The Lewis County Fiscal Court held an informal workshop in the third floor room of the courthouse on Monday, June 7, at 9:30 a.m.

The County Judge Executive, magistrates and other local officials met to discuss upcoming and current challenges facing the county government.

One of the biggest problems remains the paving of roads in the county with a limited amount of funds. This year each district will be allocated $50,000 for that purpose, and they all agreed that that isn't enough.

Judge Executive Steve Applegate raised the question of continuing to acquire gasoline and diesel through the bidding process and buying the fuel in bulk and storing it in tanks or changing to a system using fleet cards that work much like credit cards at selected providers in the area. The issue will be researched in the near future with a view to changing if the fleet card system proves to be more convenient and cost effective.

Road Foreman Dane Howard told the fiscal court what new equipment his department needs just to get by. He said the county needs a new tractor with a side mount sickle bar mower. He informed the court that the tractor would cost about $12,500 and the mower around $9500.

His department also needs a new one-ton truck with a flat bed and attachments so it can serve both as a fuel truck and a salt truck. The vehicle could be acquired by state contract at a cost of $32,000.

Judge Applegate also introduced the subject of an ordinance to prevent campaigning within 300 feet of the polls. Last year a court struck down the state law prohibiting such campaigning, but state officials say that each county could pass an ordinance to that effect. County Attorney Clayton "Buddy" Lykins, Jr. will research the legal aspects of such an ordinance.

The group discussed establishing an Economic Development Board and whether to select the board members by having people volunteer or by court appointment. The board would probably have five members with one of them selected by Vanceburg Mayor William T. "Bill Tom" Cooper. The proposed board remains under consideration.

Judge Applegate mentioned repair of the courthouse roof and showed the magistrates two options, one at a cost of $21,889 and the other at $41,440. The former is for a regular five vent metal roof and the latter for a standing seam roof.

The court talked about applying for Homeland Security grants in order to purchase equipment for search and rescue. In the recent search of Crooked Creek after the accident that claimed the lives of four Lewis County residents other agencies from neighboring counties arrived to help, and they all had necessary equipment but county agencies had none. One of the things under consideration if the grant is obtained is the purchase of a boat for the Sheriff's Department so the deputies could access the Ohio River in times of crises.

Emergency Management Director Carl Chaney said that one of the items most mentioned was E-911 equipment.

The grants would be for law enforcement and the Emergency Management department.

Fiscal Court Clerk Kathy Dillow asked about employees' selecting comp time or overtime. The law provides them that choice as long as the time they select after proper notice does not interrupt the function of the agency for which they work. An amendment in the personnel policy may be forthcoming to clarify that situation for all concerned.

The regular June session of the Vanceburg City Council began with Sam Howard representing Trace Creek Construction Company, Vanceburg, requesting information about the proper procedures and protocol to annex property owned by the company into the city. The Trace Creek property is adjacent to city property.

Mayor William T. "Bill Tom" Cooper referred the matter to City Attorney E.V. Holder, Jr., and said that the attorney would get the information to Howard.

Mayor Cooper then made his budgetary address to the city council. He pointed out that this is the 14th budget he has presented to the council during his tenure as mayor.

Cooper highlighted several items in the budget. All city employees will receive a five percent cost of living raise in the 2004-05 budget.  The mayor told the council that he has placed $250,000 for the Hotel Preservation Project, $200,000 for the Downtown Street-Scape Project and $50,000 for the city’s matching portion of the Street-Scape project.

The General Fund has a contingency fund of $9,764.50 and the Sanitation Fund a contingency fund of $8,414.70.

The budget shows a total of $1,019,052 in the General Fund; $550,000 in the Hydro Fund; and $122,230 in the Sanitation Fund.

Appropriations for the General Fund show that $162, 128.69 goes to General Government; $205,712.08 to the Police Department; $31,612.80 to the Fire Department; $38,784.92 for the streets; and $580,813.51 for Community Development.

City Attorney Holder gave the ordinance establishing the 2004-05 budget its first reading.

The council then heard first reading of an amendment to the nuisance ordinance. The change deals with the abatement procedure and gives the city authority file a lien against the property involved for the reasonable value of labor and materials used in remedying the nuisance situation.

The council adopted a resolution permitting the reception of a $250,000 grant from the state’s Renaissance Kentucky Program.

Meeting in regular session last week the Electric Plant Board heard discouraging news about the economy and how the Utility Company will be affected.

Superintendent Phil Kennedy told the board that with the increased cost of gasoline and oil he did not know how things were going to go.

In presenting the 2004-05 budget to the board he said that the budget was lean with only two highlights apart from routine expenses. He told the board the new budget contains a three percent cost of living raise for all the employees and funds for one pickup truck. Otherwise the budget is rather lean.

Kennedy stated that we have a $5.5 million budget and $3 million of that will be used to purchase energy.

He added that insurance rates are higher and said, "The cost of gasoline is killing us."

Regarding natural gas prices he told the board that those prices could go up or down but at this time no one knows for sure what will happen.

The board may possibly have to raise gas rates in the near future even though he just purchased 20 million cubit feet of natural gas and stockpiled it. He said that was enough to last about three months in the winter.

Kennedy informed the board that the tree trimming is in good shape and not much will have to be done in that regard this year.

He congratulated Charles Ross on his re-appointment to the Electric Plant Board by the Vanceburg City Council.

The board held its organizational meeting on March 18, 2004. The Lewis County Fiscal Court passed an ordinance creating a County Cemetery Board within Lewis County at its regular meeting on October 13, 2003. The board is to adopt rules and regulations concerning cemeteries that have fallen into neglect and disrepair and support cemetery preservation. Several applications have been received and the board called a special meeting and visited a number of the cemeteries.

In the later 1800s these cemeteries would have been easily accessible by horseback, currently many of them are barely accessed by four-wheeler or mountain climber!

Many of our early ancestors, including civil war veterans are buried there. As funds permit it is the desire of this board to fence boundaries, repair and clean tombstones, clear brush, improve access roads, erect signs and do historic research and archiving.

The board visited the Fairmont Christian Church Cemetery, the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery and the Pell Cemetery on May 18. All are in much need of clearing brush and repairing and cleaning tombstones.