Barren County Treasurer Jenny Hoffman reviews paperwork during Tuesday's Barren County Fiscal Court meeting. Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
County Treasurer Jenny Hoffman advised Barren County Fiscal Court on Tuesday that the county has been approved to receive a total of $100,000 over two years from the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund. The county received notification of this Sept. 29, she said.
A total of $2 billion was appropriated for the fund to be distributed in the 2022 and 2023 calendar years across the nation to eligible revenue-sharing counties and tribal governments for use in their general funds on any governmental purpose other than lobbying.
“The program is designed in part to supplement existing federal programs [and/or] stabilize revenues for these communities,” Hoffman said. “It’s not like a grant or anything we have to apply for. It’s money that is already awarded to us.”
She said it has to be deposited in a separate bank account, so she needed permission to set that up before the county can accept the funds.
“This is totally different from the [American Rescue Plan Act] money, so don’t get that confused,” Hoffman said.
The fiscal court agreed to allow the new account. This and all other votes discussed in this report were unanimous.
Fiscal court committee reports during the meeting included and/or led to the following:
— The Administrative and Budget Committee met Monday afternoon will all three members present, Magistrate Jeff Botts, the chairman, said. They opened the only sealed bid received for janitorial services for the courthouse, and it was for $5,345 per month from New Covenant, which currently is contracted to provide the service. The committee recommended approving it and the full fiscal court approved it as well.
The fiscal court also approved other items the committee had discussed all pertaining to the sheriff’s office — to apply for a total of $38,219 in grant funds; to enter a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a member of the Barren County Sheriff’s Office to join a task force; to sell a surplus vehicle; to transfer three Microsoft Surface Pro tablets that are “aging out” but still in “decent working shape” to Barren County Emergency Management; and to update the agreement with Barren County Schools to adjust the number of elementary school resource officers from three to four.
Sheriff Kent Keen said the FBI had contacted law enforcement agencies across the state to propose partnering in a task force focused on child exploitation and human trafficking.
“Those numbers are growing quite extensively, and it affects every community in the commonwealth and also the United States,” he said.
The agreement lets one employee of the office assist in investigations of that type and also provides a gateway for the sheriff’s office to access some of the FBI’s data. This particular task force would cover 16 counties, and it will likely take four to six months to get it set up due to the extensive background checks on personnel the FBI requires. The FBI reimburses roughly $19,000 toward the sheriff’s office’s expenses to pay for the hours the assigned personnel spend on the investigations.
— Magistrate Trent Riddle, who chairs the ARPA Committee, said they had discussed some applications for funding that had been received, and there were some questions that needed to be answered to ensure those applying are qualified to receive the funds, and he hoped they could get the health care sector applications resolved by the next meeting.
— Magistrate Tim Coomer, chair of the Building and Property Committee, reported that the company had come last week to start working on an ongoing water-infiltration issue at the Barren County Health Department, but once they saw how the concrete wall was attached to the wall, and they didn’t feel comfortable digging trenches with that scenario, so they wanted to build braces to make sure the wall doesn’t fall while they’re working. This would cost an additional $8,297.85. He said he had a commitment from the district health department office to pay half of that, which would bring Barren County’s bill portion to $15,432.38. The original bid called for some tile to be removed and replaced but they determined that there was water under the old tile, and Coomer said they thought it best to make sure the water issue is actually resolved before dealing with the tile. The expenditure for the other work was approved.
— Magistrate Kenneth Sartin, chairman of the Jail Committee, said the jail needs a new dishwasher, noting the current one has lasted about 10 years. Jailer Aaron Bennett said the one they have now has been good, and handles at least 300 trays a day plus all the pots and pans used daily. That’s Hobart AF 15, and the cheapest one they could find is $11,534.60. He looked at the possibility of an upgrade but it costs more than $15,000 but has the exact same specifications, so he was just requesting the cost of another Hobart, which was approved.
Other business included several relatively routine matters as well as the following:
— Acknowledgment of receipt of sheriff’s official receipt of tax bills for 2022, a total $29,517,404.95, and
— Approval the first of two readings required to change the speed limit for the entire length on Groce Cemetery Road to 25 miles per hour.
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