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Friday's Internet Edition, July 25, 2008.
County runs into financial problems on Delver Baseball Field lighting
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The Lee County Fiscal Court met in regular session last Monday evening and awarded a landfill contract to Rumpke, Inc. for disposing of the county’s solid waste through June of 2008. The county’s tipping fee will go from $11.75 per square yard to $15.50 per square yard. The court also approved County Attorney Tom Hollon’s recommendation of bringing suit against those county customers owing the most on their garbage bills. The magistrates agreed that they had to start proceedings against those with overdue bills rather than raising rates.
The court opened a single bid for the installation of lighting on Delver Field on Happy Top. Koyva Electrical of Ashland submitted a bid of $61,911 for the job. Payment for installation of the lights would reportedly come out of coal severance funds designated to help finish the Community Park. However, a representative of the installation company told the court that the quoted figure did not include the cost of drilling eight 14 foot deep holes for the lights’ foundations. Should the holes have to be drilled through rock, the cost would be $225 per foot. Since much of Happy Top is believed to be mostly rock, the additional cost of installation could increase by another 24-25 thousand dollars. The court decided to table the measure for further consideration.
Representing Hospice, Elizabeth Hollon presented a clock to the court as an expression of appreciation for the court’s financial contribution to that organization.
A citizen of the Long Shoal area addressed the court asking to be reimbursed for the cost of installing a culvert at the entrance of her driveway. Judge-executive Steve Mays said the culvert was on county right of way, but the magistrates said they would have to assess the situation before taking action to insure that whatever course they took would be legal.
The magistrates voted to approve the purchase of shirts and hats for employees of the Road Department and Solid Waste Department. Magistrate Coomer was not present. The shirts will cost $17.50 each and the hats $4.50. Judge Mays said the county would purchase three shirts and a hat for each employee and expected the uniforms would give county employees a more professional look.
The court approved a resolution for the purchase of a 1998 Crown Victoria police cruiser for the Sheriff’s Department, from Joe Kash. The purchase price of $4,000 would come from Coal Severance Funds. A resolution was also approved to apply for USDA funds to purchase a cruiser. Required matching funds will be paid from insurance money the county received from a wrecked cruiser. The magistrates approved a request from the sheriff to sell department surplus items.
An offer by Kevin Zachary to develop a web page for the county was accepted. Zachary, who says he is a developer by profession, told the court he would get the site up and running for free to help promote the county. He added that more elaborate work would be charged out at $25 an hour for labor.
A budget clause was approved that included a 2.5 percent pay increase for county employees. It will go into effect on the second payroll of July.
The court approved paying a bill of $466.67 as requested by Circuit Judge Tom Jones. They approved paying $15,400 to Little Heat and Air of Richmond to install a new boiler at the courthouse. A salary increase to $10 an hour for Elizabeth Herald was approved. She was promoted to paramedic from EMT, effective June 28th. The court agreed to begin the process to take 2/10 of a mile of Elk Creek Road into the county road system.
The Solid Waste Department reported that the dumpsters approved at the last court meeting had been received and were being put into use.
Judge Mays told the court that the County Line Road had been blacktopped since the last meeting and that he had been to Frankfort to discuss possible funding for additional blacktopping with Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert.
The court discussed problems caused by the drought. It seems that some have been letting their horses go hungry. The county dogcatcher has been picking up the horses and feeding them and charging $15 a day, according to court members. The animal shelter reportedly charges more. The court tabled a discussion about the free labor and bills that went into construction of a building at the old swimming pool.
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On-line publication, Copyright 2005, The Three Forks Tradition.
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