Clinton County Fiscal Court met in regular session last Thursday evening, May 19 with four of five members present. Among items of business were opening bids of the courthouse roof project and road materials.

The court first voted to pay claims and bills, including the May primary election expenses.

While approving the monthly treasurer’s report and fund transfers, magistrate Willard Johnson noted that last month, the ambulance service billing came in at over $53,000, the highest collection for a month in some time. He commended the ambulance service and the agency that does the billing for the EMS for the increase in collections.

County Treasurer Dallas Sidwell then opened two bids that had been received on the roofing of the courthouse. One bid was from Murphy Roofing of Albany, which had done the Community Center roofing project, at $22,691.95. The second bid was from South Central Roofing of Burkesville, which was slightly higher ($849) at $23,540.00.

When reviewing the bids, Judge/Executive Lyle Huff said he had to recommend Murphy’s due to the fact they were the low bidder. However, Magistrate Mickey Riddle said it appeared that South Central was offering more for the money and eventually made a motion to approve that company to do the work.

After some discussion, the motion was seconded by magistrate Patty Guinn, also noting it appeared South Central had the best bid for the price, according to items listed on each respective bid. The motion to approve South Central passed on a roll-call vote of 4 to 1 with Riddle, Guinn, Johnson and Magistrate Phillip Parrigin voting yes.

Magistrate Charlotte Bernard voted no, saying she felt the low bidder may do the same work but didn’t list it on the bid sheet and also noted that Murphy’s was a local contractor and she’d rather give the work to someone local.

South Central did have a representative present at the meeting and Riddle noted that Murphy’s did not have a representative there to answer any questions about its bid.

Treasurer Sidwell also opened several road material bids from two companies that had submitted bids on various materials the county uses each year, those being from Gaddie Shamrock and Albany Quarry.

Bids were read aloud on materials such as pipe and tile, gravel, hot mix, crush stone, chip and seal, etc.

Magistrate Riddle then made a motion to approve a dual contract with both companies, and use the company that provides the lowest price to the county for each item needed. For example, Albany Quarry doesn’t supply such materials as hot mix, thus Gaddie Shamrock would automatically be the county supplier on that item.

The motion to approve both bidders passed by unanimous vote.

The court then voted to appoint three reapportionment commissioners to meet and study whether or not any boundary changes are needed in the county’s magisterial districts. The committee will be chaired by County Clerk Jim Elmore.

Reapportionment is required to be addressed following each U.S. Census report to determine if districts are balanced with elected representatives versus the number of constituents each serve.

The committee, which will be paid $50 per meeting, will consist of Norman Dale Asberry, Billy Joe Coop and Larry Hatfield, with David Honeycutt as an alternate.

The court tabled action on an ordinance accepting the W. Brown Extension Road until a later time.

Two pass-through budgets were entered into the minutes, those being for the Lake Cumberland Community Action Agency and Clinton County Industrial Development Authority, with no action by the court being necessary.

Pastor Bobby Grant then addressed the court about some recent items purchased for the Wellness Center.

There had been $6,329.92 left in funds to be used from grants received on the project. Two pieces of equipment had been purchased to close out the grant amount, including a cleaning machine for $5,516 and foam system for $2,300, which brought the total to a little over $1,500 above what was left.

Magistrate Bernard moved to extend the Wellness Center budget by $1,600 to cover the costs of the equipment purchases, which passed by unanimous vote.

Both Magistrates Bernard and Johnson commended Grant and the Wellness Center Board on the new facility, with Bernard saying it was one of the best projects the county has helped complete since she has been with the court.

Grant also announced that as of last week’s meeting, the facility had some 830 memberships. He also said the highest expenses were in natural gas and electricity to operate and discussed some ways of possibly getting those costs down, including the possibility of using natural gas from nearby gas wells.

County Clerk Jim Elmore then addressed the court about the need for repairs and maintenance at several voting houses in the county. One location in the May primary had an electrical problem and the back-up battery generator had to be used to operate the voting machines.

Magistrate Johnson suggested that the county road department, along with Elmore, go to each voting location and make a needs assessment for each and present that report to the court next month. It is hoped the repairs needed can be complete by the November general election.

Road Supervisor Jim Pennycuff also addressed the court about county road signs being stolen and/or vandalized. He requested the public’s assistance in helping catch people who steal or vandalize the signs.

Pennycuff said that in the past prior week alone, the road crew had replaced about 40 signs at a cost of around $75 per sign. He noted around $3,000 of county money had been used to replace the stolen or vandalized signs.

Magistrate Johnson also noted the signs were just for the public, but primarily for public safety since they were used mainly by emergency personnel such as the ambulance service, fire department and law enforcement.

Director of Emergency Services Lonnie Scott then informed the court that an ambulance, which currently has 180,000 miles, apparently has a blown engine.

Following discussion of a couple of options, the court agreed to purchase a re-manufactured engine at an estimated cost of $10,000 that would carry a 100,000-mile, three year warranty.

Scott also announced that another ambulance with high mileage was currently being repaired.

The next regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court is scheduled for Thursday, June 16 at 5 p.m. at the Judge/Executive’s office conference room and is open to the general public.