Fiscal Court going to request removal of guardrails on 874

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

The Webster County Fiscal Court met in regular session on Monday, December 23, 2013 at the courthouse in Dixon.

One item discussed during the road request portion of the meeting was the new bridge the state recently opened on highway 874 near the  community of Lisman.

The new bridge over Fredericks Ditch opened Thursday, September 19, restoring normal traffic flow on KY 874 between KY 279 and KY 1340. According to Webster County Judge Executive Jim Townsend, the new bridge has caused some difficulties for local farmers.

“They put up some guardrails that are not allowing farmers enough room to get to their fields,” he reported. “Some sections of guardrail need to come down.”

Townsend suggested that the state be contacted about relocating part of that guardrail to Clay, where earlier this year city officials requested guardrails at the intersection of 109 and 132.

The intersection in question is a “T” intersection, and city officials have reported a number of accidents at the location when drivers coming from the direction of Wheatcroft failed to stop.

“The state said that they didn’t know if there would ever be guardrails at that location,” added magistrate Chad Townsend. “Guardrails are designed for glancing blows, not a head-on collision.”

In other business, the court voted to approve Webster County’s 9-1-1 Dispatch to use $16,000 of grant money to purchase new digital radio equipment. 9-1-1 Director Greg Sauls told the court that the switch from analog to digital will most likely be mandated in the near future, and since the county already had the funds available, this seemed like a good time to switch.

Cindy Wabner of Poole attended the meeting, representing a group of citizens from her community concerned with abandoned and neglected properties in their area. The group first came before the court in October with a list of buildings that were eye sores and in some cases dangerous.

Cleanup letters were sent out to property owners over a month ago, and locals report that not much has been done.

“We want to give people the chance to do something on their own,” said Wabner. But for the most part property owners have been disregarding the letters.

In other cases the actual owner of the property is unidentified. In many of these cases the owners have passed away and the deeds have never been updated, yet someone continues to pay the property taxes.

The Webster County Fiscal Court is planning a workshop to discuss what the county can do. Currently the only thing on the books is a county ordinance that required owners to clean up their property, but it only referred to things like mowing and cleaning up garbage. It did not included demolition of abandoned structures.

Some communities like Providence and Clay have created city ordinances that allow the city to place liens on properties belonging to residents who continually refuse to maintain their property. County Attorney Clint Prow has been investigating if there is any grounds for a county to pass a similar ordinance.

Like many other employers, the January 1, 2014 arrival of the Affordable Healthcare Act is going to force the county to make some tough decisions when it comes to their part-time help, specifically those at the Webster County Jail. The new federal law will require employers to offer the same medical insurance it offers to full-time workers to any part-time employee who averages more than 30 hours week.

According to Jailer Terry Elder, most of his part-time employees average 40 hours or more per week. The addition of the insurance would give these workers everything that the full-time staff has except vacation and sick time.

County Attorney Clint Prow suggested that all part-time employees be limited to 39 hours in order to be sure that they don’t qualify for the additional benefits.

The court held the second  reading of the new County Administrative Code, making a few last minute changes before approving the document unanimously. The code operates much the same as an employee handbook provided by other employers.