Supervisors Meet On Monday

The Winston County Board of Supervisors met today (Monday 6-20) in a regularly scheduled session. After approving the minutes from the previous meeting, the Board dealt with the following items:


*Dale Coward submitted a grant agreement for ongoing site work at the airport. This is site prep work for an eventual new terminal building. The grant, totaling $113054 requires that the city & county provide only 2.5 cents of every dollar spent. FAA & state dollars provide the bulk of funding. The Board approved the agreement.

Economic Development Director Gerald Mills provided economic updates including the interest of an aircraft repair business to locate at the airport and employ up to three individuals, updates on possible changes to an energy grant and the possibility of a Rural Development grant up to 30% of cost to upgrade communications repeaters. Mills also indicated that work and bids will soon begin on the $19 million cleanup of the old creosote property and that $11 million of those funds have been transferred from EPA to the Corps of Engineers in preparation. He also informed the Board that anyone working on the cleanup as a sub contractor or an employee of any kind must take a 40 hour certification class in dealing with hazardous material. ECCC is working to provide these classes locally at a cost of $400 per student. Supervisor Peterson indicated that this would likely be detrimental to local contractors due to the cost not only of the $400 class cost but the employee wages for time spent in the classroom.

Claudell Weaver and Elmetra Patterson presented a request to purchase a swing set for Dean Park to replace the previous swing that was damaged when it was removed to complete site work at the Park. Supervisors reviewed the request and indicated that County staff could build the swing frame at considerably lower costs than a purchase. The Board rendered no decision until the Park budget could be reviewed but indicated that if the budget was sufficient, the set would be built and necessary equipment purchased.

Warden Palmer of the Correctional Facility raised several issues with the Board; the first concerning medical liabilities at the jail. He presented a sample of a medical clearance form that could be implemented. Palmer indicated that the facility could be subject to medical costs and liability for inmates brought to the prison with existing medical issues. A policy could be instituted to require the arresting officer to take an inmate with an obvious medical condition to a hospital and receive clearance from a doctor before incarceration. Palmer asked the Board to consider options including a possible contract with an area doctor for medical services. Warden Palmer also indicated that there were some bookkeeping issues concerning the transfer of funds between various accounts that were causing payment issues. He indicated that the funds were available and that the Facility was in the black but that on some occasions, the funds were not available in the correct account. He brought the matter to the Board’s attention. County Attorney Hathorn will review the matter and make future recommendations. Palmer also informed the Board of several personnel medical issues.

Acting Sheriff, David Edwards indicated that the area has seen an increase in thefts, averaging 3-4 a day, and also an increase in sexual assault cases. As a result, he requested the Board to approve the hiring of Greg Clark as a part-time investigator to assist with the additional work load. The Board approved. Edwards also indicated that his office had just recently been provided with a 6 year backlog of warrants in addition to the number already in place. Due to this workload, he requested current part –time help be changed to full time. The Board also approved this measure. Edwards indicated that there was likely in excess of $3 million in outstanding warrants.

An Attorney General’s Opinion concerning redistricting was also discussed. The opinion indicated that the AG believes that the upcoming election should be held based on the existing district lines and that the AG will resist attempts to do otherwise in court action.

Supervisors accepted bids on the following for the 2011-2012 year: hot & cold mix, slag, pest control, plastic pipe, road gravel and chemicals, The county received no bids on lawn service and rejected the bid on CRS-2 (sealing emulsion) preferring to go to an “as needed basis” for the product.

The Board also approved a 10 year tax exemption for $175000 of equipment purchased by Polo and reviewed with Emergency Management Director, Clarence Kelly, the status of cable and antennas on existing towers, the corrected position of the repeater at Noxapater and the purchase and painting of a Suburban from the Forestry Commission for use by Emergency Management.

Supervisors approved a request (after some debate) to pay the employers’ share of retirement on fee based income from the Chancery and Circuit Clerk. A recent law changed allowed this action.

Further updates on redistricting indicated that full metes and bounds descriptions of district lines should be completed within a short period of time.

In additional action, the Board approved a 16th section lease and approved a County resolution to commit $25000 to E911 mapping as part of a grant proposal in conjunction with the City of Louisville.

The Board’s next meeting is scheduled for July 5th.