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BC Fiscal Court: Roads, Bids, and Jail Needs

The Butler County Fiscal Court held its regular meeting for June on Monday, June 9th. All members were present.

The Court addressed an item of old business to open the meeting. The magistrates moved to have a public hearing on adding White Oak Lane in the 4th district to the county road list. Judge Fields reported to the Court that all requirements to add the road had been met. First District Magistrate Stevie Givens asked if there was enough room at the end of the road to turn around county equipment, and if the adjoining land owners understood the road would have a 40' right of way. Both requirements have been met and the Court voted 5-0 to hold a hearing about the road on June 26th at 5 pm.

Fourth District Magistrate David Whittinghill

Discussion was opened on adding another road to the maintenance list. In October of 2012 residents of Eric Young Road asked to have the road added to the county list. Since that time the road has been inspected at various times, and landowners have worked to make the necessary corrections. It was reported at Mondays meeting that requirements have been met, and the road is ready for inclusion in the list.

Second District Magistrate Johnny Tuck moved to add the road to the county list, with 4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill seconding the motion. However the motion failed by a 3-2 vote, with magistrates Stevie Givens, Chad Tyree, and Keith Daugherty voting against the motion.

Following the vote 2nd District Magistrate Johnny Tuck expressed his displeasure with the decision. Tuck stated that if the Court hadn't intended to allow the road to be added to the county road list that it should have been made clear before the landowners went to the time and expense of bringing the road up to county requirements.

The next topic was the addition of Marie Vance Road onto the county road list. Johnny Tuck said the road had three residents and they had asked for the road to be added. Tuck moved to add the road to the list, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Discussion of bids for county road department supplies was the next item of business. Uncontested bids were accepted from Key Oil Company for fuel for the Rochester Ferry, for all fuel other than the Rochester Ferry from Hood's Market, from Asphalt Materials, Inc. for emulsified asphalt, and from Hagan and Stone Wholesale for road tile.

Bluegrass Materials, LLC and Green River Materials each submitted bids for crushed stone and asphalt cold mix. In past years there has been debate concerning the quality of stone supplied by GRM for making cold mix. This has led to the Road Department using stone for cold mix from Bluegrass Materials. Andrew and Jacob Gabbard from GRM were at the meeting on Monday night. Andrew Gabbard was asked if anything had been done to improve the quality of the crushed stone used for cold mix. He told the Court the quality was the same, but they had lowered the bid price to attempt and offset the cost of additional oil needed to make their crush stone work in cold mix.

Discussion opened concerning using GRM as the primary crushed stone provider, and Bluegrass Materials as a backup provider. Gabbard told the Court that he felt that the County was purchasing materials from Bluegrass, even though GRM won most of the crushed stone bids last year. County Road Supervisor Timmy West countered that they had quality concerns with GRM's dense grade stone, but other than that his drivers were instructed to get stone from GRM.

Gabbard stated that the process of selling stone to the county was so frustrating that Green River Materials had debated not bidding the job this season. He told the Court that his brother, Adam Gabbard, found it difficult to work with the County, and that they couldn't address quality concerns when they didn't know they existed. West answered that charge telling Gabbard that he tried to stay in contact with Adam Gabbard about the quality concerns, but never got responses when he informed him of problems.

Judge-Executive David Fields suggested that better communications could solve most of the issues. He asked if Adam Gabbard could be made the official contact person for the County at GRM. Andrew Gabbard agreed to the suggestion, but told the Court that himself or Jacob Gabbard could also be contacted if the need arose.

The Court then voted 5-0 to award the crushed stone bid, excluding cold mix stone, to Green River Materials. Following that vote the Court voted 4-1 to award the cold mix stone bid to Bluegrass Materials. Magistrate Johnny Tuck cast the non vote.

The Court approved payments for the $100-mile litter abatement program. Payments will go to; Belmont Mission Team-$600, Temple View Baptist Church-$610, Readyville Lodge #438-$633, BCHS Band Boosters-$605, and BCHS FFA-$700. The Court approved the payments by a 5-0 vote.

Butler County Jailer Terry Fugate

Jailer Terry Fugate brought two items of business to the Court. First he asked for authorization to buy a new stove for the jail. He said the old stove had shorted out several times, and he had been told by appliance repairman Joe-Don Baker that the stove couldn't be repaired again. The cost of the stove is $5,744.10 and will come from the jail budget. The motion to allow the purchase passed 5-0.

Fugate also asked the Court to approve an addition to the Jail Policy and Procedure Manual. He told the Court the manual had to be updated to show compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The changes passed by a 5-0 vote.

In other business the Court hired Larry Rone Taylor to be relief ferry operator, accepted 2014-15 Rural Secondary Road recommendations--which will be used in the 4th and 5th district, approved the County's yearly contribution of $1,700 to BRADD for aging services in the community, approved annual membership in the KACO workers comp fund, and heard Sheriff Scottie Ward's quarterly report.

There will be a special meeting of the Court on June 26th at 5:30 to finalize the 2014-15 budget.

The meeting was the then adjourned.

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