BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — The Martin County Economic Development Authority (EDA) has selected Gibson Taylor Thompson Architecture & Design (GTT) to determine the feasibility of renovating the historic Inez Deposit Bank.

The Lexington-based firm was chosen during the EDA board meeting July 10, following a recommendation from EDA director Carolea Mills.

“I really like this group,” Mills stated. “They came here. They have experience and can tell us if we can save the building or not.”

GTT has quoted a fee range of $24,000 to $28,000 for architectural work and $3,500 to $4,500 for structural work. Mills addressed board concerns about the cost, clarifying that if the firm identifies major issues early on, charges would be billed hourly, allowing the EDA to withdraw from the project quickly.

“The most it would cost us is thirty-some thousand dollars, but we need to know if it’s safe to be saved or not,” explained Mills. “It’s just too scary of a building to open up from a liability standpoint.”

Funding for the project will be sourced from “the House Bill economic development—our coal severance money for business,” Mills noted, ensuring it will not impact the general account.

Board member Brad Pack inquired about the ultimate goal for the building.

Mills responded, “The end goal would be to have a business downstairs and housing upstairs. There is a historical vault there. We want to get to it and be able to save it, but no one has even been in the building. It’s collapsed; the roof is collapsed.”

The 2-story, 3,000-square-foot building at 63 E. Main Street was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was donated to the EDA by Jim and Linda Booth.

“If it is not salvageable, we don’t need another building in our downtown that can’t be used,” Mills stated. “Somebody else has to tell us if it can be saved and how much it will cost, and this group should be able to come back to the board.”

Mills contacted the Kentucky Historical Society to obtain a list of experienced firms for the project.

“Not everyone can do this work; it’s not like just getting a general contractor from here,” she said. “These people have done it. I even asked if we could save just the front façade—tear the whole back down. You can absolutely do that. They’ve done this before in Louisville and other towns.”

According to GTT’s proposal, the firm can begin work immediately.

Downtown properties

Mills also announced that Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty and the Martin County Fiscal Court intend to transfer ownership of the seven dilapidated downtown properties that the county recently acquired from R&J Development to the EDA. Three of those properties contain two-story commercial buildings, for which Mills said the goal is the same: leasing to businesses on the bottom floors and having housing on the second floors. The county has applied for a $10,000 Center for Rural Development flexi grant to pay the architect, which is Gibson Taylor Thompson.

“It will pay an architect to come in and do a schematic of a master plan of what we want our downtown to look like,” said Mills. “Can we save the buildings that are there? Are we going to tear them down? Do you want a fountain? Do you want green space? It would be important for the Economic Development Authority to be a part of that. We’re going to have a few community meetings where we will talk about what we want Inez to look like. [The architect] should be able to turn that around in the next four to six weeks.”

Mills added that grants are available to the EDA that are not available to private entities.

Other business

In other business, the EDA:

•Approved the transfer of property adjacent to Martin County High School to the board of education. (See the related story.)

•Approved repairs of HVAC units at the spec building on Honey Branch.

•Approved a draft audit of its financial statement. According to the audit, the authority receives 92.1% of its operating budget from rental income from two lessees—the state of Kentucky for $33,298 and a health care center for $2,800 a month. For the year ended June 2023, the EDA received $278,430 in rent, $2,988 in gas royalties, $18,332 in other income and $2,499 in interest, totaling $302,249. Operations costs came to $187,126. Cash balances June 30, 2023, consisted of checking of $427,611, savings of $219,681, and certificates of deposit of $172,373, totaling $819,664.

•Heard from Mills on One East Kentucky CEO Colby Kirk’s proposal to develop a marketing video to show at trade shows. Mills said Kirk initially requested the EDA pay half the $12,000 cost but was able to secure a donation from the Highlands Foundation to cover all costs. The video will be filmed in August.

“We’ve actually shown the building about seven times,” said Mills. “There are people who are interested in.”

Board member Ryan Wilson asked if none of the seven industries were interested in leasing the building. Mills replied that some of those were not “a good fit—not enough jobs.”

“That building is beautiful and is set for manufacturing,” said Mills. “It needs to be creating 40-50 jobs at least … According to Colby, our building is the nicest around. It’s really top of the line.”

•Received an update on the stage behind the government center and new signage at the business center. Mills announced that stone would underpin the new stage within the week and that new signage was complete. 

•Voted to redo the garbage enclosure behind the business center.

The EDA’s next meeting is Aug. 14 at 5:30 p.m. in the Martin County Government Center.