Court passes $6,107, 588 budget for 2013-14; agrees to help natural gas company  expand lines...

LOUISA, Ky. -- Lawrence County Fiscal court members agreed unanimously to a proposal by a Lexington Natural gas company for right-of way to install a 2" steel line to Torchlight, just off U.S. 23 South.

Michael Potter, of Nytis, Inc. told the Lawrence Fiscal Court yesterday that his natural gas company has plans to expand in Lawrence County.Nytis, Inc. representative Michael Potter said Nytis has plans for a lot of development in Lawrence County where they are drilling a well at See Brach, also just off U.S. 23 and plans to install lines from there. He said the Torchlight project will be done in 6-8 weeks and their engineers have tried to avoid road crossings and ditch lines as much as possible.

Nytis is required to return the approximately one mile of affected property to the same form they found it in when it is finished with the lines. Judge/Executive John Osborne said people in the areas where Nydis has plans are eager to get the service because their right-of-way deed comes with free gas.

Much of the natural gas the company has purchased is from former operator, Interstate Natural Gas Co., Potter said.

Since there are scheduled additions of water lines and new asphalt in the Torchlight area, Potter said they wanted to get started as soon as possible. The  court agreed and passed the request 4-0. Torchlight has a development committee headed by well known attorney Bill Jackson, but there was no representative at yesterday's meeting.

In other action the Court:

Regular business

1.    Opening Prayer
2.    Pledge of Allegiance
3.    Call Meeting to Order
4.    Approved Minutes of April 15, 2013
5.     Approved 1st Reading of Budget Amendment #4
6.    Approved Treasurer’s Request
7.    Approved Bills
8.    Approved Treasurer’s Report
9.    Approved 1st Reading of FY 12-13 Budget which is actually higher than last year's even though coal severance tax is down as well as other funding sources. The new budget calls for $6,107, 588 and the 2012-13 budget was $5,784, 376 for a raise this year of $323,212.

New business:

10.    Approved hiring of Roger Parsons for maintenance at Lawrence County Community Center. Motion by John J. Lemaster, second by Earl Boggs.

11.    Approved hiring Jeff Burchett for the Lawrence County Garage. He was already part time.
12.    Approved purchase of used tandem trailer truck for $16,607, the state contract price..
13.    Appointed former judge/executive Clyde Johns  to the FIVCO Aging Board.
14.    Appointed Jon Rose of People's Security Bank to the Lawrence County Board of Assets.
 

15.    Appointed  Evie Burchett and Nadine Kelly to the Lawrence County Library Board of Trustees, out of four choices. The other two not chosen were Joy Frazier and Erica McGinnis.

16.    Accepted FIVCO Solid Waste District FY 13-14 Budget. There was discussion led by County Attorney Mike Gogan as to why the county approves the budget of a group it has no dealings with. Osborne said it was part of the FIVCO package as far as he knew and the package cost $16,000 but none from Lawrence County. He said he will look into the matter further.

17.    Accepted Lawrence County Extension FY 13-14 Budget. No total was announced at the meeting.

18.    Accepted viewer’s report of Aspen Drive, on 1690 off Rt. 645 and approved said portion of road for closure.

19.    Accepted A & N Lane into county road system on a vote of 3-1 with Magistrate Morris Howard voting 'no'. The road is less than a mile long and has been maintained by the county for several years and an easement is on file for it, but nothing in court minutes indicates its acceptance in 2004. County Attorney Mike Hogan said the state rules on adding roads to county systems have changed since it was added. Until 2006, a road only had to have two houses and a graveyard minimum to qualify, the law is now 5 houses and a cemetery. He said the county should attempt to get it in the minutes that it has been accepted back in 2002.

20.     Authorized County Clerk to advertise for bids on materials (blacktop, gravel, fuel, pipe, etc.) Note: Gravel bids must be state approved gravel. Osborne said the roadwork crew has been complaining that the gravel being received during this year has been of poor quality and does not last as long as it should. "It has a reddish or brown color to it and don't last no time,
Osborne. The #1 gravel bid was split this year between Mikey McKinney of Big Sandy Stone and Jeff Kinser.

21.    Authorized County Clerk to advertise for bids on emergency steel job - Long Branch Road forty foot sinkhole in road.

22.    Discussion by Nytis Exploration – Michael Potter (See first of story)

23.    Declared surplus property

4.    Public Comments: Ben Hopkins of Aspen Road was the only member of the audience and was there to thank the court for its decision on Aspen Drive.

25.    Adjoured

Greenup Co. American Legion under investigation;

The Public Protection Cabinet’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and the Department of Charitable Gaming joined forces in a two-month investigation that stemmed from complaints alleging illegal activities at the American Legion Post No. 43 in Greenup County.
The enforcement agencies executed a search warrant this week and discovered large quantities of alcoholic beverages, cash and gambling paraphernalia such as pull tabs.  Undercover surveillance also revealed that alcohol was served and sold, and gambling was allowed on the property.
 

ABC Enforcement Director Mike Razor said, “I am pleased with the combined efforts of investigators and officers of the ABC’s Division of Enforcement and the Department of Charitable Gaming.  This type of investigation is time consuming and takes a tremendous amount of coordination.

“The successful use of these resources is reflected in the results of this warrant service.  The American Legion is a wonderful organization, and I support it fully.  However, they must follow the laws like everyone.  It is not fair to those who follow the steps to obtain the proper license to legally sell alcohol or conduct charitable gaming,” added Razor.

The Legion is charged with two counts of selling alcohol in a dry territory and two counts of promoting gambling in the second degree. Four criminal summonses have been issued to the organization.

Louisa Police to participate in 'Click It or Ticket' enforcement campaign through Memorial Day

 
[Louisa, Ky] – Motorists who refuse to wear their seat belts – beware.  The 2013 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization kicks off May 20 to help save lives by cracking down on those who don’t buckle up.
 
Louisa PD is joining with other state and local law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates across the country to help save more lives by strongly enforcing seat belt laws around the clock.
 
“Too many drivers and passengers on the road at night are not wearing their seat belts, and it all too often ends in tragedy,” said Chief Greg Fugitt. “Our goal is to save more lives, so Louisa Police Department will be out enforcing seat belt laws – day and night.”
 
 
While seat belt use is at a record high of 86 percent nationwide, Kentucky lags behind with an 83.7 percent usage rate while Louisa has a 68 percent usage rate.  There were 746 total highway fatalities in Kentucky in 2012, with 592 killed in motor vehicles.  Of those 5592 fatalities, 62.5 percent were not wearing a seat belt.
 
Even through this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization runs through Memorial Day weekend, motorists should know that officers are out enforcing seat belt laws year-round.