Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Fiscal Court met in regular session on Monday night, November 9th. All magistrates were present and faced with a short agenda for November’s first regular session.
The long and winding road toward the allocation of 2015-16 Flex Fund road aid finally ended on Monday night. The Court voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution accepting the list of approved repairs handed down by the state. The Flex Fund process requires counties to submit recommendations to the state about how they would like the funds to be used within the county. The state then approves or rejects projects and gives that list to the county for adoption.
According to Judge-Executive David Fields work will begin on the projects in the spring.
Butler County Sheriff Scottie Ward brought an amended budget for his department to the Court for their approval. Ward told the squires that unexpected expenses and maintenance costs made the changes necessary.
“There’s no way you can start a year knowing what will happen at the end of the year,” said Ward.
Ward said he moved money from line items for clerk’s salaries, part time deputies, and bailiffs, to pay for tires and a new server and backup for his taxation computer system. Ward said that the tax data had to be moved from the County Clerk’s office to his office when a computer crashed in the clerk’s office. Ward said he had to recover the data, buy a server, and get backup service for the data. He told the Court that he had no options but to spend the money because the failure happened during the busiest part of tax-collection season.
A vote on a motion to approve the amendment passed by a 4-1 vote. The lone nay vote came from 4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill.
Although no action was taken the Court held a lengthy discussion of courthouse maintenance concerns.
Water damage has been an ongoing problem with the courthouse. According to Judge David Fields an inspector from the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has given a list of concerns for the upstairs portion of the courthouse. The AOC pays roughly 32% of courthouse maintenance costs for using the upstairs offices, meeting rooms, and the courtroom.
Judge Fields and the magistrates also discussed water damage issues with other areas of the courthouse. The squires agreed to gather bid specs and do more inspections before the next Fiscal Court meeting. They will try to start the bidding process for those repairs at that meeting as well.
Judge David Fields and Magistrate David Whittinghill reported to the Court that the County Recycling Center is almost complete, and will be opening soon. Judge Fields also told the Court that a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Senior Citizens Center will be Saturday, November 21st at 2p.m. Governor Beshear’s Chief of Staff Larry Bond will be the special guest at the ceremony.
In other business the Court approved bills and transfers, approved the treasurer’s monthly report, and authorized litter abatement payments to; Butler County Board of Education/BCHS Softball-$435.40, Butler County Board of Education/BCHS Quarterback Club-$600, and Oak Ridge Christian Academy Youth-$585.

By Joe K. Morris, Beech Tree News