Fiscal Court acts to help God's Food Pantry

LWV OBSERVER REPORT
AGENCY: Madison County Fiscal Court
DATE: November 12, 2008
REPORTER: Joan Peoples

Public Hearing on God’s Outreach Food Pantry
A public hearing was held at 9:17 a.m. prior to the Fiscal Court meeting. Present were all four magistrates, along with Deputy Judge Executive Linda Ginter and County Clerk Billy Gabbard. Not present was Judge Executive Kent Clark.


Magistrate Larry Combs presided over the public hearing.
Brian Kirby, of Community and Economic Development Associates, a Richmond consulting firm, spoke on behalf of God’s Outreach Food Pantry in presenting its request for funds to help finance construction of a new facility. Their current facility, reportedly serving thousands of low-income county residents, is located on E. Main Street in Richmond. The new, larger facility would be built just off St. George Drive. The project would be funded by a federal government block grant, money from local donors, sale of a previously donated fork lift, volunteer labor, and up to (probably) $375,000 from Fiscal Court. The grant requires at least 25 percent in local matching funds. The proposal has not yet received final approval by the County Planning Commission. However, application deadline is the end of December, so time is short. Mr. Kirby agreed to have the necessary documents ready in time for the next Fiscal Court meeting.

Regular Meeting
After a brief recess, Fiscal Court officially convened at 9:40 a.m. with the same participants attending. Larry Combs chaired this meeting as well.

It was a relatively brief meeting. It was reported that $43,610 in un-budgeted revenue had been received due to increased vehicle tax rates. The resolution regarding funding of the God’s Pantry project was received and approved by unanimous vote. Funds mentioned ranged from $200,000 or possibly up to $300,000.

The magistrates spoke of meetings and events they had attended. Mr. Roger Barger explained that part of the reason the Valley View Ferry was still out of commission was because of delays in delivery of some of the materials needed for annual maintenance and repair. He noted that there seemed to be less damage to the ferry than in previous years. It was speculated that increased clean-up of the river might be having a positive effect.

Dr. Tudor voiced concern about hunters using high-powered fire arms near populated areas such as new subdivisions in formerly rural areas. He suggested that the newspapers should bring attention to this problem. In response to a question about the current burning ban, the fire chief sent word that recent rains allowed him now to lift the ban. However, Magistrate Botner reminded everyone that burning “sawed” lumber is still illegal by Kentucky state law.

County Clerk Billy Gabbard was asked to report on the recent election. He spoke with enthusiasm about the number of registered voters (53,000) and turnout (33,000) and expressed pleasure that there had been only minor problems. They did have to call the technician to recover the vote tallies on one failed machine. Also, the Silver Creek precinct had about 100 voters still in line at 6 p.m.

Mr. Gabbard said that they currently have 56 of the new (paper ballot) machines, one for each precinct, so they need four more. They also need to buy privacy shields. He mentioned a cost of $25,000 to $30,000. The new machines will allow faster voting and earlier reporting. Furthermore, the software will permit votes from each precinct to be combined electronically to show a running total as each precinct’s become available. He made reference to “the old way” when election results could be displayed on a big screen as each precinct reported, showing tallies for each candidate, each precinct and the county as a whole. This is seen as an improvement

When asked about “early voting” Mr. Gabbard said he would not be surprised if the Kentucky Legislature approved early voting in time for the 2010 elections. He said Madison County had 2,000 absentee ballots this year.

The meeting adjourned at 10:08 a.m.

Next Meeting
The next Fiscal Court meeting is scheduled for Nov. 25 and will include a public hearing.