BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ, Ky. — A new “In God We Trust” sign watched over the proceedings of Thursday’s meeting of the Martin County Fiscal Court. The court dealt with new hires and appointments along with financial business. The meeting concluded with Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty warning copper wire thieves that their crimes would not be tolerated.
The court voted to hire Jackie Maynard as an executive secretary. She will also assume the duties of occupational tax coordinator.
The county has applied for a grant to pay for election poll booths. The grant would reimburse up to $27,000 spent on the election equipment.
The court voted to reallocate $65,000 in coal severance funds for an HVAC system in the Martin County Historic Courthouse. The funds were allocated for use last year but, due to red tape surrounding the installation, were not used before being automatically returned to the Fiscal Court account.
The court conducted a budget amendment reading to increase expenditures by $197,400 for renovating the heating and cooling system in the Annex Building.
“They are having difficulty even having court over there at times,” Judge Lon Lafferty emphasized the importance of the proposed expenditure. “It’s a lot of money. It’s a big project. We have to bring cranes in and all that to do it. When I heard that $197,000 figure, I thought, ‘Wow,’ but that is necessary to fix it.”
The state will reimburse the county’s cost.
The court voted to allow Judge Lafferty to advertise bidding for county park maintenance.
The court approved a resolution with the Division of Waste Management to conduct a tire cleanup around the county.
The Martin County Jail Board received two appointments at Thursday night’s meeting. The Fiscal Court approved the reappointment of Brad Preece and the new appointment of Billy Patrick.
Dealing with financials, the court approved the list of claims and appropriations transfers.
After dealing with the agenda items, the court discussed infrastructural issues in the county, including bridge projects and the need for new light posts in Warfield Park. One post has recently fallen, and according to District 5 Magistrate Ronald Workman, it is likely that all of the posts have dry-rotted with age.
Judge Lafferty mentioned the condition of state Route 292 between Warfield and Big Elk. Because of the severe damage to the road and the risk it presents to school buses, Lafferty believes there is an urgent and immediate need for the state to repair and repave the road.
The county garage currently has no mechanic and is accepting applications.
District 2 Magistrate Kermit Howell noted his district is the only district in the county that does not have a park. Lafferty agreed that improving parks and recreation in the county is a priority.
“The monies that we get and that we do have, we absolutely have to spend wisely towards a view of the future that’s going to benefit our people and especially our children,” said Lafferty. “They are the future. They’re the ones that are going to be living here 20, 30, 40, 50 years. It’s just important that we do a lot of thinking about those things and spend the money that’s available to us very wisely.”
District 1 Magistrate Cody Slone said the restrooms at Inez Park are in disrepair and need repairs.
Lafferty agreed.
Slone also mentioned the failure of the sewer lift station at Saltwell, saying he had spoken with Deputy Judge/Executive Carolea Mills about a grant that former Judge Colby Kirk had worked on.
“I think it was through the Cleaner Water Act for $600,000 to repair the sewer plant,” Slone said. “I just wanted to make sure we were looking into that.”
Slone added, “I think it was actually $700,000 through the Cleaner Water Act for upgrades specifically at the plant.”
According to Slone, in the last water board meeting, the board members acted confused about funds “promised” by the late Judge Victor Slone for water system renovations.
Slone also brought up Alliance Water Resource manager Craig Miller’s proposal to see the Fiscal Court, the City of Inez and the Martin County Water District each contributing $15,000 to fund engineering plans for a complete overhaul of the water and sewer systems along with the sidewalks in Inez. The plans would be used for applying for grant funding for the project.
“If I’m not mistaken, Inez is one of our worst areas,” said Slone. “We still have concrete asbestos lines running from Evans.”
Slone emphasized the value of this project not only to Inez but to the entire county.
“Your water on Wolf Creek runs through those old asbestos lines in Inez,” said Slone.
Lafferty told Slone he was negotiating for funding to fix the water system.
“It’s going to take a very large amount of money, and nothing else is going to do it. It’s going to take a minimum of $60 million, if not $70 million, to make a difference,” said Lafferty.
“As a physician, I’ve been talking about this from day one. Those lines absolutely have to be replaced. And I don’t see that replacing lines in Warfield or anywhere else makes any difference until we get the lines in Inez. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”
The judge announced that he had a meeting planned for the following week to negotiate funding for the water system and would report back.
Slone motioned to allocate $15,000 of the county’s ARPA funds to the engineering plan.
“I make a motion to table it,” District 4 Magistrate Junior Hunt said. “In my opinion, we’ve given them too much money already.”
Without a second, Slone’s motion failed.
Lafferty brought up the recent outbreak of copper wire theft in the county, which has left much of the county without phone service for long periods. Lafferty spoke directly to the individuals committing the theft, stressing the danger in which they are putting elderly and isolated members of the community who do not have cell service at their homes to access essential services like 911.
The meeting concluded with Lafferty recognizing members of the executive staff. He recognized Carolea Mills for her acceptance into the National Association of Counties BRECC Coalition. Lafferty read from the Mountain Citizen article on her acceptance into the program.