McCreary County fiscal court approves animal shelter increase, jail contract and ARC-backed courtroom tech upgrade
April 12, 2026 | McCreary County, Kentucky
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McCreary County Fiscal Court on April 9 approved a string of routine contracts, personnel actions and grant-backed technology upgrades.
The court approved an increase to the county animal shelter contract to $60,000 per year. The additional funds are intended to support construction of more kennels and expanded spay-and-neuter services, officials said at the meeting. "We're gonna get started on doing some spay and neutering," the moderator said during the discussion. The motion passed by roll call.
The court also renewed a jail contract with Knox County at $35 per inmate, a stopgap measure while an annex/addition in Whitley County is finished; no firm completion date was given. The renewal carried on a roll call vote.
Stephen McKinney, emergency management/IT lead, read a sealed bid from Connected Technologies for the fiscal court courtroom IT and camera project. The bid was reported at roughly $50,009.68; McKinney and staff said the county received a $50,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant to fund the non-matching upgrade. McKinney described the plan to install two upgraded cameras, microphones at each station, dedicated courtroom computers and tablets for magistrates, a new server for backups and automatic archiving to YouTube to reduce paper packet printing. "We'll be cutting down on our paper usage," he said; the court approved proceeding with the grant-funded project.
The court also authorized starting a sealed-bid procurement for a new road-department tractor to replace aging equipment, approved a cashless transaction agreement with BankCard of America Inc. to allow county departments to accept debit/credit payments (processing fees passed to consumers), and approved several personnel actions: moving a full-time EMT to part time at his request and promoting an AEMT to paramedic status with a pay increase.
Finance Officer David Gilroy presented a working draft of the 2027 budget framework and a claims list. Gilroy said the draft includes a projected 2.7% cost-of-living adjustment for county employees (not elected officials), lists major departmental line items and noted several pending grant applications (including a possible $784,000 loading-system grant). He scheduled a public budget meeting in May and set a first reading of the budget for May 14.
The court approved the park board's plan for 10 permanent campsite rental sites and voted to pay the claims presented. The meeting concluded with a vote to enter executive session under KRS 61.81(b) to discuss land acquisition.
No votes in the record defeated a motion; routine items were carried by roll call as recorded during the meeting.
The court approved an increase to the county animal shelter contract to $60,000 per year. The additional funds are intended to support construction of more kennels and expanded spay-and-neuter services, officials said at the meeting. "We're gonna get started on doing some spay and neutering," the moderator said during the discussion. The motion passed by roll call.
The court also renewed a jail contract with Knox County at $35 per inmate, a stopgap measure while an annex/addition in Whitley County is finished; no firm completion date was given. The renewal carried on a roll call vote.
Stephen McKinney, emergency management/IT lead, read a sealed bid from Connected Technologies for the fiscal court courtroom IT and camera project. The bid was reported at roughly $50,009.68; McKinney and staff said the county received a $50,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant to fund the non-matching upgrade. McKinney described the plan to install two upgraded cameras, microphones at each station, dedicated courtroom computers and tablets for magistrates, a new server for backups and automatic archiving to YouTube to reduce paper packet printing. "We'll be cutting down on our paper usage," he said; the court approved proceeding with the grant-funded project.
The court also authorized starting a sealed-bid procurement for a new road-department tractor to replace aging equipment, approved a cashless transaction agreement with BankCard of America Inc. to allow county departments to accept debit/credit payments (processing fees passed to consumers), and approved several personnel actions: moving a full-time EMT to part time at his request and promoting an AEMT to paramedic status with a pay increase.
Finance Officer David Gilroy presented a working draft of the 2027 budget framework and a claims list. Gilroy said the draft includes a projected 2.7% cost-of-living adjustment for county employees (not elected officials), lists major departmental line items and noted several pending grant applications (including a possible $784,000 loading-system grant). He scheduled a public budget meeting in May and set a first reading of the budget for May 14.
The court approved the park board's plan for 10 permanent campsite rental sites and voted to pay the claims presented. The meeting concluded with a vote to enter executive session under KRS 61.81(b) to discuss land acquisition.
No votes in the record defeated a motion; routine items were carried by roll call as recorded during the meeting.
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