river development

Clinton County Fiscal Court took action on two separate type access roads that may be of great benefit to the county in a couple of ways–including economically and creating a safer route from the schools to the new Albany Bypass. The actions were taken at a special call meeting last Thursday morning with five of six members on hand.

The county first took action pertaining to its County Road Ordinance, by amending the document to clear the way for an access road in the Wells Bottom area requested by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. That agency has obtained funding to open a third access area to the Cumberland River and promote sport fishing and tourism in that area.

When the project was first detailed earlier this month, officials learned that the county’s road ordinance adopted in the spring of 2004 called for all new county roads accepted into the county road system be blacktopped prior to be accepted.

County Attorney Michael Rains has been researching the matter and told the court last week that a state attorney with the Department of Local Government in Frankfort had agreed that the only way the county could legally adopt the road would be to amend its ordinance. “If the current ordinance doesn’t meet the requirements, it will have to be amended,” he said.

A lengthy discussion then ensued on the process of how county roads had been accepted in the past, and what areas should be blacktopped or not, depending upon their economic benefits to the county.

During the discussion, Judge/Executive Lyle Huff presented the amendment to court members which reads: “It shall be the decision of the Clinton County Judge/Executive and members of the Clinton County Fiscal Court to accept, adopt and maintain new roads and extend existing roads into the Clinton County Road System which lead to government and state lands. The acceptance of these roads shall be deemed to be for the improvement of public economic development for Clinton County, Kentucky.”

With the easement the county is expected to receive from the property owners to be free and clear, the court also added into the amendment that the county would pay for the center line survey work.

The motion to approve the amendment, clearing the way to accept the road as is, was made by Magistrate Ricky Craig, who represents the area in question. The motion was seconded by Magistrate Mickey Riddle and passed by unanimous vote. Magistrate Craig noted the opportunity (for economic growth) was too good to pass up.

The county will meet the requirement requested by Fish and Wildlife to adopt the road into the county system–which is some 1,850 feet at an estimated cost to blacktop being around $32,000. However, the county will only accept the road as is and will leave it up to the aforementioned agency to complete the rest of the project, including any blacktopping that may be done.

Prior to the vote and afterwards, Magistrate Charlotte Bernard questioned the judge and other court members about other areas in the county, such as some subdivisions, which is an economic benefit and said since the ordinance was “tweaked” to assist in this project, why wasn’t it done so in other areas where the county had gained an economic benefit.

Magistrate Willard Johnson asked the magistrates who were on the court seven years ago how the county dealt with adopting county roads prior to the county road ordinance being put in place.

Magistrates Riddle and Phillip Parrigin said simply there was no written ordinance to go by. Anytime residents requested or petitioned their magistrates to adopt a road, two viewers would be appointed to look at the road and the court as a whole would vote whether to accept it or not.

“There were no guidelines before (the ordinance),” said Riddle, adding, “it got so expensive to bring in roads, we just couldn’t do it any more.”

Judge Huff thanked the county attorney for his assistance in this matter and in response to Magistrate Bernard’s concerns, said he wasn’t against taking in roads that lead to subdivisions but added he felt the developers of those subdivisions should figure the blacktopping cost into their own expense. He also noted this amendment dealt with government and state land access and not with private owned lands.

Following the vote, Magistrate Bernard again stressed her opinion that there are other roads in the county that would lead to economic development and now that “we have tweaked (the ordinance),” she questioned its affect on subdivisions and other areas leading to economic growth.

Magistrate Johnson also went on record as saying, “I feel like any ordinance the county adopts in the future should be fair to everyone, not just a few.”

Once the adoption of the access road is official, Department of Fish and Wildlife officials have indicated they are ready to start the project and get construction underway. Plans also call, in the future, for a swinging bridge to be constructed to the island area from Wells Bottom.

Fish & Wildlife officials also estimated earlier that the construction of sport fishing access–from a Sport Fish grant received by the department–from that area of the upper Cumberland could have up to a $300,000 to $400,000 annual economic impact in this area.

Another major project that has been in the works for the past few months became one step closer to becoming reality, that being a connector road from the U.S. 127 bypass from the west to the Clinton County Middle School.

Both school district officials and the county have been working with the state on getting funding from the bypass to the middle school property from that particular side. If constructed, the connector road could be very beneficial in helping take congested traffic off existing U.S. 127 on the eastern side of the schools in the area putting more traffic on the bypass itself.

This would apparently alleviate a lot of traffic congestion as not only the middle school, but the other schools and Mountain View Park area as well, making for a safer situation.

The court, on a motion by Magistrate Bernard, voted to authorize the judge/executive to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Transportation on the project.

Also, in relation, Judge Huff noted that a Request for Qualifications had been published in last week’s Clinton County News, as required, and he appointed a three-person review committee for the purpose of reviewing professional service offers. The members will consist of himself, Magistrate Mickey Riddle, whose district the middle school property is in, and Clinton County Schools Superintendent Mickey McFall. The committee will meet on August 2 to review the professional services proposals that are received on the project.

The court also voted, on a motion by Riddle, to approve fund transfers. County Treasurer Dallas Sidwell said they (transfers) “won’t cover all the bills, but that’s all we have right now.”

The court also briefly discussed an apparent new requirement from South Kentucky RECC that will call for a contract prior to electrical inspections being performed by the electric provider and also roads to be turned in by magistrates and forwarded to the Transportation Cabinet to be graded for possible FLEX funding for repairs.

The next regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court is scheduled for Thursday, August 18 at 5 p.m. at the judge/executive’s office and is open to the general public.