By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Carter County fiscal court held their regular monthly meeting last Monday, September 8. The meeting began with a moment of silence for the family of James Wilburn. Carter Judge Executive Brandon Burton remembered Wilburn for serving on the court and also for being a good friend.
“Our hearts are with the Wilburn Family,” Judge Burton said.
The first item on the court’s agenda was a public hearing concerning Mobley Flats Road. The hearing was to give any interested parties the time to speak on the county taking .25 miles of the road into the county maintenance schedule. The motion to accept it into the schedule passed unanimously, and there was some discussion about grading another portion of that road that connected to Slone Cemetery. The court decided to look into the potential grading, and it will be discussed at a later date before any action is taken.
In other business, the fire chief of the Grayson VFD, as well as Grayson mayor Troy Combs, brought it to the attention of the fiscal court that the City of Grayson has a tank on one of the city’s trucks that is in dire need of repair. The chief said that they would like to start the loan process to have the tank in question repaired. The repairs are expected to be done by a company in northern Kentucky.
The truck in question is a 2009 model, and the chief said the repair is essential due to the fact that it responded to every fire.
“The truck itself seems to be doing really well,” the fire chief told the court. “It just needs to be replaced from the pump back.”
“We fully intended to make this payment,” Combs said of the tank repair. “But now we are considering purchasing another engine truck.”
Combs told the court that fire engines typically cost approximately $600,000, and a new tanker is approximately $400,000.
The City of Grayson and the Grayson Fire Department were not making a request for the court pay for the new tanker, but rather to use their portion of the money the fiscal court allocates to county fire departments each year to apply toward payments on a loan for the repairs needed. The bid the fire department submitted to the court was for $130,000 to repair the tanker, and the fiscal court voted to approve this unless a lower bid was submitted.
Lashawna Miller from FIVCO spoke to the court about brownfield grants opening up later in the month of September and told the court that those grants depend upon a regional assessment. Miller also said she wanted to thank the county and the city of Grayson for their support for Pathways’ new Autism Center. Pathways was awarded a $4 million Amler Grant for the project, Miller said.
In other business the court began the process to take in .255 miles of Forest Trails Road. The court also voted on beginning the process of taking into county maintenance an extension of Walker Road, the distance to be determined after investigation. The court also voted to start the process to remove a section (0.19 miles) of Bourbon Hollow, and to start the process to remove a section (0,03 miles) of South Bourbon Hollow from county maintenance.
The court also voted to authorize the county attorney to enter into further agreement with opioid secondary manufacturer settlements with Purdue Pharmaceuticals and other defendants.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
