Ronnie Miller and seconded by Magistrate Kevin Crain.
Next, the Resolution and Agreement between the Dept. of Rural and Municipal Aid and Metcalfe County were approved allowing the use of the rural road flex funds on the following roads.
Bill Pedigo Rd. (CR 1034) 1.97 mi. from KY 1243 NW to the end of the road.
Cave Ridge-New Liberty Rd. (CR 1368) 3.793 mi from US 68 NE to KY 640.
Cody Trent Rd. (CR 1052) 1.944 mi. from US 68 NW to the end of the road at 3.793.
Glen Shaw Rd. (CR 1142) 3.441 mi. from Cedar Flat Curtis Rd SE to Ferris Creek Rd.
McCandless Coomer Rd. (CR 1370) 1.161 mi. from KY 2435 N to KY 1243.
Mell Cork Rd. (CR 1038) 4.848 mi. from KY 544 North to KY 745.
Pitcock Rd. (CR 1250) 1.557 from KY 90 North to the end of the road.
Rockland Mills Rd. (CR 1054) 3.688 mi. from KY 70 SE to Beechville Rd.
Silver Charm Lane (CR 1741) .50 mi. from KY 861 SW to Clay Lick Acres Rd.
Subtle Garrett Creek Rd. (CR 1124) 2.191 mi. from KY 496 SE to the end of the road.
The next item was the renewal of the county’s Ambulance CD which comes due May 20th. Treasurer Page Edwards informed the magistrates that a 6-month renewal would receive 4.32% interest while a 9-month renewal would receive a 4.11% interest. Magistrate Miller made the motion to renew the CD for 6 months and Magistrate Harvey Hawkins seconded the motion which was approved.
The Metcalfe County Public Library made the suggestions of two people to fill spots on the library board. The judge and magistrates agreed and appointed Rita McMurtrey and Peter Caper to the board.
The final discussion item was for each magistrate to choose the roads that need chip sealing within their districts. Road Supervisor Chris Compton stated that last year each district had spots on 4 roads each for a total of 7-8 miles. The item was tabled until the next meeting so the magistrates could choose their locations to repair.
The budget transfers, claims, and department reports were all approved before adjournment.
