Knott County Fiscal Court approves contracts, ordinances and hires at June 20 meeting

Knott County Fiscal Court voted June 20 on a series of administrative and infrastructure items, approving contracts, ordinances and finance actions in a meeting that also authorized staff to interview candidates for a Casey’s Law advocate and heard public comment from a trail authority representative.

Contracts and infrastructure: The court approved Chestnut Ridge water phase 1 and the related sewer phase 1 contracts (same contractor and bids opened with the county engineer). The court also advanced several road-name and road-change ordinances: multiple roads received second-reading approval and other main-road changes were given first reading and approval to proceed through the ordinance process.

Ordinances and code changes: The court adopted an animal-control regulation ordinance intended to add interpretive detail to existing Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) on abandonment, adequate food/shelter, and enforcement steps; court members said similar language has been adopted by neighboring counties.

Finance and operations: The court approved the April transfers (approximately $367,000 for payroll/insurance/retirement and a $150,000 transfer to the Sportsplex for construction and operations), accepted the claims list (including FEMA reimbursements and two new dump trailers for cleanup work) and approved the treasurer’s report. Treasurer Daryl reported cash balances and noted FEMA reimbursed $1,120,241.70.

Casey’s Law advocate: The court authorized county staff to interview applicants and move toward hiring a Casey’s Law advocate/caseworker (position advertised at $20 per hour) with the expectation that the role would be funded from opioid-settlement proceeds. The court approved the motion to allow interviews and hiring authority.

Public safety and roads: Members of the public raised a blocked county-road issue; staff agreed to send Road Department personnel to investigate and to pursue obstruction charges if a gate is illegally blocking a county road.

All listed votes in these items were carried by voice vote during the meeting.