Riverport road to honor late magistrate By Cindy Henning Two members of the Leadership Meade County Class of 2005, Rae-Anne Embry and Shirley Beavin, asked for help from the Meade County Fiscal Court at their Nov. 8 meeting. A pivotal member of their class was Ronnie Greenwell, who died in an accident midway through the year. As Greenwell was also a magistrate, Embry asked the court to support their project to name the Riverport access road in his memory. Discussion centered on the exact wording of the name from “Ronnie Greenwell Drive” to “Ronnie Greenwell Industrial Parkway” to, finally, “Ronnie Greenwell Commerce Road.” Judge Executive William B. Haynes was approved by the entire court to talk to the Riverport Authority to help this happen. David Pace spoke to the members of Fiscal Court to request that they deed a portion of their buffer zone property along Armory Place to the Meade County Fire Protection District. This is a less than one acre piece of property which will allow access to the land Donnie Jones is selling to MCFPD for a new fire station. Pace explained there would be two restrictions on the property – no access to Hwy 710 and no resale of property for retail business. The court unanimously agreed. Dee Leezer, a resident of Whippoorwill Road, spoke to the court about a problem the residents at the end of the road have with fire protection services. She was recently told that the Payneville Fire Department, where they had been paying dues for years, could not reach their homes because the road’s bridge was unable to accommodate their equipment. After discussing various aspects of the problem, the court agreed to County Attorney Darren Sipes’ recommendation that the county surveyor establish the status of the road first. Then the road supervisor could check its condition to see if this could be resolved. Magistrate Theresa Padgett asked to address the court before they went into closed session about her concerns over Magistrate Harold Davidson’s opinion piece in the Nov. 2 issue of this paper. She questioned his cost estimates for road surfacing. Padgett had compared the prices in the neighboring counties and found chip and seal and paving to be two and three times higher in Meade County. Magistrate Herbie Chism asked if her figures were comparing the same level of work since county requirements differ. Judge Haynes said he would need to verify the pricing differences. Padgett went on to state that the lawyer who attended the October meeting to talk about municipal bonds funding for roads was unwilling to work with such an obstinate court, especially the person sitting on her left (Davidson). She asked that Davidson be removed from the municipal bond committee, but her motion did not pass due to a tied vote. Allen requested that another person be added to the committee and Magistrate Don Callecod was chosen. Davidson ended by saying he stood by his article. The court went into closed session to consider personnel issues. They returned with the decision to replace the paramedic opening with Matt Hall. Monica Gray would be taking the vacated part-time road employee position, and Shannon Luce would fill the spot on the 109 Board. The annual request from Brandenburg Mayor Ronnie Joyner for $3,000 to match the city’s funding of “Christmas By The River” was granted. Opening day events will be on Nov. 25. Planning and Zoning administrator Barbara Campbell presented the commission’s recommendation not to accept the application request from Amy Humphrey and Gordon Board to rezone Primrose Estates property from R-1 to R-4. Magistrate Padgett disagreed after checking the area and finding “mobile homes everywhere.” Magistrate Allen agreed with Padgett that it was incorrectly zoned. Campbell said that most of the property near city limits was zoned R-1 initially. Magistrate Chism moved to accept the commission’s recommendation and the court passed it. Padgett and Callecod expressed other concerns about planning and zoning. Campbell assured them that the commission is working on a comprehensive plan in an effort to address future development. The ongoing Grandview Estates problem was discussed with no solutions, but some new ideas. The law firm of Skeeters, Bennett and Wilson had sent a letter to Fiscal Court representing First Citizens Bank which owns 11 lots there. It contends that the current Fiscal Court should be obligated to pave the road due to the failure of the prior administration to follow the provisions of the Meade County Road Ordinance. Sipes suggested hiring retired Grayson County Judge Randolf Behnken to mediate the case. The court approved a $500 mediation fee limit. They also asked Fiscal Court secretary Shirley Fackler to check into the possibility that the situation might be covered by insurance. The court accepted the cheaper bid for new county garage doors from Sprigler Door Service Inc. of New Albany at a cost of $3,720. The only other offer was from Jeff Adkisson of Adkisson Overhead Door, LLC, with a bid total of $3,977. Magistrate Padgett asked if it wouldn’t be better to keep the money in the county. Magistrate Chism was confident this was a better buy since it was a heavier door at a lower price. Approval of the summary readings by Attorney Sipes of the Solid Waste Ordinance 2005-17, the E-911 Readdressing Ordinance 2005-19 and the Budget Amendment 2005-20 were done. Magistrate Padgett expressed some concern over the 30-day limit to change address numbers, especially those in concrete or brick. Mark Bennett assured her that it would not be enforced in such a way as to cause hardship for anyone. He also answered questions about the need for $75,000 to help with the initial cost of phase one of the E-911 service. Magistrate Davidson asked it to be put on record that reimbursement of the money be made to the county when feasibly possible. Workmen’s compensation claims are still causing great concern. The original budget of $139,532 has already been passed for a total of $162,674 spent this year. Magistrate Davidson agreed with Magistrate Callecod’s earlier assessment that some type of safety training needed to be held and department heads should address the problems.
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