BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
The Transportation Committee of Barren County Fiscal Court spent more than two hours on Wednesday morning learning primarily about vehicles and equipment that could possibly be declared as surplus, purchase and/or lease options for other equipment and trucks, and the process that should be followed before the county should take over responsibility for maintaining a roadway.
The meeting took place at the Road Department facility off Ky. 249 and drew three magistrates – Marty Kinslow, Brad Groce and Tim Durham – besides the three committee members – Tim Coomer, chair, Derek Pedigo and Ronnie Stinson – plus the judge-executive. The magistrates not on the committee, however, did not participate in the discussions so as to avoid violating the Kentucky Open Meetings Act, because their presence constituted a quorum of the full fiscal court. Most had left before the committee adjourned. The committee itself took no formal votes but appeared to reach a consensus on at least one item. Another meeting is likely prior to the fiscal court’s next regular meeting Feb. 28 to finalize some decisions on recommendations to make to the full fiscal court for its consideration.
Kevin Myatt, planning director for the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County, kicked off the meeting with a discussion of the requirements for and the steps that should precede the county’s acceptance of a road for county maintenance.
Developers of a subdivision just east of the soccer complex along Ky. 1297 have asked for the county to take over maintenance of the three streets – Annette Lane, Christopher Avenue and Jessica Avenue, Myatt said.
Jamie DeGroft, road supervisor, said he had taken a close look at the ditching, which would be adopted along with any street, and had walked on the streets, where he saw a few potential problem spots that he felt were likely to result in pot holes sooner rather than later.
Jamie DeGroft, Barren County road supervisor, discusses the question of when or whether the county should take over maintenance for particular roads during Wednesday morning’s meeting of the Barren County Fiscal Court Transportation Committee. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
Myatt said that when the fiscal court is ready to consider accepting maintenance of the streets, they need to notify his office, after which a final inspection will be done, and then the county has 45 days to make a decision. He encouraged all those present to go take a look and, if there are issues they believe need to be addressed, e.g. seed or grass blankets in one or more ditch locations to minimize erosion, the time to have the property owner do that is before the county agrees to maintain it.
Generally, though, if the road meets the requirements set forth in subdivision regulations, the county would need to adopt it unless there is a public safety issue, such as water backing up into people’s homes, he said.
In the past, it has happened that the county would agree to take over maintenance when a subdivision was still under development and then the roadway would quickly deteriorate due to the amount of heavy-vehicle traffic. He said there is currently no rule here regarding how much of a subdivision has to be completed, but it could be added if desired.
Myatt also mentioned that this same type of consideration will come up before long with the new residential subdivision being developed along Ky. 90, just north of the airport, and he discussed anticipated growth in the area due to industrial developments coming along the Interstate 65 corridor and cautioned the fiscal court members to be smart about how residential development occurs.
Susan Gibson, administrative manager at the Road Department, had drafted a list of potential items to be declared as surplus, discussing the issues with each and why they are not in use. For example, one dump truck has metal shavings in the fuel system and another has a transmission issue.
In total, there were four dump trucks, an oil distribution truck that had been struck by lightning and on which the oil flow could not be properly controlled, and two pickup trucks.
“This is just a starting point,” she said.
Pedigo suggested a place that might be able to make repairs to at least one of the dump trucks and get it running at least well enough to use it as a trade-in rather than auctioning as surplus.
Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd said she had notified some of the other department heads to be getting their lists together because she’d like to shoot for having an auction in April, if possible, and the fiscal court would need to vote on them at either the February or March meeting.
Gibson had procured a quote either purchasing or leasing a Caterpillar 308 miniexcavator at state-contract pricing, and considerable discussion ensued on whether purchasing or leasing would be better; the consensus seemed to be that the latter would be the better option, at least in this case and possibly with some of the other items discussed next, but Coomer asked DeGroft to talk with a neighboring county that had recently purchased a Caterpillar 306, a smaller version of the one being sought, for some comparative information.
A quote had also been obtained for a pickup truck and one for a tandem dump truck, which again led to purchase versus lease discussion. Other quotes will be obtained for the pickup truck that would primarily be used by someone following a mowing crew, and Gibson said the county will likely have to advertise for bids on the dump truck, because the quote(s) received were “borderline” at the $30,000 threshold at which that’s required.
Neither the committee members nor the judge-executive expressed disagreement with rehiring a specific person named who has worked for the department before and was said to have done a good job; he wants to return as a seasonal worker, and Byrd asked Gibson to get her the wording for an advertisement so that two more seasonal workers can he hired for mowing season.
The group also heard a preliminary proposal with regard to the possibility of getting an additional shelter in which to store road salt. The one they have now holds about 300 tons, and the new one would hold about 600 tons. DeGroft said it could allow them to store all of what they would need for a season at one time, and it would be helpful to know before the salt auction in May whether they would getting it.
The consensus appeared to be that this purchase could wait until at least the next fiscal year’s budget.
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