Pendleton County Emergency Management Director Mike Moore came to the fiscal court the bearer of bad news, but he offered a plan to solve the problem he was detailing.
“We have river gauge problems,” Moore told the court as he started his impressive presentation which clearly explained the situation, the problem and four options that the court could choose to take.
According to Moore, there are nine river gauges that are used to provide information to Pendleton County about the river level of the Licking River.
Starting at Cave Run Lake, Farmers is the first river gauge, then Blue Licks and Mt. Olivet on the main branch of the Licking River. The first in Pendleton County and fifth in line is at McKinneysburg. The South Fork of the Licking River has two gauges, one in Cynthiana and one at Hayes Station.
The two forks come together in Falmouth at the Hwy 22 E bridge. There is a river gauge there and another at Catawba. There is one at Butler, but it has not been working for awhile.
“The gauge equipment is defective. It needs all new equipment,” said Moore. “There is no real time and accurate river level measurement for Butler. They have a telephone pole with numbers on it. It floods in Butler, too.”
Out of the river gauges, the county owns the river gauge in Falmouth and Butler. The USGS owns the other gauges.
“The Licking River watershed is huge. Cave Run Lake holds back almost 25 percent of the watershed,” Moore informed the magistrates.
The issue presently, according to Moore, is that the Falmouth gauge has not been working for almost four to five months. That is added to the Butler gauge that was “cobbled” together and has not been working for a long time.
Moore traced the problem not to the river gauge in Falmouth but rather the Bachelors Rest Repeater Site that receives a radio signal from the gauge and sends it among a state network to Frankfort. There it is sent via the internet to the NWS Network and then to the app the public can read at p4mo.com/pcema.
Compounding the problem is that the state has decided to no longer support the state network system.
Representative Mark Hart was in attendance and told the court that he and Moore had been working on the problem but, “It was an executive branch decision.”
Answering Magistrate Rick Mineer’s question on funding, Hart said, “We can put a line item to fund it in the budget, but they have decided to not continue the program so the funding would just sit there.
Mineer was clearly frustrated. “It’s another unfunded program from the state, a program that we need to provide flooding information.”
The other seven river gauges are maintained by the USGS and provides the information to the NWS Network via satellite. Allowing USGS to take over the system was one of the options for the court although it was the priciest.
Moore detailed the first two options. The worse of the two was to do nothing and he explained why it was the worse option. The second was to replace the needed parts and to continue on the state network system, a system that will go away sometime in the near future. As several magistrates pointed out, “It would be throwing away $8,000.”
Hart told the court, “Option 2 is not an option.”
The third option was to let the USGS take over the system. It is $26,000 for one river gauge but there is a 50% grant, lowering the cost of one river gauge to $13,000. To replace both the Falmouth and Butler river gauge, it would be $26,000. In addition, there is an annual software cost of $12,000 per year.
The fourth option was to purchase from High Sierra two river gauges at a cost of $17,257.65. There would be an annual cost of $720. This was the option that Moore was recommending to the court.
After many questions and discussion, several magistrates felt that the two cities needed to share the cost of river gauges that is used to give real time river level monitoring. They decided to not act on the request and allow Moore to speak to both city councils about them each picking up half of the annual costs (it would be $360 per year for each city council) while the county would play the $17,257.65 for the two new river gauges.
John Bloomfield, Animal Control Officer, requested permission for the judge to sign a grant application that would allow him to seek approximately $5,000 to replace the panels and metal siding on some kennels.
“The grant is to fix things and cannot be used for new things. I don’t have the time or the resources to do it,” he told the court while explaining he is waiting on a quote from Mills Fencing for labor to install the panels that the animal shelter already has.
Bloomfield also brought up the need of an air conditioner. Mineer expressed that he might be able to get one donated to the animal shelter and for Bloomfield to contact him about it.
Earlier in the evening, Hart presented to Louie Hulley a citation of appreciation from the House of Representatives. In part it said, “Long and distinguished 50 years of service at many businesses and institutions.”
The court opened and accepted bids for county road paving and oil products.
Mago and Easton Asphalts submitted bids for resurfacing the county roads.
“The bid was for all county roads in total in all four districts,” explained Fields.
Mago’s bid was for $1,144,756 while Eaton’s was for $1,681,162.85.
The court accepted the bid from Mago.
The two companies were the only two bids for products in repaving projects. Eaton’s bid was for Surface 11A at $92 per ton, Surface 11 for $72 per ton, Base material $70 per ton, Binder $70 per ton and Cold Mix for $135 per ton.
Mago’s bid prices were Surface 11A for $72 per ton, Surface 11 for $72 per tone, Base material $68.50 per ton and Binder for $69.50 per ton. They do not do Cold Mix.
Magistrate Darrin Gregg asked, “Do we have to go to Eaton to get the products?”
Fields answered, “Yes, on Frogtown Rd in Walton.”
Mago’s products can be picked up at Butler.
Mineer proposed a motion that they accept both bids and leave the decision to the discretion of the Judge Executive and road department. Fields liked the idea in case “something happens” with one of the companies, they would have the other company as a backup.
Terry Asphalt was the accepted bid for oil products for the county roads: RS2 $1.85 per gallon, HFRS $2.16 per gallon, A150 $2.03 per gallon, A200 $2.13 per gallon, Enviro had no bid, Fog seal $1.50 per gallon and Pug Mill at 35
FISCAL page 11
County’s early warning system for flooding is partially not working
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