SALYERSVILLE – The Magoffin County Fiscal Court met in regular session Tuesday, January 18, discussing snow removal from the roads and honoring a WWII prisoner of war.
Magoffin County Judge/Executive Matt Wireman explained to the court that they received no responses from the advertisement for accepting bids for vehicles for the Magoffin County Sheriff Department, but the sheriff’s office staff had a proposal for a 2015 police vehicle for $13,500.
With no objections, the vehicle will be purchased if the sheriff’s office determines it is a viable option once they check it out in person. The sheriff department is also looking for other options for a second vehicle, Wireman noted, explaining they are still looking at their options and they are not locked into the first proposal if they find a better option.
The court approved fund transfers from the general fund of $40,000 to the jail fund and $40,000 to the LGEA fund.
Wireman noted that the jail board has contacted him about potential salary increases for staff at the jail, and that the current proposed state budget includes an increase on funding for state inmates, so the salary increase should have no bearing on what the county is paying to the jail to house the inmates. He said it is all pending, though, so it’s just something they are watching.
The court approved a resolution honoring Private First Class Earnie Lemaster and naming of Kentucky Route 1415 from mile point 0.0 to mile point 1.267 in Magoffin County to be forever known as Private First Class Earnie Lemaster Memorial Road. Lemaster was a prisoner of war in World War II, killed in action. A dedication will be held in the spring, with the date and time to be announced.
They also approved a change order for the Industrial Park Infrastructure Water Project, with unforeseen pipes and tiles crews have to reroute around, with their plan to fix it expected to cost $35,200.
The court approved a petition to adopt Sunset Drive, to the left of Pleasant Hill, into the county road system, with Wireman explaining all steps have been taken to legally adopt the road.
As they have been doing each month, the court approved the updated county road list, including changes made in the last fiscal court meeting.
Under communications, Judge/Executive Wireman explained they’ve had a vacancy at the county garage for a Class A CDL for a little while, and they have received an application from someone with experience interested in doing the job part-time. They agreed to hire Steve Cobb as a Class A CDL truck driver to work part-time for the county garage at a rate of $12 per hour.
Wireman said they have 10 part-time temporary workers, working at the shelter, recycling center and garage. The list of workers hired at $10 per hour, which the court approved, includes: Chelsea Allen, Mitchell Bailey, Kendall Blanton, Kelsie Blanton, Josh Brown, Trenton Caldwell, Matthew Cole, Zack Risner, Andrew Rowe and Danny Williams.
Wireman said he was hoping to have more in from the Department of Local Government on the coal severance projects for the parks, but just to expedite the process, the court went ahead and approved to advertise for bids once they get approval from the Department of Local Government. They also approved to hire Bocook Engineering to handle the bidding of the project.
He said they have also applied for additional funding for water projects, to be added to the funding the governor announced several months ago, to extend water services throughout the county.
For the snow events, Wireman said they have been doing their best to keep the roads clean with minimal equipment. He said that when they are able to chip seal the gravel roads, they will be able to grate those roads, as well, but right now it takes two days to get to all of the blacktop roads. He said if people see the trucks passing up their roads, they can contact the judge’s office or message him on Facebook to make sure their road is on the list to be grated. He noted that roads are not passed up on purpose and sometimes different drivers are sent to areas of the county they haven’t covered, but he said they will get to everyone and to let him know if a road is missed.
Wireman also noted that roads cannot be grated if cars are in the way, asking people to not park in the road when snow is forecasted and to give the trucks plenty of room to do their job. He explained the trucks can’t back out of some of the small roads, so people need to yield to the trucks so they can help each area of the county during bad weather.
The new Magoffin County Alerts is up and running and some bugs have already been fixed, but he asked everyone to sign up for those alerts to be notified of weather events, road conditions and more. People can sign up at https://www.smart911.com/smart911/ref/reg.action?pa=MCEM&fbclid=IwAR3V5REAJJEjZYUfNDfTI0Q73o9qOgXioBhRQvLtfd1orTN9nws7yQTkBgs or by following the link pinned to the top of the Magoffin County 911 Facebook page.
Wireman also said they are looking at upgrading the emergency radio systems to digital and buying generators for the towers, but right now they do not have the funding for those projects. He said the project will cost an estimated $300,000, and they are looking at funding options now, as well.
A special meeting will be held January 24 at 5 p.m. to discuss the lease agreement between Magoffin and KACo Finance Corporation for the Energy Savings Project. The next regularly scheduled meeting is tentatively slated for Tuesday, February 15 at 6 p.m.
