Final Fiscal Court meeting gets exciting By JOE REDMON Judge Executive William Haynes called his final regularly scheduled Fiscal Court meeting to order Dec. 12. All magistrates were in attendance for their final meeting as a Court. The meeting began with a short signing ceremony between the Court and Agri-Fuels representative Don Martin officially purchasing acreage in the Buttermilk Falls Industrial Park. The purchase of this county-owned property and future construction of an ethanol plant was heralded by all to be a “boom” for the county economy and local farmers, generally. Martin addressed a question from a member of the public by assiduously pointing out there is “no public money,” and certainly no “county money” involved in the plant’s acquisition of land or its construction. He left open the possibility of federal or state grants in the future. Meade County Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Russ Powell was on hand for the ceremony and stayed to request tourism funds from Fiscal Court in next year’s budget. The Court didn’t want to commit the new Court to anything and Powell will have to return in the new year. Powell then did something this reporter had never witnessed: other than an elected official, I’ve never seen anyone give money to Fiscal Court. He smiled as he gave the Court some unspent state funds. The Court then approved a monthly report from Planning & Zoning Administrator Barbara Campbell to change some property zoning to R-1, appointed Peggy Darnall and Sam Jones to the library board, and appointed Bob Stith to the Extension board. Magistrate-elect Mark Hubbard’s resignation from the 109 Board was next on the agenda. He was asked by Magistrate Callecod to serve through the regularly scheduled Dec. 18 meeting of the 109 Board because Callecod had concerns over a faction of that board using Hubbard’s departure to alter recent policies. Magistrate Davidson added that he had “heard rumors” part of the 109 Board wanted to give certain employees raises, despite the current financial condition of Meade County Solid Waste & Recycle (MCSW&R). Callecod condemned “unnecessary spending on borrowed dollars” and Davidson quickly added he “didn’t see it on someone else’s money.” Magistrate Allen commented he was uncomfortable with the 109 Board receiving bids, adding the “new Court should receive bids.” Hubbard agreed to serve until Dec. 20 and will recommend his own replacement in January. E-911 committee member Bill Lacey was on hand to request support for a 20 percent matching grant in 2007. Court members agreed they didn’t want to commit the new Court to “new spending;” however, Davidson pointed out to his peers a new Court wouldn’t be bound by this commitment, unless they received the grant. Even then, a new Court and judge executive could refuse to take the grant. The resolution passed and the Court then decided to utilize the usual formula of 25 percent for each incorporated area (Brandenburg, Ekron, and Muldraugh) and 25 percent to the county government to distribute about $5,000 dollars in ADF money. The Court then approved funds for the Muldraugh Fire Department and amended two road taxing districts to correct administrative errors. Haynes then added consideration of funding for chip & seal of Medley Estates to the agenda. He contended it would be a good idea to approve $1,800 dollars to chip and seal there to avoid federal EPA fines. Magistrates spoke of there being currently “no dust problem” and the simple point that, “if they did for one they’d need to do for all.” Fiscal Court denied this motion. The recently delivered state funding for the Flaherty ball park was discussed in order to pass a resolution to receive the grant money. Callecod lamented the fact the county would need to put up funds to complete this project, as according to him, the governor was scheduled to bring extra money to complete that project. But, “when the governor arrived, he found the doors to the Courthouse locked,” and he suggested this cost the county some of that funding. Davidson added that while he “hated that it happened, but it did” and “none of us here were responsible for that.” Magistrate Padgett described the funding as being used for more than lights; there will be playground equipment involved and other upgrades to the park. The Court voted 6-1 to accept the state’s funding, with Magistrate Staples dissenting. It was during the normally routine approval of “claims and transfers” the meeting became interesting. Padgett made a motion to amend the claims and transfers to remove $100,000 dollars for the jail. The treasurer commented the $100,000 dollars was budgeted and was needed by the jailer. Callecod wondered out loud why the jailer “didn’t have his skinny butt” before the Court to request the money. Jailer Troy Seelye was not on hand to provide an explanation. Padgett added that this is indicative of Seelye’s re-election efforts to make his jail administration’s finances look better than they really are. Callecod pointed out the jail, along with the sheriff and county attorney “never” return money to county’s general fund, but the county clerk manages to return money every year. Magistrate Chism insisted a decision was made years ago to have the sheriff retain excess funding and purchase new cars, rather than having the Court fund them. The question was then called on Padgett’s motion to amend the claims and transfers to remove the $100,000 dollars for the jail and the motion failed, 3-3, with Chism, Staples, and Haynes voting against. Davidson was not present at the end of the meeting, having left early. The vote to approve all claims and transfers then failed 3-3, with Callecod, Padgett, and Allen dissenting. This immediately presented the Court with a new challenge, as this essentially meant the Court was refusing to pay the county’s bills. When it became clear there would need to be a special meeting called to remedy this situation, Allen quickly changed his vote to the affirmative, passing claims and transfers 4-2. When asked later, Padgett said she wanted to draw attention to how poorly she felt the jail was being managed. “The county pays over $400,000 per year to operate that jail but the jailer insists he’s ‘making money’ from the state!” Allen explained his changed vote by his not wanting an unnecessary meeting as the votes wouldn’t be there to force the jail to be more responsible with general fund dollars, anyway. Thus ended this Court’s official service to the county. Allen thanked the public for regular attendance, adding that it was good to see people taking the initiative to see what local government is up to. Callecod wished the new Court luck and hoped for their sake they “learn faster than we did!” The new Fiscal Court will be sworn in officially around the first of the year and will meet the second Tuesday of the month, Jan. 9. General Manager’s note on jail transfer: The jailer submitted an annual budget which was unamiously approved by Fiscal Court. The transfer of claims is a formality of tranferring the budgeted amounts from the general fund to the jail fund. There was no amendments to the orginally approved budget.
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