SALYERSVILLE – The Magoffin County Fiscal Court met in regular session on December 22, accepting a proposal that will mean a new ambulance service in the county within the next 90 days.
In Tuesday’s meeting, a representative with KACO recognized State Representative John Blanton with a county advocate award, thanking him for his work as a legislator to fight for the counties he represents in the 92nd District, specifically noting Blanton’s fight against the excessive but mandatory audit costs some of the poorest counties in the state are currently stuck with, many times from past office holders’ tenures.
Blanton spoke at the meeting, stating the award is a huge honor and noting that they are currently working on a bill to address the “out of control” audit fees that are plaguing counties across the state.
Magoffin County Judge/Executive Matt Wireman explained an amendment to the resolution for Hero Pay, which will now include Magoffin County Water District and Magoffin County Senior Citizens Center employees that qualify for the pay.
The court approved fund transfers of $35,000 from the general fund to the jail fund, and $8,305 from the general fund to the sinking fund.
The fiscal court held the second reading of the budget amendment for fiscal year 2022, as well as approved the Magoffin County Sheriff Department’s budget for 2022 and maximum amount for deputies and assistants.
During departmental reports, Deputy Judge Kevin Howard updated the court on ongoing projects. At the Bloomington Park, Howard said WiFi has now been set up for the park, as well as security cameras.
Under bridge replacements, Howard said the Jerry Rice Lane box culvert has been installed, and they have received the Birch Branch culvert and the Marion Hale box culvert is scheduled to be delivered in January.
Howard said they have received the signs for much of the North Magoffin areas, which will be installed as soon as they have the manpower.
Under road resurfacing, Howard explained they were able to get Bee Tree resurfaced before the plant closed, with the rest of the road resurfacing projects scheduled on hold until the spring.
During new business, Judge Wireman explained he had an engineer come in and look at what areas of Ramey Memorial Park need renovated, including a fence around the veterans’ memorial, flagpoles and lights, replacing the toddler pool with a splash park, upgrading the playground to be ADA accessible, replacing the basketball court, building two more shelters, renovating the restrooms. Phase 1 of the project will be the lights, score boxes and the batting cages, which will cost over a half-million dollars. At the Half Mountain park, there will be a stage facing the open area to allow for reenactments, festivals, etc.
The court approved a resolution for LGEDF grants for the upgrades to the Ramey Memorial Park, Puncheon Battlefield Community Park, Bloomington Community Park and the Magoffin County Horse Park, with Wireman explaining they will be able to use coal severance funds and money originally set aside for the industrial park (but is now covered by funding allocated from the state).
The fiscal court approved a Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance Contract with CMTA, pending KACO approval, which will make improvements to the courthouse and justice center in order to lower utility and maintenance costs. Judge Wireman explained it will “future-proof” the buildings, while not negatively affecting the budget. In relation to that, they approved the agreement for municipal advisory services with Kentucky Association of Counties; an interlocal cooperation agreement between Magoffin County and other parties thereto regarding the KACO Interlocal Finance Cooperation; and held the first reading of the ordinance approving a lease for the financing of the project, providing for the payment and security lease, creating a sinking fund, and authorizing the execution of various documents related to such a lease.
Judge Wireman explained the certificate of need process the county has gone through in efforts to secure better ambulance services for the community, noting they have received a couple of proposals for ambulance services after sending notice to six different ambulance services in the region and advertising for bids in the newspaper.
Wireman said they received one response from the Breathitt/Wolfe Ambulance Service, which asked for a subsidy from the county of $50,000 per month. The second proposal came from Net Care Ambulance Service, which has no monthly subsidy. Wireman said the company will be in the county as soon as possible, but noted it will be a big transition. He also said that representatives from Lifeguard have assured him they will be here during the transition and will not leave the county without services during this time.
A representative of Net Care explained that they operate in Martin and Lawrence counties for 911 and non-emergency calls in those counties, as well as transfers for Floyd County. The company has been in business for 23 years. Their proposal had a rough timeline of being in Magoffin County within 90 days, but both Net Care and Wireman said they are unsure how long the transition will take. The Net Care representative said they will be able to pull resources, such as ambulances, from their parent company, which serves several different states, and will be able to handle billing and insurance claims with their system already set up (would take another six months if they decided to use a different name here or if the county started their own). They plan to hire local people to better serve the community. He said they plan to run four trucks initially in Magoffin County, two ALS and two BLS, which is what they use to cover Martin County, but will add ambulances as needed, or pull resources from Martin if an immediate need arises.
Wireman explained that the agreement has been reviewed by the county attorney and he has met with Net Care numerous times to make sure they can meet the county’s needs.
“I have a high level of confidence they will be in here and they will do what they say,” Wireman said. “This is more than just a presentation kind of issue. This is life-saving service that has to happen. I was unfortunate enough to be in an accident Friday and I’ll have to say, I was uninjured, but the folks in the other car were injured and it’s sad that the first thing that went through my mind was ‘do we have an ambulance in Magoffin County?’ I’m hoping that worry is only three months away from being ancient history.”
The court unanimously approved the agreement with Net Care for ambulance services after hearing from the representative and Wireman about the proposal.
They also approved a petition and deed to adopt Moore Cemetery Road into the county road system, as well as approved the updated county road list.
Under communications, Judge Wireman said that if people want to donate items to the people affected by the Western Kentucky tornados to bring them to the Salyersville Fire Department and monetary donations can be made to the Magoffin County Tornado Relief Fund at Salyersville National Bank or bring it to the county judge’s office. He said they are waiting to see what the needs will be after the first push of donations and help where needed. He said the county has helped in sending Christmas gifts and other donations, including many gift cards, already to the area, but will continue to send aid to the affected communities.
Wireman also asked the community to be mindful that inmate workers are helping with do litter abatement and pickup trash. He said the inmates are picking up massive amounts of trash along Magoffin roads and there have been a couple close calls, asking drivers to be careful in those areas.
He also asked the community to follow CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19 with the new variant quickly spreading throughout the country.
Judge Wireman also debunked any rumors that the county has money to blacktop every road in the county, noting that is not true.
“Don’t believe all that,” Wireman said. “I know we’re in the silly season with election year coming up and there are going to be a lot of silly things said.”
Wireman and the rest of the fiscal court wished everyone in Magoffin County a merry Christmas and a happy New Year before adjourning for the last meeting of the year.
“Let’s pray that 2022 is a rebirth of our world and we get out of this COVID lifestyle,” Wireman said.
The next regularly scheduled Magoffin County Fiscal Court meeting is tentatively slated for January 18 at 6 p.m.
