By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Carter County Fiscal Court met in a regular session on Monday to discuss a number of items, including the contingency road aid agreement, bids for two bridges in the county, the signing of a contract with the nonprofit grant writing organization BCF, and whether or not to allow the sale of medical cannabis in the county.
The first order of business at the meeting was honoring the Grahn Fire Department, which is in its fiftieth year of service in 2024. Carter County judge executive Brandon Burton presented the Fire Department with a plaque commemorating the department’s service to their community and offered words of thanks. The plaque was accepted by two members of the Grahn Fire Department, Chad Gilbert and Lonnie Sturgill.
County coroner George Sparks provided the court with a summary of the cases that have come through his office. In the calendar year of 2023 the coroner’s office was involved in investigating 164 deaths in Carter County. Of that number, 72 were associated with Community Hospice and Saint Claire Hospice, and the remaining 92 deaths were classified as coroner cases.
“Coroner cases are deaths that are sudden, violent, unnatural, or unattended,” Sparks explained to the court.
Of the 92 deaths, 19 were drug related (overdoses), two were homicides, and five were classified as suicides. The balance of sixty-seven were considered natural deaths, Sparks said.
Judge executive Burton told the court that the county had been awarded funds from the Contingency Road Aid Agreement in the amount of $385,000. The funds were for roads the court had submitted in 2023, including Prater Road (.8 miles), Four Mile Road (2.06 miles), Powell Hollow (.946 miles), and Iron Hill (1 miles). Some calculations for the distance of paving allotted to each of the four roads include severity of damage, width of the road in question, and the thickness required to pave. Other roads will be chosen by the court and submitted for 2024.
The court voted to enter into a contract – pending review from the county attorney – with Business Cultivation Foundation (BCF) in the amount of $5,000 per month ($60,000 per year) to write federal and state grants that would benefit the county. BCF is a nonprofit grant writing entity that was instrumental in Carter County receiving a grant earlier this year from the Opioid Abatement Fund. Renee Parsons of BCF was hired to manage the requests for the opioid funds, and per Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo), the $5,000 per month contract can be paid with opioid funds and not affect the county budget.
The court also discussed the Medical Cannabis Resolution, a resolution that would determine whether or not medical cannabis could be sold in Carter County. The choices facing the court were to opt in, opt out, or place the issue on the November ballot and allow the residents of Carter County to vote on the issue. Burton said that he thought it would be best to allow county residents to have a direct say, via ballot, on the future of medical cannabis in the county. Carter County Attorney Brian Bayes also advised the court of their options.
“You can do nothing, which means on January 1 it (medical cannabis) comes in,” Bayes said. “Or you can do an ordinance that bans it from coming in.”
Bayes compared the medical cannabis issue to the wet/dry alcohol vote and highlighted issues such as if county residents voted against it on a ballot, there would still be the options of individuals to petition for it.
The court acknowledged the benefits of medical cannabis in treating patients, but also discussed numerous potential issues involving allowing it in the county. Those issues included the potential for abuse, difficulty in regulation, and illegal resale among other things. Federal regulations limiting who can grow medical cannabis and the medicine only being available through a dedicated dispensary help to mitigate these potential problems, but not eliminate it. And Bayes pointed out that as is the case with all regulated substances, a prescription for it does not give the patient the right to operate a motor vehicle while taking it and such a case would fall under the DUI law.
Magistrate Millard Cordle told the court that he was against the sale of medical cannabis and recommended passing a resolution banning its sale. Arguments against Cordle’s recommendation included what would amount to banning a legitimate business, data showing the benefits to medical cannabis in patients who might not respond to other treatments, and giving Carter County voters a voice on whether or not to allow it.
The Court voted to put the issue on the November ballot with Cordle being the single dissenting vote.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
