Clinton Fiscal Court conducted its last regular session of 2011 last Thursday evening in the absence of County Judge/Executive Lyle Huff and Magistrate Phillip Parrigin. Judge Huff had a death in his family earlier in the day and had to be in Louisville, Kentucky. The brief meeting saw limited action taken as well as discussion on a couple of issues.

County Attorney Michael Rains explained the court would need to select someone from among the members to chair the meeting in Judge Huff’s absence. The court voted to appoint Fifth District Magistrate Charlotte Bernard to act as chairperson for the approximate 20-minute meeting.

The court first voted, on a motion by Second District Magistrate Patty Guinn, to pay monthly claims and bills and on a motion by First District Magistrate Mickey Riddle, approved the monthly treasurer’s report. Fund transfers were also approved.

The agenda had originally listed the presentation of the Sheriff’s Office/County Court Clerk’s Office budgets for approval. However, Judge Huff had made a note requesting those budgets be tabled until he could be present to explain some possible matters relating to employee insurance and other issues that may affect the budget process.

Also, Sheriff Rick Riddle noted that he would need to make an amendment to the current 2011 year budget in his office due to the unexpected cost of fuel used during the past year. He noted due to his office having to make so many transports this year, the cost of gasoline was higher than anticipated.

Following a brief discussion, Third District Magistrate Willard Johnson moved to table both budget presentations until a later meeting, with the motion passing by unanimous vote.

The only other item listed on the agenda for the meeting was an appointment of the Clinton County Industrial Development Authority. Magistrate Guinn made a motion to accept the county judge’s recommendation and reappoint Deborah Brown for a second term on the IDA. The motion passed 4-0 with Magistrate Johnson, a co-worker of Brown’s, abstaining.

Under old business, Magistrate Riddle discussed recent repair work on the Clinton County Community (Senior) Center. He told the court that 50 feet of additional duct work that had not been originally completed, was done by another person free of charge and further said to his knowledge, the work was now complete on the facility.

Magistrate Craig then brought up an issue that was first discussed in November, pertaining to the amount paid to two different companies for supplying rock and tile for the county.

Craig said he had since learned that there was a ‘discrepancy’ in the amounts paid to the companies for rock used by the county and indicated the court members and public had been somewhat misled earlier. Court members indicated that invoices over the past few months showed Albany Quarry receiving the majority of rock orders.

When road material bids were voted on by the court the middle of this year, for the 2011-12 fiscal year, Gaddie Shamrock was the only bid for blacktopping material and the court voted unanimously to split the rock and tile bids between Gaddie and Albany Quarry, both local companies.

Magistrate Riddle noted that when the aforementioned action was taken, officials from both companies were satisfied with the decision made at that time.

Magistrate Johnson recommended from this point on, each company be awarded a rock contract one turn at a time in rotation through the end of the current fiscal year on June 30. He further suggested that when the material is bid for the next fiscal year, they be awarded to the low bidder only.

The remaining court members agreed with the suggestion, with Magistrate Riddle saying he had no problem with the idea if the (county) judge accepts the court’s vote to split the rock and tile bid equally between the two suppliers.

Magistrate Bernard then asked if there were any updates on the proposal to do a study about cancer rates in Clinton County. This idea was brought to the court last month by Dr. William C. Powell, who had concerns about the apparent unusually high rate of cancer in the local area compared to state averages.

Magistrate Johnson said that he believed the director of the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, Shawn Catron, would be at the court’s regular meeting in January to give information on the cancer rate issue.

The court also discussed its employee Christmas dinner.

This year, the magistrates will be preparing the meal for county employees for a Christmas lunch and they decided to hold the event on Thursday, December 22 at the EMS facility, which has a cooking area and room for sit down meals.

Dinner will begin being served to employees who wish to participate at 11 a.m., dine-in or carry-out.

Finance Officer Tuesday Davis then presented each court member and county recorder Kate Parrish with a gift from county employees prior to the meeting being adjourned.

The next regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court is scheduled for Thursday, January 19 at 5 p.m. and is open to the general public.