Fiscal Court Gearing up for Daniel Boone Days at June Meeting

The Owsley County Fiscal Court met in regular session on Monday, June 10, 2024. The meeting was called to order by County Judge Executive Zeke Little. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and then prayer was offered by Brandon Davis, local pastor. A motion was made and carried to accept the reading of the minutes. Linda Thomas gave the Treasurer’s Report. The General Fund has an ending cash balance of $285,776.99, the Road Fund has an ending cash balance of $1,326,967.70 and the Jail Fund has an ending cash balance of $3,255.73. The LGEA Fund has an ending cash balance of $10,524.04, the Solid Waste Fund has an ending cash balance of $43,863.87 and the Parks & Rec Fund has an ending cash balance of $6,133.82. The LGEDF Fund has an ending cash balance of $897.16, the Clerk Storage Fund has an ending cash balance of $7,071.86 and the Opioid Fund has an ending cash balance of $48,775.05. The Sheriff’s Fund has an ending cash balance of $0.00, the ARPA Fund has an ending cash balance of $113,180.46 and the EKYSAFE Fund has an ending cash balance of $74,567.14. A motion was made and carried to accept the Treasurer’s Report. A motion was made and carried to open the sealed bids at a special meeting on Friday, June 21, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. Judge Little asked if the court wanted to set the Capp for the Sheriff on pay at $87,511.90 and the Clerk at $82,814.42 for this year. A motion was made and carried to approve the Capp on both.

The Daniel Boone Days Committee was asking for a donation for fireworks. “This year, we have the Daniel Boone Days scheduled for July 4th and 5th. The fireworks will be on the 6th and we were just hoping that you could donate some money again this year for that,” said Donna Jo, DBD Coordinator. Judge Little asked how much the court donated last year and Magistrate Jason Reed said that the court had donated $3,000 last year. A motion was made and carried to approve the donation of the same amount this year.

The judge presented two Resolutions that the court needed to approve for the bridge going to Sturgeon and the Land Acquisition. Each of these Resolutions is a million dollar project. A motion was made and carried to approve the both Resolutions. A motion was made and carried to approve hiring Gavin Shanks as a sheriff’s deputy. He will no longer be serving as court security or 911 coordinator.

Austin Bowling, County Clerk, had a paper typed up for the Election Officer Training. Each person was paid $125 for the training and Election Day. Gary Cornett, the Democratic County Board of Elections Officer does not accept any payment for his duties. Bob Mayes is the Republican County Board of Elections Officer and he comes in the mornings and evenings to check the machine seals for 6 days of the early voting in the office and at the REC Center. He came in for a total of 12 times total equaling $180.

Holly Wilder, chairman of the Soil Conservation District and Adrian Bishop, an employee, gave their yearly update. Holly said that a lot of their programs and funding comes from taxes that comes from the fiscal court. “We just want to say thank you for the support. We wanted to give you a quick overview of where some of those funds were used and some of our other funding and programs that the Soil Conservation District participates in. We received $359,500.00 into our Cape Grant this year. We also had 81 applicants which is the largest group that we have ever had. State Cost Share received and paid out $50,236.00 this year. We are waiting on completion of several of those projects. State Cost Share applications for next year (2024-2025) are now being accepted through November 1, 2024. If anyone wants any information on this program, it will be on our district Facebook page and in the local newspaper in the next couple of weeks or you can go see Adrian Bishop and she will be glad to tell about the programs that are available and how you can start applying for them. We had $10,000 in Environmental Grant money and we used that for our open-top dumpsters. We hope to be able to continue with that as well as add a couple of things. The total grant money that we received is $419,736.00. Some of the other programs that we do participate in is the Conservation Art & Writing Contest that we partner with the schools and Farmers State Bank. We support Boonville in Bloom with donations. We are able to offer scholarships to two (2) graduating high school seniors. We also sponsor the Elder Abuse Awareness Program Planting Project and were able to give them a gift card to help them beautify their area around their place. We also have the spring tree seedling distribution where we were able to give away 500 trees for Arbor Day. We just want to say thank you again for your support,” said Holly. Adrian said, “like she (Holly) said, $419,736.00 came into our hands this year and it is all being dispersed back into the community. We have you guys to thank for a lot of that. We appreciate you all giving us your time.”

The Three Forks Regional Jail has a 2015-2018 Ford Explorer that they are wanting to sell. They have three vehicles but the one was offered to us first for a transportation vehicle. They want a little over $11,000.00 for it. They have offered to let us pay in monthly payments if we choose. Matt Sizemore, jailer, is driving about a 2000 Crown Vic. He has to go to Green River next week which is about a four hour drive. A motion was made and carried to purchase the vehicle from Three Forks Regional Jail.

A motion was made and carried to approve the annual Standing Order so that Diana can pay some of the bills before the fiscal court meeting. Judge Little and the magistrates wanted to thank the road department and Road Foreman Willard Thomas for a job well done and having only five (5) men working in the department. “We entered with KACO on leasing a Truck. They can’t come up with one. Peterbilt in London is doing the same thing through the state. You lease for 18 months. All you do is pay the interest on it and sell it after 18 months. It would be the same deal. It goes back to sell and we can make up to $10,000 if it is kept in good shape and we can put that in on a new one. We would be trading out every 18 months. We are not buying the truck, we are only leasing it through the program,” said Judge Little. He went on to say, “ we go through KACO and it would be like $600—$700 a month and they maintain everything on it. When it goes to sale, they sell it in Georgia and the trucks sell for more than what you pay for it. They guy in London said that they could have the truck in a couple of weeks.” A motion was made and carried to approve getting the truck.

A motion was made and c carried to approve changing the name of Joe Dunn Lane to Bob Gabbard Lane. A motion was also made and carried to approve changing the name of Carrico Lane to Sunset View Road. Linda Thomas stated that the Solid Waste Report. She said that it is doing good. She also stated that if they don’t pay then they are not picking it up. A motion was made and carried to do transfers as needed. A motion was made and carried to pay all legally incurred bills. Judge Little asked the court to approve Brandon Davis as the new 911 Coordinator. He would be taking Gaivn Sparks’ spot. It is a part time job. A motion was made and carried to approve Brandon Davis as the 911 Coordinator. A motion was made and carried to adjourn.

By:

Lisa Robinson

Editor