Beech Tree News Network

Butler County Fiscal Court met on Thursday, June 30, in a called meeting with a brief agenda.  Magistrates Stevie Givens, Chad Tyree, Bobby Moore and David Whittinghill were present, along with Judge-Executive David Fields.  

The first item on the agenda was approval of petroleum bids (gas and diesel).  No bids had been received at the time of the previous meeting.  Since that time two bids had been received - one from Hood's Market in Morgantown (14 cents over wholesale) and Key Oil in Owensboro (12 cents over wholesale).  Hood's submitted bids in all areas, while Key Oil only submitted a bid to supply fuel for the ferry at Rochester.  After a short discussion regarding specifics of the bids, magistrates unanimously voted to accept the Key Oil bid for the Rochester Ferry and the Hood's Market bid for all other areas.  

Fire dues and the possibility of including the dues on deeds were once again a topic of discussion for magistrates.  Items discussed included collection procedures and the required paperwork, how the opt-out aspect would work, and whether or not fire departments in the county would be supportive of a proposal to add fire dues to property tax bills.  County Attorney Richard Deye is currently reviewing a possible ordinance and the specific wording of how it would work in Butler County.  No action was taken.  

Magistrates then heard a presentation from Richard Henderson, Emergency Management Director for Butler County, regarding acquiring the services of AlertSense.  AlertSense provides government entities with the technology to provide a mass notification service and the "rapid exchange of information between the government and its citizens" via text messaging in the event of a wide-scale emergency or natural disaster impacting Butler County.  Henderson presented a three-month option contract for $1,431.25 and a year contract for $5,725.  

Although Henderson would be the lead contact as Emergency Management Director for the county, he emphasized that his presentation wasn't about him.

"It's not for me, it's for Butler County," said Henderson.  

"This is good but we have to look at our budget," said Magistrate Givens.  

Magistrate Tyree expressed his support for alert system and made a motion to approve a three-month contract. Tyree's motion died for lack of a second.  

Fiscal Court then moved into close session to discuss the possible acquisition of real estate.