Fiscal court in an approving mood

    The regular scheduled meeting of Pendleton Fiscal Court saw approval of several items and no action taken in a closed session.
    After discussion at two previous meetings and County Clerk Rita Spencer answering magistrates’ questions at the caucus meeting, the court approved the 2021 proposed budget for her office.
    In addition, they set the maximum that the county clerk’s office could spend on deputies and assistants at $235,348.86.
    Pendleton County received $446,000 from discretionery funds for road resurfacing in the county. The court approved a resolution to accept the funds.
    The county also received $496,734 in CARES funding from the federal government to offset increased expenses because of local respones to the covid pandemic. The court had a second reading of the 2020-21 County Budget Amendment and will look to approve it later in the month.
    A resolution to urge legislators to increase the county road funds was approved by District 1. Magistrate Alan Whaley raised a concern on the resolution.
    He questioned, “Is this resolution for them to find a solution to the funding issue?”
    After Judge Executive David Fields indicated it was, Whaley said, “I am supporting the resolution because something needs to be done, but I cannot go along with just whatever.”
    District 2 Magistrate Josh Plummer indicated he had talked to some people on the day of the meeting about the resolution and passed onto the court that last session, “a proposed gas tax did not even make it out of committee.”
    Both Plummer and District 4 Magistrate Rick Mineer agreed with Whaley’s concern about   not supporting just any method of increasing revenue into the county road fund; rather, the legislators needed to look into the issue.
    The resolution stated that in 2015, Pendleton County received $1,118,294.71 in county road funding. That number had dropped in 2020 to $950,184.11.
    That is a decrease of $168,110.60.
    The court went into closed session for discussion on appointment, discipline or dismissal of an employee. No action was taken.
    Plummer posed the question: if someone wanted to donate to the animal shelter, how is that done?
    Fields answered that items could be dropped off at the animal shelter or at the courthouse.
    He further informed the court that they are getting conflicting messages on how financial donations should be handled.
    “We were told that it was to go straight to General Fund but then was told that it could be donated straight to the Animal Shelter. We are still waiting to get it settled on how to handle donations,” he added.
    Plummer also questioned a bill for shirts for animal control. After investigation, Fields reported that the item should be for $140 not the $1,085 that was reported. When the bills were paid, the motion included the change.
    Plummer commented about the $20,000 that was paid to Campbell County Detention Center, and Mineer followed up with a question about the one inmate that was still at Bourbon County.
    County Attorney Stacey Sanning explained that with the virus, Campbell County is not accepting inmates that has been lodged in other detention centers, so the inmate at Bourbon County cannot be transferred.
    Pendleton  County has a contract with Campbell County Detention Center and not Bourbon County. As a result, the daily rate from Bourbon County  being charged to the fiscal court for the one inmate is much higher than a normal charge if they were housed in Campbell County.
    She added that it is an issue as they have inmates in several different detention centers as a result of covid.
    Mineer pointed out that is putting a strain on the jailer’s office. On court days, instead of transporting inmates from Campbell Couunty, they are having to transport them from several different detention centers.
    Sanning informed the court that Campbell County Detention Center just recently had their first positive covid case of an inmate.
    Answering District 3 Magistrate Darrin Gregg’s question, the inmate was not a Pendleton County person.
    “But there were two Pendleton County prisoners in the cell with the positive case and. acting on the request from Campbell County Detention Center to prevent an outbreak, the two prisoners were released,” she said. “One of the two individuals were arrested the next day.”