The Academic Lions defeated Deming 46-19 in the opening round and Mason County 38-25 in the second round to advance to the championship match.

The academic team placed second overall on points earned in all of the competitions and also won the Katherine Hume Sportsmanship Award.

Meeting in regular session this month the Electric Plant Board of the City of Vanceburg received its annual report from Superintendent Phil Kennedy.

Kennedy told the board members that some of the workers would like to forget last year because of the ice storm that hit in mid-February. He said that repair work from the storm was still in progress in June and July. He announced that the utility company had received another payment from FEMA, this one for $156,000.

Board member Tim Bowden asked Kennedy about recouping losses that occur from automobile accidents. Kennedy answered that any time a wreck destroys a light pole or other property that belongs to the company the law enforcement personnel on the scene file an accident report and the company follows that up. Most everyone has insurance and the company collects payment for those damages.

Kennedy informed the board that the Governor's new budget includes $50 million for water and sewer projects, and upgrading the sewer in Vanceburg is on the agenda for future projects.

The apparent low bidder is Double D Enterprises out of Maysville.

Kennedy said, "My main concern is in a situation like this is that we cannot have people out of water up there, and we cannot have Hollinee out of gas, and some of these contractors when they get in a situation start tearing up stuff, and we can't have that."

He continued, "I'm not saying that Double D would do that but they're going to have to have the liability for this project because this project is very critical to us even though the state is paying for it, but I don't know what the state will do."

Double D's low bid was for $197,861.

Kennedy told the board that the utility company had appropriately advertised for qualifications for engineers and the only response came from Haworth, Meyer & Boleyn, Inc., (HMB) Frankfort. He said that that was fine because the company has worked with HMB a lot, and he recommended that the board approve hiring them for the 2004 Water Line Extension Project. The board complied and so moved to make that approval.

The Lewis County Board of Health learned at a meeting this month that funding for construction of the new health department building has been delayed.

Amy Kennedy from the Buffalo Trace Area Development District told the board that the project had been ranked and was third on the list in Frankfort. The state funded the first two projects but then ran out of funds so the health department's Community Block Development Grant of $1,000,000 for the building project has been deferred until the next funding round. That will be the first full week of April. She said that the board would know the exact date of that funding round by March 11.

The project will also be funded by a $250,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant, and by a $25,000 grant and loans from Rural Development.

Frankfort advised the board of health to continue with the design so that could be approved by the Housing and Building Code. That way they can be ready to bid and advertise the project when the funding is finally received.

Kennedy said the board will be required to have a new public hearing on behalf of the city and the county, and that the city and county would have to pass new resolutions because of the new funding round for the fiscal year 2004.

Frankfort has said that the new building is a valid project.

The board moved to approve the architect's drawings of the building as presented with modifications.

Kennedy informed the board that the option to buy the property next to Bee Mart on the AA Highway expires on February 15 but the owner has extended that for 90 days in order for the board to have time to acquire the funding.

The State Board of Health disqualified Jacqueline Harrison from becoming a member of the local board because she works for the Meadowview Regional Medical Center and the local department has contracts that exceed $10,000 with that institution. Board members will recommend the nomination of a new board member at the next meeting.

Board member Darren Stanfield asked Health Department Administrator Kathleen Ginn about the changes in the compensation for some health department employees.

Ginn replied that the changes were because of the large increase in the cost of health insurance benefits. Not all employees opted into the program so their paychecks did not change. However, across the board raises were given to the employees that opted for one of the health insurance programs to offset the increased cost. In some cases the amount the employee would have to pay for the program doubled. The take home pay for some did not change but for others it decreased some.

Stanfield opined that that plan seemed to penalize the workers that did not choose one of the insurance program options; that some seemed to get a raise and others did not.

Ginn said that some of the employees only took home about $200 every two weeks and implied that the increased insurance costs would really hurt them financially. She also said that other health departments were doing the same thing and that the plan had been approved in Frankfort.

Steve Applegate said as the County Judge Executive that the county could not give a raise to one without giving a raise to all the workers.

Stanfield asked how much the increased insurance costs raised the department's budget for a year. Ginn said that she did not have that figure with her.

Board Chairman Maurice Esham, PhD., asked Ginn if she could have that figure by the next meeting.