Beech Tree News Network

For over two hours on Monday night the Butler County Fiscal Court met in open session at the Butler County Courthouse. The squires discussed issues ranging from the purchase of new Road Department trucks to the erection of another historical monument on the courthouse lawn.

The first item on the agenda was an item of old business from the Court’s July regular session. At that meeting 4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill made a motion to divide blacktop flex funds according to the total amount of roads per district. The Court currently divides flex funds equally among every district except the 1st District which receives no flex funds because that district has such a small amount of roads not inside the city limits of Morgantown.

According to figures provided by Road Supervisor Timmy West the breakdown of roads per district is as follows. 28% of county roads are in the third district with 114.281 miles of total roads, 70.459 miles of paved roads and 42.822 miles of gravel roads. The 4th district has 28.419 miles of gravel road and 76.116 miles of paved roads for a total of 104.535 miles of road, representing 26% of the county total. Butler County’s 2nd district has 91.953 total miles of road, 13.143 miles gravel and 78.81 miles paved for 23% of the county total. The 5th district holds 23% of county roads with 75.231 miles paved and 15.877 miles of gravel for a total of 91.108 miles. The county’s total of maintained roads is 401.877 miles with 101.261 miles of gravel road and 300.616 miles of paved roads. West reported that a small portion of roads are shared by the 4th and 5th districts, but not enough to affect the overall breakdown.

Before discussion could begin on the matter Magistrate Whittinghill disputed the content of his original motion. Whittinghill told the Court that he wanted his motion to divide all blacktop monies based on the total miles of road in each district, not just flex funds. 

Judge Fields then told the court that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet had changed the percentage of flex fund monies used for county mandated projects from 20% to 10%. Discussion then opened about the original motion. Whittinghill reported that he had discussed the issue with several surrounding county governments and that his motion was, “the way to do it.” He continued, “I never did talk to none that done it the way we done it.”

The Judge-Executive then tried to explain the flaw in Whittinghill’s proposal. Fields reported that some road funds--discretionary funds--come earmarked to the county for specific projects. He used the example of work done on Cool Springs Road in 2008 that was paid for with discretionary road fund money. Discretionary projects must be presented by the county to the Transportation Cabinet for approval. Under Whittinghill’s proposed plan only 23% of the funds could have been used on the project.  At this point 1st District Magistrate Stevie Givens questioned Whittinghill’s understanding of what discretionary road funds actually are. Givens posed to Whittinghill, “David, do you know how discretionary funds work?” When Whittinghill answered that he did Givens reminded him that getting discretionary funds required a lot of work and that very few projects were considered and approved.

Whittinghilll then challenged the Judge’s statement about how discretionary funds work and how they are to be used. Whittinghill told the court that discretionary funds were allotted at the July meeting for a project on Hidden Valley road and Hickory Camp road. “What was this money that we got last month? That was two roads there,” said Whittinghill. Fields explained that although the money was used on two roads that the money was allotted based on one project proposal sent to the state which detailed repairing two roads.

A discussion followed about amending the original motion from the July meeting. Finally Judge Fields called for a vote after Whittinghill made a motion to amend his original motion to divide all road monies based on road mileage per district, with 3rd District Magistrate Chad Tyree seconding. Fields asked for a show of hands and the amendment failed by a 2-3 vote withTyree and Whittinghilll voting for the issue. Following that vote Judge Fields called for a vote on Whittinghill’s original motion from the July meeting. Fields once again asked for a show of hands. Tyree and Whittinghill voted in favor of the motion, with the remainder of the court voting against the matter. The motion failed by a 2-3 vote.

Michelle Hines next presented the first item of new business to the court. Hines represents BRADD’s Barren River Area Agency on Aging & Independent Living. She explained to the court where the county’s annual $1,700.00 contribution goes and how it is used. According to Hines the county contribution, and the contributions of other county governments in BRADD’s ten-county service area, are used to cover the agencies matching requirements to state and federal government. The federal government requires a 15% match from the agency, with the state asking for either an 8 % or 25% match depending on the purpose of the funds. She said the county contributions also help defray any loss in funds from the state or federal level and also told the court that her group sometimes asks its clients to make a $1.00 contribution when they receive services.

Hines reported that Butler County had 2,755 citizens over the age of 60 according to the 2010 Census, with 5% of the populace classified as elderly. Three-hundred and three persons were served by Hines’ agency in 2012, with 11% of Butler County’s 60+ population receiving some sort of service. Aging Services spent a total of $273,499.06 in Butler County during the 2011/12 fiscal year. She also reported that 48 persons in the county are currently on the waiting list for services, with most of that group waiting for Meals on Wheels service. 4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill moved to give BRADD’s Aging Services their annual $1,700.00 contribution with Chad Tyree seconding. The motion was approved by a 5-0 vote.

Emergency Management Director Terry Hunt spoke to the court concerning federally mandated updates that must be made to county radios. Hunt said that all emergency services are required to update their existing radios and repeaters from an analog to a digital system by sometime later this fall. The cost of the upgrades will be no more than $6,000.00 with Joe Ford doing the changeover work. After limited discussion 5th District Magistrate Keith Daugherty moved to fund up to $5,000.00 of the upgrade. 2nd District Magistrate Johnny Tuck asked what would happen if the cost was more than $5,000.00 and was told that some of the cost might be passed on to the county fire departments that had enough money to help pay. Judge Fields told the court that when Hunt presents the court with more precise figures more money might be approved. Keith Daugherty echoed the Judge’s sentiments and stated that he wanted to get $5,000.00 approved at the August meeting so that progress wouldn’t be stalled on the project. Daugherty did ask Hunt if the new digital system would mean that people would no longer be able to listen to emergency radio traffic. Hunt said, “My understanding is that those old scanners ought to hit the trash.” Tuck then seconded the motion and it passed by a 5-0 vote.

County Clerk Shirley E. Givens spoke to the Court concerning supplies needed for the upcoming general election. Givens said that she needs new MBB cards before the election. The cards are basically flash memory cards designed to go in the voting scanners at each precinct. Once a precinct closes the cards are removed and transported to the Courthouse for vote tallying. Voting equipment inspectors informed her that some of her cards were defective and would cause problems on election day. Givens joked that messing up the election was not how Butler County wanted to make news. Givens needs a total of 44 cards; 3 each per 12 voting precincts, 3 for absentee balloting, and 5 spares. MBB cards are $66.00 each for a total of $2,904.00. The Court voted 5-0 to purchase the cards.

Sheriff Scottie Ward talked to the court concerning his department’s School Resource Officer. Ward said that Morgantown Police Department’s officer John Ford had been used in the position, but Ford’s relocation to another county had left the job open. He said he was approached by the Board of Education about providing an officer. Ward said that because Ford was used by the department as more than a school officer that he was paid and scheduled as a regular officer. However because of the cost of training and equipping an officer his department could not do that. Ward said that the cost of providing an officer for six hours per day could be covered by the Board and came to a total of $29,771.65, of which $6,292.45 would go to Social Security taxes and retirement. Ward told the court that instead of paying that money to the county he would like for the county to pay those fees. According to the sheriff that would allow him to post his resource officer for seven-and-one-half hours per day. Ward said that instead of hiring a new officer this would allow his deputies to make more money and provide better coverage to the schools.

After some discussion on the issue 1st District Magistrate Stevie Givens asked the sheriff if he would be willing to post his officers on a six-hour day for now, and revisit the proposal later. Ward told the court that he was just trying to look out for the schools and give his officers a chance to make more money, but was open to trying the six-hour per day officer. No formal action was taken on the matter.

County Road Supervisor Timmy West came before the court with a request to buy a new pickup truck for the Road Department. West told the court that of his department’s 7 trucks four of them had 200,000 or more miles on them. West has priced trucks from the ‘big three’ American builders and asked the court to buy a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4WD extended cab pickup. Because of GM’s pricing structure West said that the county could buy the 2013 1-ton truck almost $1,500.00 cheaper than a 2013 half-ton model. The cost of the truck will be $24,695.00 on the state contract, compared to $26,043.00 for the half-ton model.

4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill asked if proceeds from surplus equipment sales and the sale of junk iron could be used to help purchase the truck. Judge Fields explained that those monies had already been put in the Road Fund, and that the truck would be bought with Road Fund money. The magistrates voted 5-0 to buy the truck. Judge Fields then told the court and West that the county’s Solid Waste Coordinator had recently told him he needed a pickup truck instead of the van he is currently using. Fields asked West if any of the high mileage trucks that could be used for the Solid Waste Coordinator. West said that at least one of the trucks was in that good of condition and could be passed on to the Solid Waste Coordinator.

3rd District Magistrate Chad Tyree then addressed the court pertaining to an issue he has been exploring. Tyree told the Court that they need to be “proactive” about their personnel policy. He said he had looked at state recommendations and the plans used by other governments and thinks that job descriptions and duties need to be more precisely defined in the policy. Timmy West agreed with Tyree saying that it would help his department if job descriptions were better defined. No action was taken, but Judge Fields did assign Tyree to continue putting together a packet on the proposal with West saying he would help with job descriptions, etc. for the Road Department.

Roger Givens, chairman of the county’s Historical Highway Marker Committee asked the court for permission to erect another marker on the courthouse lawn. Givens told the Court that he was currently trying to get a marker commemorating Civil War Hero Andrew Hamilton. Hamilton led a famous prison escape during the war. Magistrates approved setting the marker by a 5-0 vote.

In other business the court paid $601.00 to Caney Fork for $100-Mile Litter Abatement, approved routine bills and transfers, and approved transfer of up to $45,000.00 from the General Fund to the Jail Fund.

The September meeting of the Fiscal Court will be held on Monday, September 10th at the Reedyville Rural Development Center at 6 p.m. All fiscal court meetings are open to the public and citizens are encouraged to attend.

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Story by Joe K. Morris, Beech Tree News

Photos by Jeremy Hack, Beech Tree News