Clinton County is now in line for a long, sought after project following action taken by Clinton County Fiscal Court at a special call meeting last Thursday afternoon, July 9. Five of six magistrates were on hand for the brief meeting.

The long awaited project the county has been seeking funds for is that of “safe rooms,” or reenforced shelters that residents can go to when severe storms and/or tornadoes are in the forecast or being predicted.

After making the announcement to the court about a resolution for funding for the shelter areas, the judge turned the meeting over to Emergency Management Director Lucas Abner to give the background of the grant application and other information.

Abner told the magistrates that this was a DES fund resolution for the safe rooms project that he, the former DES Director Lonnie Scott, and the judge had been working on for quite a while, further stating that the sites where the safe rooms will be located have also already been discussed.

Abner noted that funds were left over from the Kentucky Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation program that the county was applying for.

He said that the locations of the safe rooms were primarily based on the number of homes located within a half-mile radius of the locations to try to make them accessible to more residents.

Most of the locations are positioned at polling places in the county, it was noted.

The four preliminary locations include a structure on Bobby Grant Drive across from the high school; Ky. Hwy. 558 (Piney Woods voting precinct) in northeast Clinton County; the Maupin voting house in the eastern part of the county and the Cave Springs voting house just off Hwy. 127 in the northwest portion of the county.

Abner said the minimum capacity would be 100 occupants per house, all areas are out of flood zones and none are in historical landmark areas, as required in the federal grant application.

The total project cost is $336,000, with the vast majority being $252,000 in FEMA funding, 13 percent state funding and seven percent, or $43,680 in local funding.

However, the local total can be made through “in-kind” services such as use of county equipment and labor in helping construct the safe rooms.

Abner also addressed who would be in charge of opening the safe rooms when severe storms exist, and he suggested they could be unlocked remotely when severe weather watches or warnings are issued.

Abner told the court that the resolution would be filed the following day, last Friday, July 10, and he was 99.9 percent sure the long awaited project would be funded.

He further estimated it would take approximately a year to complete the total project.

The court, on a motion by magistrate Ray Marcum, voted unanimously to approve and submit the resolution to the state.

Also during the special meeting, the court approved four separate cash transfers on separate motions, in the total amount of $26,500. Three were from the Occupation Fund and one from the General Fund.

Transfers included, from the OTF, $8,000 to the ambulance checking; $500 to DES checking; $5,000 to Jail checking and $13,000 from the General Fund to the Jail checking fund.

The court will hold its regular monthly meeting this Thursday, July 16, at 5 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom of the courthouse. The meeting will be streamed live on the judge/executive’s Facebook page.