By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Bridges, dogs, soil conservation, and drug abuse were all on the agenda as the Carter County Fiscal Court met for their regularly scheduled meeting Monday night. The court heard from residents of Carter County as well as representatives of different organizations, including members of the Grayson City Council.
The bridge on Rock Springs Road which had initially been discussed in 2021 was again brought to the council’s attention. Repairing the damage caused during the 2021 flooding would necessitate building a new bridge and would ideally be funded through mitigation money from FEMA. The figures discussed were for a metal bridge with pier at $186,000, plus engineering and Division of Water fees. A full-length span bridge without a metal pier would cost $297,000.
Brittany Herrington, Peer Coordinator from Pathways, spoke to the court about a program she supervises called First Day Forward. Herrington was joined by Project Director Carla Terry and local resident Jackie Willis, a recovery success story. The trio spoke to the fiscal court about the program’s success in Carter County and their hopes for continued success. The program is funded by a grant through 2025.
“We have been implementing First Day Forward since the fall of 2020, and in Carter County since 2022,” Herrington told the court. “Just in Carter County we have served 85 people coming out of the Carter County Detention Center. Fifty-one percent of the people we have taken into the program have went through treatment of some sort,” she said. The group has helped those individuals with securing proper identification (such as birth certificates and social security cards), housing, and employment, Herrington told the court.
Project Director Carla Terry said that helping with housing alone is a major factor in helping individuals get their lives back on track.
“If they come out and don’t have safe housing then they go back to families that are using and end up right back in the system. We feel like the program has made a great change in people’s lives,” Terry said.
The help that the program offers increases the success rate of recovery, and Terry said that they hope to secure additional state funding to continue the work after 2025.
“You all know me” Jackie Willis said, pointedly looking at the members of law enforcement present at the meeting. “Fifteen felonies, and seven years in the Carter County Detention Center. I was the guy in the ditch,” he said bluntly. “I was the guy with no hope. I had all sorts of hope, but then I lost it when I found drugs.”
Willis shared his story of being two years clean now, and how the program quite literally saved his life. Now, thanks to the program, Willis as a free man walks into the jail that once housed him and shares his stories with other inmates.
Members of the Grayson City Council – Terry Stamper, Jennifer McGlone, and Michael Harper – were also present and addressed the court on the topic of animal control in the city limits. Currently the City of Grayson is dealing with the issues of stray and sometimes aggressive animals but requested that the county take on that responsibility. The city does not have a leash law, and there exists no clear enforcement penalties for such. In this particular instance the county mirrors that policy, having no leash law itself.
Before 2019 the county had contracted with Rowan County to provide those services, but that contract ended. State law requires each county to either have an animal shelter, or contract those services, so after that contract ended Carter established its own shelter. After some discussion it was suggested that a special work session of fiscal court be set so that the issue could be discussed further, and a possible resolution be found.
Barry Shaffer, Chairman of the Carter County Soils Conservation District, presented the court with the annual budget for 2024-2025.
“We administer the county agriculture investment program and have tripled the number of applications and doubled the number of approvals since 2019,” Shaffer said.
The Soil Conservation District is instrumental in providing help and resources to landowners, and provides scholarships to students in the agricultural field.
“Through the scholarships we hope to cultivate a new generation of leaders and help shape the future of agriculture in our community,” Shaffer told the fiscal court.
Shaffer said that the soil conservation district had not received a funding increase since 2016 and was currently seeking funding from the county in the amount of $70,000. The increase in funding, he said, was crucial to continue operations and to enhance programs. The court was funding the soil conservation dstrict in the amount of $50,000, and though initially denied the increase in funding offered a compromise of $60,000. With only one dissenting vote, fiscal court approved funding the service at the $60,000 level.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
