BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ, Ky. — Martin County Water District voted to back-date a contract to lease five vehicles from the financially struggling sewer district for $1 a month.
Jimmy Don Kerr, the chairperson of both district boards, said in a water board meeting last month that a question arose about the water district “using” the sewer district’s trucks.
The question Kerr referred to arose in October 2022 when the water board approved a $6,200 repair bill for a 2017 Dodge RAM 2500 owned by Martin County Sanitation District.
The newspaper made an Open Records request for documents, which the water district’s attorney, Brian Cumbo, answered by sending a copy of an unsigned lease agreement between the water and sewer districts dated “2018.” The unsigned document stated that the sewer district would lease five 2017 model vehicles to the water district for $1 a month.
“Me and John Paul remember that we had signed an agreement,” Kerr told board members. “Well, we received an open records request from the Mountain Citizen, and in trying to find those records, we could not find the signed agreement. We found the agreement. I remember signing it, but we could not find the signed agreement inside the water office. So, we brought this today just to make sure we go ahead and get it in the minutes. We’re just going to ratify it here again to make sure we have it in the minutes and to make sure we have a signed copy.”
Board member Nina McCoy questioned the 2018 date reflected in the contract.
Cumbo stated the board could update the date.
“But I think it’s important that it reflect the effective date that the original agreement was signed,” Cumbo said. “There is nothing wrong with dating it for today, but there is a place in there that indicates for what period of time the lease begins. It needs to reflect the date when everyone signed the original contract.”
McCoy asked why the lease was for $1.
“I mean, the water district is flush, but the sewer district is not,” said McCoy.
Alliance manager Craig Miller stated the sewer district received a USDA loan for the vehicles. He added that he did not know the legalities of “selling” them to the water district. However, Miller did not answer McCoy’s question about why the lease price could not be more than $1.
“The water district owns nothing,” Miller announced. “They don’t own any vehicles.”
Vehicles listed in the lease agreement:
• 2017 Ram 2500
• 2017 Ram 5500
• 2017 Ram 3500
• 2017 Ram 2500
• 2017 Kubota
In December, Alliance management noted the sanitation district needs three trucks to operate. The sanitation district owns the four trucks listed in the lease agreement, three of which the water district uses.
While the water district sold a bond series last spring to secure a loan to pay off $1 million in outstanding vendor debt, the sanitation district’s outstanding vendor debt grew to $489,441 in December 2022 from $140,941 three years ago.
