State Representative Candidate Hall Visits OC Fiscal Court Meeting

The Owsley County Fiscal Court met in regular session on Monday, July 8, 2024. County Judge Executive Zeke Little called the meeting to order. Everyone stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then for a short prayer. A motion was made and carried to approve the reading of the minutes from the last meeting.

Linda Thomas, Secretary, gave the Treasurer's Report. The Storage Fund has a cash balance of $7,072.13 and the Opioid Fund has a cash balance of $101,942.61. The EKYSAFE Fund has a cash balance of $59,569.82 and the Payroll Fund has a cash balance of $23,859.26 (transactions pending). The General Fund has a cash balance of $318,071.01 (transactions pending) and the Road Fund has a cash balance of $1,282,243.55 (transactions pending). The Jail Fund has a cash balance of $615.78 and the LGEA Fund has a cash balance of $7,144.82. The Solid Waste Fund has a cash balance of $42,568.38 and the Parks and Recreation Fund has a cash balance of $5, 394.77. The LGEDF Fund has a cash balance of $897.16 and the ARPA Fund has a cash balance of $91,709.43. The CDBG Fund has a cash balance of $0.00 and the LEPC Fund has a cash balance of $2,896.90. A motion was made and carried to approve the reading of the Treasurer's Report.

Judge Little stated that he would have a copy of the Administrative Codes for the magistrates by the next meeting. Then he asked the magistrates if they wanted to put the medical cannabis on the November ballot. The magistrates agreed unanimously to put it on the ballot and allow the people to decide.

Judge Little said that the Daniel Boone Days were good. We were rained out on Friday and some damage was done to a few of the vendors' tents but it was not enough to file a claim on.

Zack Hall (Pictured) of Hazard, Ky. was on hand to talk to the fiscal court about running for state representative in the next election. He stated that he wants to be accessible for the people.

County Clerk Austin Bowling had a Notice of Grant Opportunity. This grant allows the clerk's office to spend up to $8,300.00 for Election Equipment Security Camera Booths. These are metal cages to store the voting equipment. The application has to be returned to the State Board of Elections by the close of business on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. A motion was made and carried to approve the purchase of the equipment as long as they don't exceed the allotted amount.

A motion was made and carried to approve the purchase of a small piece of property and the right-of-way from Charlie Griffin for $5,000.00. The property goes from Owsley County into Lee County. This is necessary to our TrailHead. We should only need to put a drain pipe in to make it fully accessible.

The Road Foreman's report was given by Willard Thomas, Road Foreman. We have finished all the second round of mowing. Linda Thomas said that the Solid Waste Department needs to get updated addresses for the customers. Some people rent and they forget to change their address or if someone dies they forget to notify the county. If you have moved or your address has changed, please call Linda at the County Judge's office – 606-593-6202.She said that approximately 100 garbage bills are returned each month due to wrong addresses.

A motion was made and carried to approve doing transfers as needed. A motion was made and carried to pay all legally incurred bills providing funding is available.

Jerry McIntosh, Emergency Manager, said that we have no disasters, however, they found a person that was missing. The individual stated that they had been lost and ate berries and drank creek water. They were found in the Lerose area and were taken to the hospital to be checked out.

Judge Zeke Little asked the court how they felt about changing the time of the meetings to 4:00 p.m. The magistrates were all in agreement. They have been running it in the newspaper for a couple of weeks. If anyone has any questions, they can call the County Judge's office at 606-593-6202. There was a little bit of discussion to possibly move the Daniel Boone Days up into the fall when it cools down a little bit. There will be more discussion on this topic. A motion was made and carried to adjourn the meeting.