Rural Road Funds
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
The Metcalfe County Fiscal Court met in regular session last Thursday with everyone in attendance.
The magistrates approved the agenda and the minutes of the last three meetings as they were.
Blake Williams, Justin Young, Branch Manager, and Joe Plunk, District Engineer of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) were all in attendance. Williams took the podium to present the 2024-2025 FY Rural Secondary Program allotment for Metcalfe County.
The KYTC projected allotment for 2024-25 is $1,100.354 along with the carryover from 2023-24 of $38,399 gives the total rural road funds available of $1,138,753.
The program includes 3 items:
Item 1. Routine maintenance and traffic on 111.440 miles of rural secondary roads at $3,949 per mile is $440,100.
Item 2. Resurfacing on 3.734 miles of KY 533 Breeding Road beginning at the East Fork Little Barren Bridge (MP 4.266) extending east to a pavement joint 9,600 ft. east of Frees Road is $588,618.
Item 3. “Flex Funds” equaling 10% of the initial allotment) is $110,035.
Magistrate Daniel Bragg asked if it is normal for the cost per mile to be that expensive and Williams stated yes, “absolutely everything has gone up.”
Bid Opening
Treasurer Page Edwards opened each bid received for the annual supplies and read each to the court. The bids will be reviewed by the magistrates and the judge/executive and be awarded at the next fiscal court meeting.
Three bids were received for crushed stone and gravel from Gaddy Shamrock, Burton Stone, and Scotty’s.
Scotty’s was the lone bidder for asphalt supplies and also the lone bidder for contract patching.
There was one bid received for petroleum products from Tri-County Auto and Oil.
There were two bids received for the road oil from Asphalt Materials of Elizabethtown and Hudson Materials of Tennessee.
Three bids were received for chip and seal supplies from Scotty’s, Gaddy Shamrock, and Russell Standard.
The Hauling of Crushed stone and gravel received four bids from Scotty’s, Verlin Yoder Trucking, Jordan Withers Trucking, and Grant Wilson Trucking.
Emergency Management
Director Adam Bennett took the podium, “We have a quote here from Young’s Electrical Heating and Cooling. There are two options. We have a 14kw and a 18kw listed. He gave us both, because the existing one is a 16kw and that’s really overpowered so he recommends the 14 and he says that’ll be sufficient. Not included on this, I asked him to kinda ballpark it separately. What will it cost to repair what we have? He said about $6,000.”
“So, about 6,000 dollars. You could put 1400 with it and have a new generator. I’m all for that.”
Bennett added that repairs would have a warranty on the parts used and also the generator is emergency equipment and they have to have it.
Option 1 is a 14kw, air-cooled, 120/240, 1-phase unit for $7,375
Option 2 is a 18kw, air-cooked, 120/240, 1-phase unit for $8,275
The current generator is inside a cinder block room and the ventilation must be improved with a fan before installing a new generator. The new generators are made to sit outside, but moving locations would require moving wiring. Instead, improving the ventilation by installing a fan that would run off the generator when it kicks on would be a cheaper solution.
Option 1 was approved unanimously by the magistrates.
Next, Bennett presented an update on the North Metcalfe Repeater Tower. The new tower has been ordered and will take about 6-8 weeks during which the concrete foundation can be done. It must be around 28 curing time before the tower is placed. The same radio equipment will be used on the new tower.
A partial insurance payment has been received to pay for the work already done of $40,000. Once all work is complete the receipts will be submitted and those will be paid minus the $500 deductible.
Other Business
Scotty Mosby announced that this meeting will be his last as he is leaving his position with the Recycling Center for another business pursuit. He thanks everyone that he has worked with. The magistrates and judge all wished him well.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 23, 2024.
