Clinton County Fiscal Court ended the year about the same way it began as far as meetings conducted by the governing body, as there were several split votes that resulted from the last regular meeting of the year held last Thursday, December 17. The court also heard the official retirement announced by County Treasurer Dallas Sidwell during the just under one hour meeting, with all members present.

The first split vote came early in the meeting as after the court unanimously approved the monthly treasurer’s expenditure report and fund transfer, there were several questions raised pertaining to the claims and bills. On the vote to approve, magistrates Mickey Riddle, Ricky Craig and Patty Guinn voted no with magistrates Terry Buster, Hershell Key and Johnny Russell voting yes, with judge/executive Richard Armstrong breaking the tie with a yes vote to approve.

After delivering his final report to the court, County Treasurer Dallas Sidwell read his letter of resignation to the court, basically announcing his retirement after many years of working in various capacities in government, including the school system and for the county.

Sidwell, who had served the past 13 years in that capacity and served two times overall, thanked the court members and judge and noted he had been honored to have served the county over the years. Sidwell put in a total of 52 years in some capacity of work and a story on Sidwell’s long career will be published in next week’s Clinton County News.

After his announcement, Sidwell was also presented with an engraved clock as a gift as well as a plaque for his years of service.

Office budgets were then presented to the court for consideration, including the sheriff’s office and county clerk’s office budgets for the coming year, once again resulting in a split vote.

Magistrate Hershell Key made the motion to approve the sheriff’s department budget and that also resulted in an even split vote, with magistrates Buster and Russell also voting yes, magistrates Riddle, Guinn and Craig voting no and judge Armstrong again breaking the tie with a yes vote to approve.

Magistrates who voted no on the budget said it was higher than the 2015 year budget. However, Cindy Thrasher noted to the court that the additional $20,000 in the budget was to pay back a loan from the state the office had to borrow last year to maintain operations until tax revenues began coming in.

The court then unanimously approved the county clerk’s budget, which was the same as the current year, and later approved an amendment to the 2015 year’s budget.

On a motion by Craig, the court voted to declare several items, primarily equipment and sheriff’s office vehicles, as surplus and sell these at public auction, with the date of the auction to be announced later.

Judge Armstrong then presented court members with a list of four names submitted by the Clinton County Extension Office, with the court to choose two of those individuals to appoint as board members. The court voted unanimously to appoint Jim Delk and Jason Harlan to the Extension Service board.

Several people were in attendance representing the volunteer group Little Foothills of KY Animal Rescue, seeking permission from the court to allow volunteers to help man the Tri-County Animal Shelter, which is now open only limited hours and is not open on Saturdays.

A spokesperson for the group, in which nine individuals were counted as being there to support the volunteer effort, said Clinton County had the only shelter in which volunteer help was not allowed. They say volunteers at the shelter would improve community awareness and would be a structured, coordinated effort.

Enid Wallace of Little Foothills of KY also suggested possibly adding a website for the shelter in hopes of increasing the number of animal adoptions and also said that volunteers helping it create more adoptions would also save the county money in the cost of putting animals down, housing them, etc. She added that volunteers would also have to sign a waiver of responsibility if they volunteer at the shelter.

Some court members, however, did have the re-occuring question of county liability and whether or not the county’s insurance carrier, KACo would allow for volunteers at a county operated facility.

County Attorney Michael Rains also noted the county had posed that question in the past and got a negative answer, but said he could again contact KACo legal advisors about the liability question and get an answer as soon as possible.

Judge Armstrong, an advocate of allowing volunteers, told the group he would try and get an almost immediate answer.

Following the group’s presentation and some discussion, magistrate Key made a motion to allow volunteers to work at the shelter…contingent upon insurance carrier approval that would dismiss the county from liability. That motion again resulted in 3-3 tie, with magistrates Russell and Buster also voting yes, magistrates Riddle, Craig and Guinn no and judge Armstrong breaking the tie with a yes vote.

Those who voted no said they were in favor of allowing volunteers, but wouldn’t vote in favor until the question of liability on behalf of the county is answered.

Following a brief 10 minute closed session, to discuss personnel, the court voted on some make-up changes in office staff resulting from Sidwell’s resignation as County Treasurer.

Upon returning to open session, the court voted 4-2 to move current Finance Officer Tuesday Davis to the County Treasurer position at the same rate of pay as the current treasurer, and move Joanna Armstrong from secretary in the judge’s office to Finance Officer at the same rate of pay.

Magistrates Riddle and Craig voted no, saying their reasoning was the rate of pay between the current positions held by the employees to the new ones was too much of a raise.

The court did vote unanimously to eliminate Joanna Armstrong’s secretary position altogether, a savings of about $25,000 annually, prior to adjourning the session.

The next regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court is scheduled for Thursday, January 21 at 5 p.m. at the upstairs courtroom of the courthouse and is open to the general public.