Fiscal Court - Regular Meeting

Okay. All right. We are live. We will call this meeting of the B County Fiscal Court January 13, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. uh to order. Madame Clerk, has this meeting been advertised? And do we have a quorum? Yes. All right. [clears throat] Uh, with that being said, uh, Magister Ellis, would you have our invocation, please?

I'd be honored, judge. Thank you. Please bow in prayer. Heavenly [snorts] Father, we're entering a new year with, I'm sure, new [snorts] issues for the constituents that we meet here today and throughout the year to do all we can to meet their needs. Please give us guidance and grace as we work to do [snorts] the will of the people. And Lord, there's strife and concerns all around the world. We have troops needing protection. We have folks trying to resolve those issues. [clears throat] Please guide them in their work. Please bless our proceedings today in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Melis. At this time, we have two Bull County students, uh, Aaliyah Stigall and Casey Ker. And are both of you seniors? Yes. Okay. So, seniors from Bull County High School, they're going to lead us in the pledge. If everyone will stand. I al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. And you all may be seated. And Aaliyah, we we um did not know that Casey was coming and so I apologize, but we're going to get her a certificate. But Aaliyah, we have you a certificate of recognition for leading the court in the pledge. And if you'll just stand here and look at Miss Julie, she's going to get a picture. Go ahead. You have Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. There we go. Wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. One more. Got it. Congratulations. Thank you. Appreciate it. You all can go ahead. You all can stay or YOU ALL CAN LEAVE and go back to school. [laughter]

Thank you all. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Okay. Uh approve our prior meeting minutes. We have minutes from December 22nd special call meeting. Make that motion. Motion by magistrate Cullen. Second by second Mr. Gay. Is there any discussion? Yeah. Um, I don't recall exactly if it was in the motion to table the cat policy matter that we discussed, but I it was me it was mentioned by Madagas that we um make sure we do address that before months end. So, I'd like to see that get inserted. Okay. Is that on page three?

It's under my uh report section. I'm not sure what page is. Okay. Yeah, three and four. Okay. So you want it what add it exactly that it's that the court would address these matters regard regarding the cap policy uh before the end of the month. But we have to get it on the next agenda. Be on the next agenda. Yes. Okay. Thanks. Yes. Okay. Any other discussion or comments? Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any oppose? Nay. Motion [clears throat] carries. Thank you. Approve budget transfers. Miss Shannon, I have budget transfers of $7,826.80. [clears throat] Make a motion to approve the budget transfers as presented. Second.

Okay. We have a motion by Master Gay, second by Master Sleeper. Any discussion on the budget transfer? Seeing none, all those in [clears throat] favor, let's um signify. My mind just went [laughter] blank. I mean, it just went blank. Say I went to [laughter] that gets worse. THAT GETS WORSE. OH MY GOSH. IT JUST WENT TOTAL BLANK.

All right. Approved cash transfers. We have $266,6795 from occupational checks to the general fund. We have 75,000 from the general fund to the road fund, 200,000 from the general fund to jail, 125,000 from the general fund to EMS, [snorts] and then 16,60660 from the opioid fund to the EMS for the social worker salary. Okay, that's it. There a motion to approve. Make a motion. Modern. Is there a second?

Second. Mr. Cullen. Any discussion? [clears throat] All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Nice. Motion carries. Thank you. Now we approve our bills. Miss Elena. Good morning. Good morning. Morning.

So today's bill packet will total $737,654.19. And today our enterprise bill was posted this morning. So I'd like to go ahead and add that on there as well. Um that is $9,83843. That's going to bring your grand total to $747,49262. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the bills with that addition? Yes, I'll make that motion. Master Gay, is there a second? Second,

Mr. Cohen. Is there any discussion? You'll see throughout the um packet that there are several uh third quarter allocations. I just wanted to bring that to your attention. [cough and clears throat] Okay, no comments. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Motion carries. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Under new business, uh we have county clerk Casey McCoy present his 2026 budget. Back there can stand up.

You can have safety. Okay. Okay.

[snorts] Well, while we're [clears throat] getting Casey, we can move on to the next. Uh, we have two appointments this morning. We have a reappoint uh to the Parksville Water District and a reappoint to the board of health. Uh, we have Harold McKenna. I'm checking to see if he's back there. Okay, we're going to go ahead and do our appointments. Thank you. Har McKenna is here to be reappointed to the Parksville Water Board. Um I'd like a motion to move approve. Minister Ellis, second by Minister Bo Bner. Um all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Nay.

Motion carries. Harold, if you will come up and receive your certificate. This what I came for [laughter] my picture made with you. And you just volunteered to serve until January the 13th of 2030. [laughter] I'll be almost 60 years old. [laughter] There we go. Good. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate your serving. Okay. Take that frame. Thank you all for your service. Judge Harold, um, since you're now on the Parksville board, um, if you got a big shovel, our water line went out on Cwell [laughter] and there's a ditch that's open now.

I'm on the publicity side, not [laughter] Thank you all very much. I'm going to leave. That's okay. Oh, you don't want to say be entertained? Not really. [laughter] PTSD. And then next we have Agnes Bartlesson. And uh I'd like to uh receive approval for her to be reappointed to the Bull County Board of Health and Okay. Master Gates. They have a master voter. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Name. Motion carries. Miss Agnes, we have reappointed you uh with a term ending December 30th, 2027. [laughter]

Charlie's not on our game this day. I don't know why. [laughter] All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate you serving. Thank you. Thanks for Thank you for bringing her. Thank you. Thank you. All right. You need [laughter]

All right, Casey, you're up. Yes, sir. Get you the rubber mallet. [laughter] Thanks for voting me up to the top. Got a funeral I got to go to this afternoon. So, no problem. Um I'm just here to present our the county clerk's office 2026 budget uh for the fiscal year um which expand fees from during the county year 2026 at 796,000 [clears throat] um for deputies assistants and other employees. Okay. So, you're presenting a budget and salary cap, correct? Okay.

So, we [clears throat] understand we need to we need to approve the budget. I'll make a motion to approve the budget. Okay. Second. Motion by Master Gay, second by Master Boner. Any discussion on the budget? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? Nay. Uh motion passes. Okay. Then we have a order setting the um maximum salary for the clerk's office. You said 796,000. Okay. Motion to approve salary cap. So moved. Master Gay. Second. Second by Master Harmon. Any discussion on salary cap?

Seeing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? Name. Motion. Thank you, sir. down from last year. So, I'll see. Okay, I'll get that uh later. Okay. All right. Good. I'm gonna have that. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next step, we have parks and rec director Tommy Bart. I can get it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, judge. M good to see you this morning.

I'm here for for on some information uh for you all. We uh Parks and Wreck have been talking with the city about doing some uh spring cleaning out at the fairgrounds. Um and so we're exploring options cuz we don't quite know how to do it. We don't know if, you know, we pay somebody to to pull some of this stuff down or would they pay us to pull it down. So we're kind of really just exploring it, kind of get your opinion on it. Um, but what we're doing, if I could walk back here, I guess it'll be easier to point. Uh, this the long rectangle [snorts] building up here in the corner, that's not the show barn. That's that wooden barn. And it's kind of fallen off of its studs, and it's kind of pretty dangerous, [clears throat] but it it looks like it's a lot of nice recycled wood that like a lot of people use now. So, we're looking at maybe uh putting that out uh as surplus. And then right here is a small little but it's actually a real big pile of boulders uh that they pulled when they did the tennis courts. Um we'd like to surplus them cuz a lot of people have been talking about they'd like them. Some landscaping companies like them and we actually talked with uh uh the u uh the Pine Knob uh trail builders about if they would like them out at Pine Knob. So, um, we might might be able to put them out there. And then on this fairground road, there's a really old fence that's falling apart, if you know what I'm talking about. Uh, it's the [clears throat] same wood as that building. We're hopefully we're looking to uh, surplus that out and maybe get some people that might want the wood or would actually like to recycle it. And the other thing we're looking into is Josh Morgan, the city engineer, is talking with the fair board about those bleachers, what we want to do with those. Um, uh, we've heard that maybe they want them in the new fair site. Uh, we don't know, but he's working with them, but we just want to make sure you know what we're doing. If

you have any objections or if you guys have any ideas of what we can do with that stuff, uh, we'd want to let you know. Uh, the last thing we're doing is the two buildings in the middle that are still standing. Um, we are You can point at them over there because cuz we can't see them behind us.

Yeah, I'm sorry if I come back to you. These these two buildings here um are still uh here. And where's the other one? Yeah, here and here are still in use. Uh we rent uh we rent one out to uh the baseball [snorts] team and the other is used by the uh by the fair um or I'm sorry by 4. We're going to try to paint those that match the way you guys did the shelters out there. So, they just need a coat of paint slapped on. We're hoping to get that done this spring. Is at least one of those a metal barn metal? Yeah, those are both the metal barn with concrete floor. Uh I Yeah, I think the one the one in the middle had a concrete floor.

See, in an odd thing of survey, we own the corner of that building. Really, Brad? Okay. No, the top one is the one that we own. The one to the right. pavilion. We own just a slate quarter. Yeah, the one right in the middle by the tennis court. No, no, to the right. Okay. Okay. Well, on that note, I still would like us with this visual up there. It's a good time, I think, to maybe bring it up real quick. Is is I still would like us to um really push it down the road to make that all Millennium Park. Right. Correct.

And that way it wouldn't be this who owns what it's joint. It will be jointly owned by the city and the county. The city put in the fairgrounds property. The county [snorts] put in Whites Park and whatever else is left and and we it's all taxpayer property anyway, but it ought to just be an expansion of Millennium Park. Then we [clears throat] get rid of these boundary lines out there. Yeah, that's a discussion we need to have. It is. So, it's more on the city side because they own a lot more. I mean, Weiss Park is just a small little couple acres and they own all that other stuff. I don't know if they would just

want to schedule a little work session, try to get with the city and just Good. Let's do that. Talk the ins and outs of it. Okay. Does the city solely own the big wooden barns up there in the corner? Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, that's not part of Whites Park. Knowing uh the Amish and others uh the selling price of lineal foot of barnwood if it's in any kind of condition is pretty good. Um you ask for ideas. It's yours, not ours, [cough] but I put a [clears throat] bid process out and they have a capability of taking them down. So they'd probably be a lead bidder.

Right. Correct. And that's I think that's what the city engineer plans to do is kind of feel out and put it out to bid. Um, I I agree. I think that I've just seen that recycled wood used lots of places. I think either either they would take it down for free for the wood or maybe even pay something for it. Yeah. Um, yes. With that said, the other thing we me and Julie, me and the city engineer meeting today also discuss Allen Springs uh operations uh and budget. So, so I can get you the parks and wreck budget here hopefully uh by the end of the month. By Alen Springs, you mean the new park.

The new park. folks. Uh, anybody who missed that dedication yesterday and my seatmate Paula Bodner is almost solely responsible for us getting that. Um, just congratulations to everybody, Tommy, you as well, everybody who worked on that. Just tremendous for this community. Yeah, we're excited about that. It's be great. So, [clears throat] with that, if you don't have any questions, u, all right, thank you, Tom. Appreciate the update and we'll see you soon on get that meeting [clears throat] scheduled. Judge, the only thing when Julie, when you're putting a meeting together, is it just you and the judge going to maybe feel out to see what the I'm uh asking Earl to help us assemble a small working group to work on that

and and maybe a couple of you, a couple of them and see if we can and incorporate the um Okay. So, is that premature? Maybe you and judge go talk with Earl to see if there's a a desire from the city to do it and then if there is I think when we had that working session at Jenny Rogers everybody said yes that's something we need to talk about and that was a joint meeting if y'all remember that came up and it was like yeah we need to and revamping the whole parks function of how that committee works we just do it all at one time. Yeah, we talked about also reestablishing kind of a joint city county park committee

that we had back in the early days of Millennium Park in the early days of that to be an expansion of that now that we could have a expanded version of Millennium Park to uh talk about how to jointly fund projects within that space. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, it was a favorable discussion. Yeah. No, that's right. That's correct. All the commissioners present were very open to that dialogue and then the holidays came and then we just didn't get it scheduled. So we have been back on that for that advisory board to come back. We're waiting on uh something from the city manager.

Yes. All right. Good on that. All right. Moving on. We have county surveyor Rich Murphy. Welcome. Thank you. is on this one page right now. Yes. Good morning everyone. Morning.

There's a I think there was three projects on their schedule to talk about, but I wanted to withdraw two of them. Um the first one is the Stewart's Lane. We were going to talk about that. Um the reason for the withdrawal is we had um we talked with Trillian. We had some last minute um edits to the right of way with that they want to set that they want to subdivide it off. So, and I talked with Fulkar and they didn't have enough time yet to revise. They're still working on the revision. So, we'll reschedule the Steuart's Lane one for the next meeting. So, I'd like to withdraw it from from this one. Okay, that's fine. Um I believe the next one on the list is the 125 East Main Street survey that we're working on. Yes.

Um that one I would like to withdraw also for now. The reason for that is there's some overlap in the of uh property like deed overlap in uh the corner that um Chris Heron the attorney is working on getting resolved to try and get um quick claim deeds and everything established. So we figured it'd probably be um yeah you have the copies there too around um it shows the little bit of the overlap in the one corner and um we're working on getting that resolved. So, I'm hoping that by the next meeting we can get it back on there and have a clean copy of it where where this is.

I would like to add I'm Jenny around the assistant so I've met with Chris about this. He he understands to be resolved to be fully addressed but he has met with both of the property owners and they have both agreed um after getting a written explanation and agreement that they will claim the property over. Right. They're both in agreement. So hopefully when it's uh brought back all that will okay then I'll talk with Chris and once those documents are signed I'll get copies of those add them to this exit the deep the recorded book and information on this plat so everything will be cleaned up and resolved and I'll probably get that in the next one as well. Yeah. Great.

Um the one the last one on the list is the Ghost Pike Convenience Center that uh we completed the survey for. Um there was no issues with that whatsoever. the deed. Uh, which is kind of surprising for for usually there's overlaps. There's other issues to kind of work through. This was very straightforward as far as survey goes. We found um the pins all the pins were exit. They were buried and stuff there, but we found all the the pins from a uh survey 20 years ago or whatever. So, we've got reestablished those. We have them all marked up and everything and we didn't see any issues with anything there. And um I think you all have a copy of that survey and it has been recorded and I've given Juliet a official recorded copy of it as well on that. So and it's on file in the clerk's office as well.

Do you need us to take any action on it? There's no action on it. That's just more for information and uh submitt. Okay. I've met with Rich and we have discussed all three of these plants um earlier in the month. So, um, I'm happy to hear, Jenny, about the quick plan deed on on the East Main property. So, that's that's good. Very good. All right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you, everyone. All right. Next up, Arts Commission Director Mimi Becker. Good morning. Good morning. Um, it is always a pleasure to actually I think these meetings are fascinating. [laughter]

If I had nothing else to do, I would probably attend on a regular basis. I'd become the Wilma Brown of the [laughter] court since she's moved away. Nobody, you know. Anyway, um I always appreciate also uh your support um through of our work. Uh we continue the pro the projects and the programs and always are adding new. Uh we supported music at Parable Festival. We supported music at um the balloon uh event and um also certainly I cannot mention can't leave um Constitution Square Festival allowing us to continue to to bring that back and to partner as we do with you all in use of the property and obviously Farmers Market. Um, and if you have, you know, I don't know if you've heard, but in our fourth year at Constitution Square Festival, we moved from a 2500 attendance in the first year when I didn't even think anybody would come and didn't have portaotties or anything, [laughter] you know. So, all of a sudden, here we are this last year at 9,900 attendance. Um, so we're very grateful to Whitaker Bank and to you all for the major support and the partnership with the farmers market. So, with that being said, um, one of our privileges as the arts commission is to name the arts citizen of the year for Dane and Bole County. Um, typically we do name one person and perhaps an organization, but this year we chose to name two because we felt it was uh, high time. Um, the first person who we named um, Paula Meccus could not be here. She is uh uh her service to our community is extensive in the arts primarily uh at KSD. She was a teacher there for 35 years and was responsible pretty much for getting arts accessible to those students. Um performances, guest speakers, guest visitors, tickets to things, uh programming. It's it's was amazing what she could do. She also was

able to uh devote her time to choreographing either at community theaters or high schools uh working with the students. Currently, she is [snorts] the uh co-coordinator of the parks and recreation dance program at Jenny Rogers Community Center. They serve 75 to 80 kids each term. Uh so her her involvement in the community is extensive. She still is kind of employed. Uh today she said uh she could not come today because she supervises a uh student teacher in Madison County. Uh she continues her work with deaf education and the student is pregnant and they absolutely had to get this meeting in today. Barring snow, they had to do it. So thankfully there was no snow. So um Paula is u we're very proud to have uh recognized her contributions to our community. And but I do have with me David Farmer. David is uh and so many people know who David is. Come on up. I have to prompt him to get you know [laughter] David.

Never know. [clears throat] So um David as uh as you all know is a lifong uh artist. He has been in this community for many years. Um he has worked in the private sector as well as he served in the military and he's worked for the state of Kentucky. but he has devoted his life to visual arts and is currently and has been gradually quite some time the artist in residence at the art center of the bluegrass and he was I believe the first one appointed uh to that position still has yes Wilma who was our first art citizen that year way way back in 2003 I believe it was um so David also is very generous with his time uh with visitors and donating to and I keep saying that donating to his arts events. So, helps us uh you know make money to continue our work. Um and uh he has is in many collections. He's uh in I went to uh visit someone in the hospital in uh both at UK I think and at St. Joe's and uh looked I know that artist you know so he's on exhibit in lots of places sold fairly widely [clears throat] around the country as well. Um each year we do um give a gift, a small gift, a token gift, but more importantly we feel because we think the arts are givers, artists are givers, uh we make a donation to the uh program of the citizen of the year's choice. David chose the Humane Society. So, the arts commission is making a donation in his honor and Paula chose the charitable KSC charitable foundation specifically to provide tickets to their students for performances. Um, and we'll be sending a check to them as well. So, David Farmer Art of the Year 2025. CONGRATS [applause] surprised at the number of artists

discovered in Boil County. There's so many of them and I really feel it's an honor to be selected. Thank you very much. Well, I don't think you all could have chosen uh any two more appropriate people. So, we're very I mean, we're always pleased, but you know, uh David is an icon and Paul has been in some ways kind of overlooked by the community. She just goes about doing her work and and uh I've known her for years and really appreciate everything she's done. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Very happy. Very happy that you're here. Thank you, Mimi. All right, next up we have [snorts] public works supervisor Roger Johnson. Thank you.

He said out in the hall. Yeah, Roger Johnson. Roger. Come on down. Come on down. Youall have a good day. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Did you see his newest piece of the West Hler's park here? David's. Yes. Very nice. On [clears throat] Facebook. Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. Morning. Good morning. Good morning. How's everybody? Good. Good.

Good deal. I'm here this morning to uh purchase a uh 5500 Dodge Ram dump truck. Uh my thoughts are to go with Bachmann Auto Group [clears throat] and also that would be uh the price of the cab and chassis and then I don't know if it's uh in the packet or not but the bed was was 23,395

which the total would be 87,1 $134 for the truck and dump bait. So move, judge. All right, we have a motion by magistrate um Ellis. Is there a second? Second. Measure Ber. Okay. Any discussion? That's in the budget. That's in the budget. And also that's pay on delivery and [clears throat] tags and license. License. transfer entitlement. Yeah. [laughter] All right. See no other discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I.

Any oppose? Nay. Motion [clears throat] carries. Get her back. Thank you. Thank you. Winner's coming. I know. [laughter] Have a good day. Sadly, IT WILL HAPPEN. ALL RIGHT. Next up, we have fleet mechanic Tommy Robertson with um Mike Rogers, EMS director. You're up, buddy. How's everybody doing? Good. Good. Haven't seen y'all in a while. Good. It's

been a long while. Anyway, um so I just wanted to stop in today and just tell you all uh I appreciate how friendly and just all the departments have been awesome to work for and it's the best job I've ever had. So I absolutely just it it's phenomenal. But anyway, um you're the best mechanic we ever had. [laughter]

Yes. And before we get started, I I do want to, you know, Tommy goes above and beyond. I call him anytime he answers. He comes in on the weekends when he's needed to to save one of our vehicles from certain demise, different situations, whether [snorts] it's a battery or on the side of the road. He he does a really good job. He has fixed everything we've ever asked him to fix. Uh so he's a very great a good experienced mechanic and even better person. So super excited to have him as as part of what we've been able to accomplish and we move a lot of vehicles through. So

thank you. Um, so the the few numbers that I've got uh is just uh for parts and labor I just going to ballpark it here uh is [clears throat] roughly about $197,210 for the last well since I was here last time uh between the whole time that I've been here we've saved $330,000. That's good. So, and that's that's

before I added this month. [laughter] So, but I I mean everything has been [snorts] things are uh we're we've caught up on on the ne negligence of the vehicles. Uh and that's nobody's fault. It's just the way it is. and uh with getting all the new vehicles in uh and we still got obviously the some of the older vehicles that we'll always have. Um but it's it's just been I don't know. I I'm terrible at talking, but thank you. I appreciate everybody and uh all the departments has just been tremendous to work with. I I hear from my son-in-law that you stay busy all the time and you do really well to get everybody in and out.

I I try I try very hard. And so I think as we look toward the future, we you know uh we need to see what happens. We talked about this in our committee this morning. See what happens with the new vehicles, you know, that we're we're bringing in now with the enterprise. See how that kind of um how that's going to shake out. Of course, with the ambulances and the big vehicles, the dump trucks and things, you know, we we don't have that quite that same uh luxury, but we we also talked about this morning in our meeting about looking at and trying to plan earlier that we can see a clear demise in our ambulance. Like there it runs great, runs great, runs great, and then just falls off the cliff. Seems like

And we've had a lot of we've had a lot of luck out of the Forge chassis that we have. And [snorts] so looking at that going forward, I think we're going to really try with the ambulances to when we pinpoint that, if we can get rid [snorts] of it, then get a significant 100 150,000 out of it and then just replace it with a new ambulance, I think I think that's going to be better than just running it into the ground and then getting two or three,000 for it. It's still going to be tough [clears throat] scheduling two, three years out to even grab one, right?

Yeah. It'll take it. Well, I mean, now I think there's some opportunities that we could grab a a demo uh ambulance in those places, but we but we're we're we're going to really focus on that. And Colin was talking about that this morning about really looking at replacing earlier to to be able to to get more of that value out of it. Now, I did I came when I went to KO, there was somebody talking about doing that with some of the dump trucks. I hadn't really didn't really mention, but being able to take those ambulances with 100,000 miles to where they're still in really good shape and getting them into another market like the Nashville area where you can get a little bit better price, but somebody does an auction or, you know, and so that's kind of what we were talking about.

Yeah. I mean, I really feel that, you know, we need uh to look at a group that does have uh resources for like on a national level [clears throat] to to get where some of these specialy items, you know, get top dollar for it. And that there were three or four of them that were there that that really kind of stuck out and I have I have a cards of a couple of them I think would be good to work with. Yeah. And when you go to the conferences that you guys go to, see if you can find us somebody that can help advertise these analysts on a bigger platform because I think you get a lot better price that way. So then the other the only other talk we had this morning was uh at some point looking at bringing on maybe a part-time person.

Yep. Very good. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. See, buddy. Okay, next up we have IT director Bill Nichols right on cube. I brought me some help today. I see that you guys.

That's right. 10 years ago, you all developed a position called the IT director's position, which you were kind enough to allow me to do. Since then, um, we have gone from a 6meg DSL modem download to full 1 gig fiber networking. And that's all well and good. That makes it efficient. That makes it so we can work from home. That makes it so we don't use as much paper. But in 2026, one of the things we got to start worrying about is AI and cyber security. This team from the National Guard is the National Guard Cyber [clears throat] Resiliency Team and they are going to attack our system.

They're going to find out where our holes are and what we need to do to fix them if there are holes. So, I'm going to let them present themselves cuz I never remember names very well and let them kind of give you just a real big wide overview of what we're going to do over the next couple of months. Okay, good.

Morning everybody and thank you all for having us here today. Um, he said it pretty well. Um we're with the Kentucky Cyber Resilience Initiative. Um so we're over the next couple weeks, we're going to be performing a cyber security assessment over networks that fall under the fiscal court. And u like you mentioned, we're going to be just taking a look at the infrastructure, identifying any kind of polls or anything that we feel like should be locked up a little bit further and we'll provide a detailed list of ways to remediate any issues that we find. Um, additional to that, we'd like to conduct some brief interviews with leadership in each department, uh, just to go over some cyber security policy and align that with the NIST framework or the National Institute for Standards of Technology, um, which is the one of the, uh, nationally accredited Foundations for Cyber Security. Um but yeah, that's anything else you'd like to add, certain pen or

uh yeah, I just want to say u [clears throat] we're not here to audit anything. We're not we're [laughter] not here to like we can't force anybody to do anything, right? And this is like basically a re a free resource for the county. Uh really the state does care about cyber security and that's the reason that our program is saying. So really we just want to come in and help provide that information, provide those fixes and walk away. We can't really like did they do that? Did they fix that? So, I just want to make sure that everybody's aware that ultimately it's up to you what you do with that information, but we do want to make sure that everyone's informed. You're going to provide us the checklist, right? All right. Awesome. Sounds good.

My whole background um is is legislation and regulations and I constantly technology, right?

Well, unfortunately, not at all technology and law. Um, and I've just in the last couple of days with our legislature uh convening uh early this month uh seen some things on there and I immediately uh feel the hair in the back of my neck going up because I don't believe what I'm reading. How can I double and triple check other than going to the Legislative Research Commission and bugging them to death? How can I know what I'm seeing so that I'm not wasting a whole lot of time on the issues that would affect the court? Um, how how can I know what is AI? Is there any flag to knowing something's AI and and inappropriately done?

So there, and you can probably correct me if I'm wrong, there are some AI checkering tools um like a lot of professors use in universities. Um but unfortunately there's not like a surefire definite answer I can give you on that. Um it is just getting kind of harder and harder spot and as he as he mentioned you know it's it's leading to further cyber security incidents because they can craft fishing emails a lot more creatively and a lot more effectively that way.

The scenario you mentioned uh teachers [clears throat] the scenario I've given to guys like you who understand this stuff is Tom Ellis wrote the essay for his teacher in his senior year. teacher says to the principal, "I ain't buying this. Tom Ellis got five points from AI and wrote the essay." So, I'm called to the principal's office and I ask for time to consider my response. So, I go back to AI and say, "Uh, what are my answers going to be when the principal really nails me down and the teacher nails me down? Um, did I write this or not?" In other words, my second level of AI is bailing me out and my my teacher says, "My gosh, he really wrote it." And I didn't. Do you understand my scenario?

Yes, sir. That's that's why I'm so concerned when I see yesterday, and I think this was legitimate, where an employer is telling his employees if they will not use AI at his corporation, small corporation, um he'll fire them. And I'm going, I would be suspect of AI every time I see something and I want to back checkck it with something else. How do we back checkck it with something else as a court? Um, we can definitely do some research on that for you [clears throat] and get back with some more more specific answers on that. Uh, that is just

but that's not what you guys are here to do, right? You're you're here for security and that's security. If I can use AI to write something illegitimately and then I'm called before the court for it and I go back to AI and say what am I going to respond when my court colleagues you see what I'm saying? I mean layer after layer of abuse of the system. I'd like to something [snorts] it might sound a little pessimistic but unfortunately the answer is things are starting to look so real that um it is almost impossible to tell. And now those credible sources that we used to look toward are being polluted with the same problem.

That's the answer I thought I'd hear. So ultimately um you know we can do what we do. Just try to talk to humans. When it comes down to it that's that humanto human interaction is what we still can trust. Um but unfortunately I don't think there is a better answer. That's the best answer right there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you all for what you're going to be doing and we're excited to hear the results. Yeah, that's going to be good. Yeah. Thank you, Bill that together. Thank you very much. All right. Next up, we have Danny Rhodess, executive officer with the Department of Court facilities and is going to come talk to us about a memorandum of understanding between us and AOC.

Yes. Thank you, Judge Bottom of the Magistrates. Thank you for the opportunity to come today. Um as as many of you may know uh we have presented [snorts] uh the the county with anou uh for a new judicial center project uh that is based on uh the the uh the decision by the uh the chief justice to include that in the judicial branch budget in this this bianium. Uh so that is uh part of our budget that has been prevented presented to the uh the general assembly for consideration. Great. Um, it's a good

part of that is uh is that we do have to have an agreement in place with the county uh before the general assembly will authorize funding for that project. Um, thatou basically outlines uh all of the requirements for a uh court of justice judicial center project. Uh and just to give you a brief overview of of our capital construction projects uh and and how those are run u when those are authorized in [snorts] the judicial branch budget. Uh KRS 26A160 requires the chief justice to uh basically establish rules for the design, financing, construction of all court facilities throughout the state. Now these core facilities per the uh KRS26A [snorts] uh are required to still be owned and operated by the county county governments uh or local unit of government uh in in some cases. Um those projects uh even though they're authorized by the general assembly in our budget are financed by the county. uh once once they are authorized and we have an agreement in place with the county that financing is is established over a 20-year uh bond issuance basically minimum [snorts] of 20 years. Uh some some cases we've had to go to 25 years which we have the the authorization to do without going back to the general assembly on those projects. Um that bond payment is paid directly by AOC to the the bond holder. Uh the county that that money is not run through the county. Uh it's paid directly uh to that to that trustee bank that that holds that bond. Um the

operation and maintenance cost as we pay our proportionate share here uh in the courthouse. whatever percentage that we're occupying in a new judicial center and we have uh considered that that would be 100% KCOJ occupied facility we would pay 100% of those operating cost in that facility uh that is reimbursed to the county after those payments have have been made um and a quarterly reimbursement to the county. Uh the way these projects are run uh per the the rules that the general assembly and the chief justice have established uh they follow what is called AP [snorts] part 10. And this is basically a a a project narrative uh and and guideline of how the the the PDBs or the boards are be to be established. also the

[clears throat]

uh the design guidelines that the architects are to follow uh as well as any parameters uh related to uh security um you know office space things like that. So, um once the uh once theou is signed, the county will give authorization to the project development board uh that will be established for this project. Uh and we we can we call that PDB in short [clears throat] uh to be the the decision maker on the project through the the entirety of the project. Uh that board will be made up of the the highest uh county government official which is the county judge executive, the uh most senior circuit judge uh in in the circuit, most senior district judge, the circuit's uh court clerk, a citizen at large that is a nominated by the county and then appointed by the uh AOC director and then a KBA attorney or or representative on the board. and that is appointed by the uh Kentucky Bar Association director. So that board uh as I mentioned will be the decision maker on behalf of the county and the the Kentucky court of justice through the uh duration of the project. So related to site, related to procurement of architects, uh construction uh providers, uh issuance of pay applications, change orders, design considerations, things like that that that board will will be the ones that that make that decision. Uh we do have advisory members that are on that board. I I being one of those. Um, our AOC dire uh budget director is also on that AOC general counsel uh AOC office of finance and administration

director and [clears throat] the uh the the the county attorney as as a an advisory member. So, um I'm here to answer any questions [clears throat] that you may have. And uh just out of curiosity, uh the citizen at large must he or she not be a currently elected official. Not on the county uh the fiscal court basically. Uh we we have had some [clears throat] city commission of Dan. Yes. Yeah. Could be or not. Could be. Could be. Uh we've had uh we've had mayors of of local local communities that have been nominated as well. So

good. Danny, I have a a question. You kind of talked us through uh we met with Danny a couple weeks ago. Y it's about a fiveyear process. Could you realistically uh and this is if everything goes smooth uh we're [snorts] we're looking at about a fiveyear process. Does the determination to move forward require that it be done in the budget session? Well, you mean the current question we have? Um, if we want to get in the loop, do we have to do it before April 15 with this

to be approved for this this budget session? Yes. So if we missed it now, it could be next year, but if we missed it now and it's required to be in the budget, [clears throat] we would be two years out before years out. We don't want to miss it. No. [laughter] Yeah. and and and really the consideration that the uh the chief justice gave on this was based on you know the the concerns that we have with the current um roof issues that are going on and that you know potentially very very large project that is going to require that that the KCOJ offices relocate for an extended period of time. So thank you. Yeah. Now this is an exciting day.

Um it really is. This is a big this is a big deal in a lot of ways long overdue um for this county as the prominence that I feel like we have in the [snorts] history of our state and the fact that we've been pretty far down the list and to be moved up yes to the top of the list is a big deal and and I would move that we get this signed into Frankfurt today. All right, I have a motion by Minister Gay, a second by Minister Ellis. Is there any other discussion on the memorandum of understanding? Yeah, first and foremost, I cannot thank Chief Justice Deborah Lambert enough for this. I mean, she

she has been fantastic to work with and she's just spearheaded and pushed this forward for us. Um, so if I caught this right, the county is going to have to bond this project, right? Correct. And we're looking at a $50 million project if I read this correctly. And do so do we so if that's outside of our bonding capacity, how does that work? It because these are statebacked bonds, general assembly authorized funds, the and and we'll [clears throat] bring on a financial advisor that'll help us go through this and our bond council as well.

But because these are statebacked bonds, that doesn't go against the county's bonding capacity. Okay. because we have another bond that we're looking at doing and so we want to be and not to go into too much detail but uh we will and I don't know if the county already has a public properties corporation established we do we do we do I was going to ask that can we use that well I think our bond council will review that to see you know if it's in good standing and how much [snorts] bonding is already u associated with that

um but public property properties corporation is established and they're basically the bond holder until that debt service is paid off. So for the next 20 years that public properties corporation will be the one that is technically holding that debt. Um so you know I think the only bond in it right now is the energy efficiency which is it's going to be paid off in a couple years. Y once that bond is paid off, does that pro is that building property of the county or the state? It's the deed reverts to the uh fiscal court at that point. So um but as long as we continue to occupy

um we will, you know, pay all of the use allowance or the the uh the operation cost associated with the space that we're occupying. Mhm. Um but because we have paid that debt service off, the county would not receive basically a use allowance for that at that point.

On the one hand, there are great sensitivities about overdoing it during the general assembly. On the other hand, some of us, if not all of us, will be up there on the 11th with the Kentucky Magistrate's Association. any advice on going beyond our delegation uh when we go up there in terms of talking to leadership and others about our request?

As much local support as as we can, you know, our our um you know, judiciary committee. Obviously, the the the uh the individuals and representatives that sit on that committee are very interested. They already know about this project. uh you know and I think as much support uh locally that can be shown uh will be favorable as we move forward. This is one of two projects that we are we have included uh in our budget. Um so you know we are we are definitely pushing this as much as

Yeah. And that's where I was just going to echo on that point echo Major Cohen's point that the Chief Justice Lambert has put this as one of two the top of her list. So that is extremely helpful in going for the [cough] legislation. And Daniel Elliot sits on the judiciary. I was just going to say that I remember when the judge first came into office, that was one of our first meetings. Yes. Was about the how do we get this moving forward? So whatever we do as a court in our our advocacy, I'll use that word. Please keep this as your number one. I know there are other projects that you all have,

pet projects and things that are important to you, but this has to be collectively our number one cuz we've been working on this long and it's like it's here. Let's let's stay focused please that this is the number one cuz could we get ABC 1 2 3 4 5 uh summary so that we can yeah we can get you that but please number one. I will say that I have I have heard no negativity uh toward any of the projects that we've included in our budget. Only that hey, we may want to add this other project into our budget. [laughter] So, uh so focus on the big one

and talk to R.J. R.J. can help us too. He's [clears throat] already said this is our bond council. Um he he's given us some advice. We've talked to him about and Daniel and Amanda both are aware. Oh, yeah. So, don't screw it up. Okay. So, what about the bail? Can we get the bail out of the tower yet? We're uh Tate's architects. Uh we're I've been talking to them. They've returned my phone call. Uh they're interested. They're probably going to be our architect to get us through that to work structural heavy bail out. That would make me feel a lot better. Make us all [laughter] make us all feel better.

I will um there's representatives from AOC uh giving testimony at the budget review subcommittee this morning. [snorts] Good. uh related to the relocation of the courts uh to a temporary location. I will say that you know that is in our budget request uh for funding to be able to do that. And so you know we we are continuing to push okay to get that done but until we you know obviously uh get authorization for funding you know we're kind of our hands are tied a little bit. thing just to add to this is if there's any property acquisition that you might need for a site that would come through us, right? Well, said

ultimately it would be determined by the PDB. Okay. But the you know the obviously the county attorney would help assist in any site uh you know purchases and things like that. Just want to make sure. So our IT guy could go to that committee meeting and punch it through to all of us after that takes place today, right? Uh where they're testifying. Yeah, that would be good to get. Yeah, that would be Yeah, there were a list of items that they asked us to testify on and uh three items I believe and that Bo County relocation was that would be part of the information that would help us when we're talking.

Thank you. Question question on the motion. All right, we have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Name. Motion carries. Thank you. All it will be an honor. Do you want a sign copy today or if you if you can just email it to me? That'll be fine. Sign it and go. I think Chris has looked at it. Chris has looked at it. Has Chris signed it? Yes. I don't have a signed copy, but he Oh, he has to sign it. Okay. All right. We'll email. I know he's out of it. Appreciate it. Thank you, Danny. Appreciate it. Thank you. Safe travels back.

Okay. Um, let's see. Magistrate reports and we will start with magistrate Ellis today.

Thank you, Jay. Um the judge and I have talked again this morning and the issue of side by sides on our roads uh complicated by one of my constituents who can drive on the back of his farm because he's in Casey County but he can't drive or on their on their roads but can't drive on ours. So, um, uh, we're hoping that Chris can find some, uh, bullets points for us, uh, that are pro and con on on our moving forward on accommodating the fact that a lot of folks need additional help in getting out on our roads with their sight. Well, let's not confuse people because again, if you've got farms, you can use it to go from farm to farm. Understand?

So, I don't don't want to say that, you know, if somebody has a farm, they can't go farm to farm because that's already out there. Yeah, that's it's the recreational side. Yeah, he hit a wall when when he went here for uh register hit a wall when when he went here for uh registration of his vehicle. So, there are a lot of things that people don't understand. Um secondly, uh we're hopeful that our quick recall academic team will appear. young uh great kids at Bo County High School and I'm communicating with their coach. So hopefully we'll be educating with their coach. So hopefully we'll be arranging that. And they won the state, right? State tournament.

I'm not sure exactly which level. It might have been preliminary. And by the way, the reason they can't be here today is they're um third. I'm again part of a group of about 15 uh on K and um I'll go as fast as I can in the first two days had 295 Thank you Mike 29 days [laughter] had 295 Thank you Mike

295 bills have already been on this uh uh on the first in the first two days introduced to be focused uh on our courthouse. Um there's an interesting debate about giving local authority be focused uh on our courthouse. Um there's an interesting debate about giving local authority. That will be a hot one. That will be a hot one. There will be a lot of dissent on on on that piece of legislation. We haven't seen the draft yet. Um there may be additional requirement for deputy coroner training. That is a piece of legislation that's out there. Uh there are seven different bills on pro property tax. Um interestingly, most of them are based on old folks getting more exemptions. I don't know who that might include. [snorts] Uh but some people will stay out of that one. Um there is also legislation about compensation. It would be at this point in the draft form that it is an unfunded mandate which is about the most debated concept out of KMCA because Thank you very much. um do things for us but make us pay for them is the issue. So that one we will be all over. That's uh House House Bill 138 which will really be watching closely.

Are they Tom real quick? Let me ask a question on that one. Are they trying to I mean do the same thing they do with the county clerk, the judge and the sheriff where they tell us how much it we have to pay. Is that essentially? Yeah. So it' be under that same same umbrella. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah. Uh but you know, again, that's more [snorts] dollars at our local level. Uh interestingly, um I I don't know how we handle um homeless people who die and the billing. Does anybody know, Shannon? Is that a line item that we consider? And

uh Okay. Um there's there's going to be something about that. I don't know the details, but about what the counties would pay for cremation rather than uh other forms of internment. So, so we've got to watch that. I don't think we can do cremation right now. I think you can only do you cannot cremation's not an option right now.

Oh, I I haven't seen the legislation, so it must address that. [clears throat] Um, important to know they will be closed, of course, for Martin Luther King Day. The last day to introduce Senate bills would be uh uh the uh 2nd of March and the last day for House bills would be the 4th of March. So, if we're going to talk to our legislators, we have to understand that they cannot after that date introduce anything. And the last date for any concurrence, House and Senate, uh, is March 30th because they go home April 15th. And they [clears throat] need those 15 days for the governor to say, "I don't like this." And veto, and then they go in the veto session. Uh, as well, uh, we'll all be invited over by KMC uh, on the 11th of February. That's an important date that we need that visibility more this this session than ever before. And it's really going to be a truncated day. Um because the capital is totally totally closed. The annex uh will be open in some areas. Uh and by the way, it's that sort of thing that you go from the back to the side and you go through the front door of the annex. And that can be problematic. Remember judge, you help me. Uh that can be problematic depending upon weather. Um there is a proposal Senate Bill 40 which I believe the intent from the discussion we had uh in a call the other day virtual call um might give the judge more authority on nominees to the library. Um

that ends uh let's see uh you'll need to look um Mike at House Bill 106 on pay for EMS workers. Are you aware of that one? Um, it was couched uh similar to and and this was interesting because it sounds like an unfunded mandate again where volunteer firefighters get paid per run that they make. It would be additional compensation to EMS [snorts] workers. all of a sudden other workers out there who do things overtime and unplanned uh are going to be this this is Tom Ellis speaking not anybody else on the committee. Um I see some real serious issues on your budget.

Yeah. Uh so House Bill 106 that might be one of the most important ones at the lower level of the legislation that we'll be tracking uh tomorrow. Keep your eye out for that commercial insurance bill, too, cuz it's that's going to be important. You have the bill number? No, but it's we have a meeting coming up on Friday, but I I have a flyer that I'll send you guys out.

Okay. Let me know. Um, tomorrow at 9, we have three sessions uh uh hourong each here in the office. Bill's setting it up and I'd advise everybody uh to be there. uh KMCA is putting it on uh and it it's going to be a very important discussion of some of these and obviously since in two days they had almost 300 bills they've got a whole lot more today. So judge that pretty much concludes what I've got. All right, hold on. I got a question for Tom. Yeah. Do you have anything on uh on House Bill 162? It's the driver's license bill that Maddox put in. I do not.

I'm not familiar with it. That's the one where she's looking to push the driver's license back to the to the counties instead of the regional centers. Yeah, I didn't know the B bill number, but I think it's even I I believe I saw that in the last edition of the advocate, but but uh yeah, I'll definitely look into that one. Um I'll be having a legislative Zoom at 2 o'clock today, too, with the county judges, so I'll ask about some of these. Yeah. Yeah. a lot of criticism on that new system and and that's what precipitated it being introduced. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Judge

Master Boner. We had a a working meeting at uh Junction City Matters the other night. Just looking at our calendar of events. Uh March 28th, they're going to do Easter on Maine. So, it's going to be interesting. We'll have a Easter, but we don't know about the specifics of it, but it's going to be a little different than your Easter usual Easter egg. Huh. May we're going to start some we're proposing some first Friday or food truck Fridays

with an occasional movie. In June, we're going to do summer car shows or a 5K. We're still indecided undecided. July fireworks with a 250 years celebration festivities with that on July the 3. Uh we are we've got our balloons over the blueg grass festival set. It's August the 9th. Uh we're going to have a big uh 250 you know theme to it this year. So we had a meeting about that and set the date. Um the in September a back to school event. Uh, so we they are working on [clears throat] lots of good ideas and I'm really excited about that. Uh, okay. I have documented proof that Julie did not knock over the shovels. John did every minute of that. [laughter] And I watched I got down and here's the shovels. They're sitting there and all of a sudden one of them goes there falls. I guess the wind problem. So the little boy said to brother Christians little boy he did not do it Julie did. [laughter]

Okay. Wonderful day yesterday. I said it's like the Lord just opened up the sun and shined it down on us. It was a really really good event and I've got lots of high hopes for it to be an exceptional area. We get A+ for making parks happen but we get a D minus in unified shovel digging. I never saw one person shovel dig at the same time. We're supposed to go [clears throat] unitedly up and over and we were like it was fun. I laughed and laughed. I had a good time with that. Uh we have today a 250th here America 250 celebration meeting at 2. [clears throat] At 6 p.m. the Rep Republicans are going to party is going to have a meet the candidate where you have a two or three minute speech to just to introduce yourself and a lot of there's things going on but that's all I've got for today.

Judge, forgive me. Uh my sloppy notes are so comprehensive that I forgot my white note that had the most important one and that is there is jail legislation and uh we'll be coordinating with the committee uh with with Brian. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Master Ber. Master Harmon. Um, just kind of give you update where I'm at. I'm starting out in physical therapy, learning how to raise your arm. You're out of the plane. Let me tell you something. You break your shoulder in two places, you have trouble raising your arm. You don't want to raise it. [laughter] I mean, it's totally against your brain.

NO, NO, NO, NO. [laughter] But that'll be probably 6 to 12 weeks. Okay. More. So look forward to that. Just give you a little bit of my physical health. Ain't nothing we can do about done. Check with that. They don't have a shot. They don't have a bill. There is an operation while clipping. So we're not going to do that. [laughter] You know what I mean? But well, you're looking good. That's saying a lot. That's saying a whole lot. [laughter] But I appreciate y'all's prayers.

Your help, too. Would have you on his shoulder, but [laughter] I just pass out. Oh, you just hit him on the shoulder for me. That's all I got. Thank you, Mr. Harvin. Me. Well, I'm grateful you're here. I'm grateful you're on the mend and uh yeah,

our city guys don't don't speak a lot sometimes for Jamie, but they they do a lot, you know, and Barry's one of them. So, we appreciate it. Um today the um EMS committee met and uh it was uh we were definitely outnumbered, Jamie and I. They they came in full force and I I'm so proud of the uh of our EMS crew. Um and just the man the sacrifice the the everything they do is just for the good of B County. Um you know and now Mike's part of B County. We appreciate that. My district.

Yeah. So um so yeah, so there were several things that were that we're talking about. Um, you know, Mark Smith gave gave an update on the crisis team. Um, and u, you know, they're getting a lot more calls, a lot more uh, in with the public and so uh, so that's good. Uh we do have a um we did talk about uh Jessica Wigington and possible future uh employment opportunities with her which I'm excited about because um you know she's done fantastic with the debriefs and then also you know we've we've allowed her to start coming in and having kind of like set office hours that you not only the EMS but anybody any of our first responders can come in and say hey I really need to talk about this situ situation I was just in. Saw this accident. You know, you know, we had a unfortunate event that happened on Sunday that that we don't think about that that these guys and girls see every day.

Um, a lot of it we don't even know about and they just see it and then they're like, you know, I got to go on my next run. And so, um, to be able to give them access to somebody that can help them with with what they've seen, uh, it that that's one of the best things this court can do for for all of our first responders. So yeah, I just if I could just add to that, I think the committee is is definitely a favorable view. We just want to do some due diligence with Shannon and others to [snorts] look at funding [clears throat] issues, funding, budget stuff. Y all the fun stuff. Yeah. Great. Glad to hear that.

So, [clears throat] uh Terry Dunn gave an update on on his uh community outreach. Um, and and like I said, I love the way him and Mark work together and it's just it's just an excellent uh team that we have there. Mo gave a education uh update. [clears throat] Um, and there's possibility we can maybe do some more stuff with uh with BCTC, which would be great for the county and for BCTC. So, looking forward to that. Uh, Tim talked about the um truck status. Two of our trucks are back in.

The new ones are backstriped. We're just waiting on radios and stuff like that to get installed and then we'll uh we'll get them in service. And that's kind of where the discussion came about surplusing some of these other vehicles and how we get it where, you [snorts] know, we we pay top dollar for these vehicles. Um you know, we're hoping to get top dollar and you know, somebody in the surrounding counties may not be needing an EMS, but somebody in Nashville might or somebody else might need one right away and that that just helps us get rid of them quicker and that way we can add [snorts] to them quicker. So, um, and then Mike talk about fleet management. Um, you know, possibly looking at, you know, a part-time person and and I think we maybe once once uh, uh, Fred Kane kind of gets a little more operational and Tommy goes over there about, you know, uh, and does Tommy need to report to somebody else maybe. Um, that that's directly there with him that that also can help him. So,

I'll have Mark come in the next meeting and give you all an update on Kane. Great. That' be good. Uh here here's the magical numbers. Runs for 2024, 7,256. Runs for 2025, 7,546. Um, so the numbers are ticking up. No more no more 400 500 run months. we're looking at, you know, high five 600s. Uh December was 656 runs

uh compared to November of 585 runs. And so that kind of led to a small discussion is [clears throat] will we have to start maybe adding extra crews? Yeah. because I mean how many runs and so Mike's going to get us some numbers on how many runs each shift is seeing and uh and do we need to look at that because we are going into the budget session. So uh so I will go ahead and submit that report uh make the motion to accept it. Okay, second. Have a motion by Master Felen, second by Master Gay. Any discussion on the report? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I.

Any oppose? Nay. Motion carries. Um I don't have much else uh except um maybe thought that the judge is up to you [clears throat] but uh uh our egg commissioner lost his father um and he's it's you know it's terrible and I know I know it's uh it's hurting him badly and thought so I thought maybe we could possibly adjourn um in Gary Bennett Shell's honor today for this court meeting. I think that's a great idea. I just actually found out last night about it and I was just like, I can't believe that. That's terrible.

I went to the reception and it was to start at 4:00 at 3:30. The parking lot was absolutely so full. I had to park in the grass. Yeah. And it was taking some people two hours to go through. This is what I was being told last night that it was just incredible the turnout for that. I'm sorry, what was his name again? Uh, it's Gary Bennett. Shill Bennett. Yeah. B E N E T. Okay. And but like I said, you know, Jonathan's not from here, [clears throat] but he is a huge advocate for for the whole state, especially Bull County. Yes. And the farmers in Bull County. And so and he's our next door neighbor, too. So yeah, I think that would be great.

All right. That's all I got. Thank you, Master Cullen. Master G. [clears throat] Yes. Just want to remind everyone about the Martin Luther King Day celebration. It's coming up on Monday. And I wouldn't expect it to be otherwise, but it's going to be cold [laughter] again. Yeah.

Um so dress warmly. And if you would like to join the march, we'll be gathering at 11:30 at city hall for our relatively short march into the Northern Center. Um, but if you do not uh want to march, you can just go straight to the Norton Center. The event will be starting at noon noon.

And uh there are t-shirts and uh food, lunch is being provided after the event. They would like people to RSVP, but I'm sure if you forget to RSVP that accommodations can be made. So, they're just trying to get a general head count on uh lunch, but we're hoping to have a good lunch turnout as well. And center and the city are helping fund lunch, so we appreciate that. And then what happens after lunch? Is there And after lunch? There there actually is a community um service event that's going to be at Jenny Rogers.

Okay. And it's all part of that flyer that I sent around to everybody, but it's going to be like a service project day um that going to be led by a lot of center students kind of the the center students that are that focus a lot on community volunteerism, okay, are going to help lead that event. So, a good day coming up on u on Monday. Okay. And in addition to the um uh Secretary Shell's father, I would like to add Dr. Jack Jack Cody to our uh yes

list to adjourn in his memory. um just a great man, active in our community for many years and surgeon, local surgeon and father of John Cody who's recently been involved in a lot of our parks and wreck planning work. So I worked with Dr. Cody for years at Ephram and he's a wonderful doctor, wonderful person. All right, that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Okay. As your sleeper.

Yes. I also enjoyed the bike park groundbreaking. Uh my 16-year-old grandson, Max Cook, who's an avid mountain biker, attended as well. And when I asked him if he wanted to go, he said, "Well, I have to shovel dirt. We needed all the help we I know, right? We weren't very good." I said, "You probably won't get a shovel." But he ended up getting a shovel. [laughter] It was It was great. We really appreciate Mistress Boner's leadership and all that taking the lead and being the spearhead and going,

you know, sticking with it with all the the difficult steps that were along the way. Um [clears throat] went to the Danville City Commission meeting last night. Uh Bryce Gibson was giving a report on homelessness as to make his appeal for help with the the hotel vouchers. And as we had, you know, recall, we gave uh $8,800 towards that. and he asked the city to match that and uh the city actually tried to one up us and they g they approved $10,000. So we were we're appreciative of that. That's good. That's good. That's really good. But also the majority of homeless folks are within the city limit. So it's only reasonable that they do that. But I do appreciate they're doing that. Which is in the county, right? [laughter]

In the county. And uh just wanted to acknowledge and congratulate JJ Harris on the uh Danville Boil County Development Corporation's accreditation that they received from the international that I butchered the last time I said development council. So congratulations to him and his team. That's awesome. That was really a exciting thing. First one in Kentucky. Yes ma'am. Very first one.

I had one thing to ask Steve and you as our represent on EDA. I actually went to the trails uh meeting uh this week and uh there's talk about possibly some rightaway over at the railroad um property that that we own or that EDA owns. Okay. Yeah. Uh I know there's been discussion about possibly having some sort of a trails system back there as well. So I didn't know if that's something that you guys have talked about and possibly [clears throat] this it's been mentioned. Yeah, but that's about it. Not any in-depth. There's been no action on it or anything like that. It's just been discussed. Yeah. Yeah. Just mentioned. Okay. So, I'm not sure what

I think it would be the future holds, but be be good to get as much trails out there as possible. Yeah. And I think the overall impression was that pretty much everybody's in favor of doing that. So, that's all I had. Okay. And if I could just add, I do want to back up if I could and echo everybody else's comments about Mr. Bowdener's work on the trails project. Um, that is going to be that's a huge addition to our recreational activities and as was indicated, not only for our local people, but I really think it's going to have a regional impact

um on our recreation within this outdoor recreation within this community. And so thank you for your work on that ultimately economic development. Absolutely. Our younger folks, not just for our everybody. I certainly didn't realize the amount of um bikers that we have here. I mean, once you start talking to people, I mean, it's everywhere. Everybody rides a bike, you know, and it's just and crazy to think how many people are actually already doing that and and now we'll have a place to go and right and ride and

it's like the not just the bikers, the hikers, the walkers, the schools could come out and study nature, you know, it's just it's I think it could be awesome. Yeah. mountain bike team, you know, back to that be one of the main users of so it's [snorts] going to be a good thing. Absolutely. So, I failed to mention that and I wanted to echo all the things that have been said, but it's excellent. All right. Good. I'm happy to be there as well. That's fine. Even though I had to clean my shoes for about two [laughter] hours. I wasn't advised properly to wear my boots. We forgot TO PUT OUT THE BOOT MEMO. [laughter] That's what happens when you invite city boys, right? I know, right? I'm a city slicker. I didn't the city.

All right. Uh Jenny, do you have anything that you'd like to report? No, the only thing I had was I've kind of jumped in on the um [clears throat] plat. So, that's been approved, but otherwise, we don't have any business unless has any questions or anything that I need to take back to the office. All right, Jay. Trying to decide how to how [clears throat] to put my things. Do I do the most important first or the least? [laughter] I think we'll have the most important. Okay. Excuse [clears throat] me. Um I think in the next 10 to 14 days we'll be going to bid on the Buster Pike Bridge. Hold your applause.

Um it looks like we're going to have a bid opening on February 10th. Hold your applause. That's the the plan here. So um I think we're about a year and a half behind schedule, but it's going to be great. So that that's huge huge huge like this. [laughter] Yeah. Yes. Um a lot of lot of stuff happening on that real fast. So thank you. Thank you. Um the appropriation [clears throat] for community agencies. I put the policy out there for you all just to have that in case anybody asks. I had a question on that.

Yes. When we go to do the administrative code adjustments again changes, [clears throat] can we actually just take this list out and put in there like C approved court list? That way we don't have to change the whole code if we want to take somebody off or put somebody on like an appendix page or something. Yeah, kind of like an appendix page. That's why it's not actually in the code, but just say [clears throat] C appendix for those currently approved or those Sure. Yeah. I add so yeah makes [clears throat] sense like that's doable. Yeah.

Pickle [snorts] ball the uh construction documents are under under development right now. Um I'm going to call him today and see see where he is on those. I I don't expect they'll be ready probably till midFebruary but but they're in under development. the um clock tower. Like I said, it looks like Tate Architects, who did the other work originally, is is is interested in doing working with this again. And then finally, I'd like to get permission to go ahead and start a Facebook page for the Pine Knob Trail Park, connect it to Instagram, so we can start getting some buzz about that out social media. Yes. And that will take a a motion and a approval for that. Okay. I'd like to make that. Yes, I am.

I'd like to second. Yes, I am. Yes, sir. All right. So, we have a motion uh by Master Bodner, a second by Master Sleeper to uh start a Facebook page for the Pine Knob Trail. Um any discussion? Yeah, it's a joint owned property. Do we have to coordinate with the city on that or we don't um if it's our pages? Our page. I mean, just alert them. Tell them. Yeah, they may be even able to help us. You know, once we get it started, we could turn it over to parks and wreck at some point. Yeah. But since we're kind of leaving the project, it might be better for us to to start. Whatever you guys want to do. Sounds good. Doesn't matter.

I still know if all under parking right at some point eventually. All right. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Motion carries. That's all. Okay. Uh was there anything else on the appropriations that you wanted clarification on? Are you good with

um is everybody okay with uh that list? I it's in the code. So [snorts] that's what we'll go with. Um I'm going to send those out. I will be in California leaving the 23rd in out the last week of January. So I want to get them out before I leave. And the code says they have at least four weeks to respond. So we'll get those out unless you have any. So that means we'll not be adding any new appropriations, just what's on that list. Okay. Right. And then we can I I agree with his recommendation is that we once we get back to June when we address the code that we [snorts] look at addressing how it's put in the code, right? Yes.

And so the other ones like [clears throat] the airport, we look at the second page, they're addressed on the second page. So [clears throat] do we I almost kind of feel like the senior center is kind of like one of our it almost belongs on the second page. Okay. I don't know how everyone else feels about that. We can move that. We can make that adjustment over I think one of our regular

I think I think it's one of those ones we are going to fund because these other ones are kind of like we can or we cannot but that's kind of on here that are a one that will be funded. We don't have to fund exactly what they asked for just like any of the others but you know it's ones that consider more of a So we can move the senior center to the back [clears throat] page. Yeah. Okay. I think that's really the only other one on there.

Yeah. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that and make sure we're all on the same page on it. Once we get to budget season, then we can decide if who you want to come in. Do you want them all come in? Do you want So, we'll we'll make that decision. That's really up to you if you want to hear from everybody and take a day or not. So, and the Veterans [clears throat] Day event, is that that's probably more of a sponsorship thing? It's uh Well, yeah, it's kind of like Martin Luther King Day, too. So, all sponsorship, but yeah. Okay. But they're the normal ones that we do year after year after year. Yeah. Yeah. We can put them anywhere you all want to put them. I mean,

no, I I mean, I just I [clears throat] want to make sure we fund that, but it's also kind of one of those things where it kind of comes out to that uh certain fund of yours. So, that's right. Community and community community events. What is it, Shannon? Community development. Community development. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Builds the community. [clears throat] That's good. All right. Good deal. Good fun. Okay. Anything else you like?

All right. Thank you. Uh I just have two quick things. Uh courthouse will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday. So everybody get out and uh participate in the events that are going on uh beginning at 11:30. And then um the judges conference is February the 4th through the 6th. So if anybody's attending, please make sure Kina knows and how many days you want to stay and all that good stuff. [snorts] So I think everybody's probably responded by now, but if not, if they responded, they've got a

Okay. All right. She needs to get that and registrations and all that paid out. Um okay. At this point, I would like to ask that we go into executive session pursuant to KRS61810, paragraph 1, paragraph B, deliberations on the future acquisition of or sale of real property by a public agency, but only when publicity would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property to be acquired for public use or sold by a public agency. There a motion. I'll make that motion. Master Cullen, is there a second? Master Bner. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any oppose? Nay. Motion carries. We're going into executive session. I'd like to ask

Are you talking to the road that faces? We're live. We're live. We are waiting on Tina. [clears throat] Stay in Kina every time. Oh, hey. Yeah. [laughter] She want to make sure you heard that. Mhm. Thank you for throwing your stuff on the floor, too. Yeah. Solidarity. You're in there, man. All right. I need a motion to return to regular session. And Julion, Mr. Harmon. Second. Second. Mr. Cullen. No action taken. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any oppose? Nay. Motion carries. We are back in regular session. I now like to ask for a motion to adjurnn. and to adjourn um in memory of Dr. Jack Cody and Gary Bennett Gary Bennett Shell which was a commissioner Jonathan's father. I'll make that motion. Second. Okay. Have a motion by Master Cullen. Second by Master Ellis. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? Nay. Motion carries and we are adjourned.