By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Carter County Fiscal Court opened their regular monthly meeting on Monday night with public comments. These included comments from Lashawna Miller, the Associate Director of Community & Economic Development Planner and Project Administrator for FIVCO, who spoke to the court about CBDG (Civic Development Block Grants) for the City of Olive Hill and Hitchins fire departments.
“The CDBG Development Block Grant window is open from April 1 and will run until September,” Miller told the court. “For a CDBG the government entities can apply. We have had two fire departments in the county request remodeling through the public facilities or community projects with CDBG. That’s Hitchins and Olive Hill.”
“Normally, where Olive Hill is an incorporated city, they could apply,” Miller continued. “But they are out of compliance with the Department of Local Government right now, so the city isn’t eligible.”
Miller said she believed the city was out of compliance due to being several years behind on audits.
The last audit publicly available for the City of Olive Hill is for their fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. This audit was completed by the accounting firm of Kelley, Galloway, Smith, Goolsby, PSC (KGSG) and returned in December of 2025. Though KGSG stated in their report, “We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinions,” they go on to note that the City of Olive Hill did not provide all the supplemental information and documentation required by statute. For instance, the report notes, “Management has omitted the Management’s Discussion and Analysis that accounting principles generally accepted in the United State of America require to be presented to supplement the basic financial statements.” It goes on to note that while not a part of the basic financial statement, it is required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and considered “an essential part of financial reporting,” for proper context. The city also omitted or failed to provide “the Schedule of City’s Proportionate Share of the Net Pension and OPEB Liability and the Schedule of Pension and OPEB Contributions.” Because of this, the accounting firm noted, “We do not express an opinion or provide any assurance on the information because the limited procedures do not provide us with sufficient evidence to express an opinion or provide any assurance.”
Because of these issues with the city’s audits, the Olive Hill Fire Department was looking to the county as their pass-through on the grant. But that means the county has to make a decision, Miller explained.
“So, if the fiscal court would like to apply for one of the fire departments, there is a decision to make. They both want to remodel. The CDBG amount this year is $850,000,” Miller told the court. “There is $46,750 of that which goes for administration cost and there is a match required, and that would be $85,000. That amount is usually between the applicant and the subrecipient.”
“I just wanted to let the court know that they are both requesting,” she continued, “and FIVCO doesn’t care to do either one. We just have to do whatever the will of the county is.”
Miller explained to the court that if they chose one of the departments and applied for the CDBG grant they could apply for the other fire department after the first project was completed 85 percent.
“So, on the next application cycle you could apply for a grant for the other one,” she said. “But it is up to you how you would like to handle it.”
Miller told the court that given that they would be the ones applying in the situation, they could choose to fund one or neither.
No representatives from either of the fire departments were in attendance at the fiscal court meeting and were not available to present their individual needs for which they desired the grants. Miller told the court that a decision would not need to be reached immediately because the grant cycle closing was in September, though if the county decided to move forward FIVCO would like to be made aware within the next two months. The environmental review process would have to be gone through, she said, which would take 30 days.
In other business, the court voted to set their regularly scheduled meeting in the month of May to the third Monday (May 18) at 6 pm rather than the normal second Monday of the month. A Public Hearing was also scheduled for the same date for the removal of WC Gilbert Road.
Interim County Clerk Debbie Johnston presented the court with the 2025 excess fees in the amount of $184,711.47. Zachary Tackett from Creek Don’t Rise Coalition addressed the court about adopting a resolution against raising electric rates in addition to a letter already sent by the fiscal court. The fiscal court recommended that the county attorney look over any potential resolution before making a decision.
The fiscal court also voted to purchase a mobile command post for Carter County EMS from William Waddell in the amount of $13,500, and the purchase of a trailer for the county road department from Red Dog Trailers in the amount of $11,200.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
