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The Jessamine County Fiscal Court had its first meeting of the month on Tuesday, April 1. 

New business: 

The court approved the first reading of the interlocal agreement for the Nicholasville Jessamine County Community Center. After the county and city approve the interlocal agreement, the Department of Local Government still has to approve it.

The court also approved an interlocal agreement for the joint Parks and Recreation board. This agreement will update what Deputy Judge-Executive Justin Ray said is “antiquated,” as the last time it was updated was in 2005. 

The biggest change of the agreement is that of the five members on the Parks and Recreation Board, two will now be appointed by the City Commission of Nicholasville, with one member of their choosing from the city commission itself, and the Fiscal Court will appoint two members with one member of their choosing from the court. In the old agreement, Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater also appointed one person from Wilmore. That will no longer be a part of the agreement, as Rainwater said, because Wilmore does not financially support Parks and Rec, he wouldn’t feel comfortable. That fifth member of the board will now be chosen by the other four members brought in by the city and the county. Ray said the board will continue to seek out individuals from Wilmore and High Bridge areas. 

The second change to the agreement is that Parks and Recreation will receive funding from both Nicholasville and Jessamine County in two lump sum payments. 

Magistrates showed interest in how having the interlocal recreation center at John Preece Park (which is owned by Jessamine County) would affect the county’s ownership of that land. Ray assured the court that the county still owns the land. 

CashVest, a company that provides data-driven insights that guide financial officers to the best time to invest, has recommended that the Fiscal Court take $4 million from Wes Banco to split evenly into a 6-month Certificate of Deposit (CD) and a 1-year CD. Judge Executive David West said this money hadn’t been touched in years, and the court’s magistrates approved the recommendation. 

Jessamine County Human Resources Director Todd Chapman informed the court of a contract for compensation services to Hanna Resource Group. A couple of years ago, Chapman said a resource group did a one-time combing through of the county’s job titles, descriptions, and wages. Chapman suggested to the court that it bring Hanna on a retainer to provide services past the one-time analysis. “Instead of getting all that data at one time, they’ll work with us on compensation strategies and stay on retainer. Instead of a one-time hit, they come in and help you stay on track. it also spreads the payment out over two years instead of all at once,” Chapman said. The court approved this suggestion. 

The court passed two proclamations. The Child Abuse Prevention Proclamation reinforces the courts’ support for the continued work to prevent child abuse in Jessamine County communities. The second proclamation was the Arbor Day proclamation. This day will be celebrated in late April. Judge West said it “gives our support to the process of reforestation and all of the benefits that it brings to us.”

The court approved an agreement with the Bluegrass Area Development District. A few weeks ago, Jeremy Young, the director of the Wilmore-Jessamine County Planning and Zoning Department, stepped down. This agreement will allow the Bluegrass Area Development District to provide consulting to the county before it finds a new director. 

The court also approved Andy Sims for the Library Board of Trustees, with his term ending June 30, 2029. 

The court approved an encroachment Permit for Delta Natural Gas on Hunters Ferry Road. 

The court approved several personnel items:

• The resignation of Matthew Fraddosio from the county.
• Wage increase for Christopher Montgomery and Elaine Taylor in planning and zoning. 
• The hiring of Dan Russell at the detention center.
• Job description change for operations manager, administrative manager, and court liaison major at the detention center. 
• Chief deputy title to be changed to Colonel at the detention center. 
• Promotion for Sharon Bill to shift supervisor at E-911. 

The court also discussed two items that were not approved in this meeting for different reasons. 

The first is an agreement with Garrard and Mercer Counties to use Jessamine County Detention Center space. West said that Jessamine County has been housing Garrard County inmates for some time and was recently approached by Mercer County to see if Jessamine had any space. The court created contracts between Jessamine and both counties, but Jailer Jon Sallee suggested they be approved at the same time, and the Mercer County Fiscal Court had not approved its contract yet. The court will approve these contracts once Mercer approves it as well. 

The second item was an Open Burning Ordinance. Most of this Ordinance reflects policies from the state and the National Weather Service regarding how close to structures and woodlands fires can be set. Although the Fire Marshall said many agricultural properties do need to have controlled fires at times, there is a restriction in the Ordinance from allowing individuals to bring materials from off-property to burn. This Ordinance does not restrict cooking fires and campfires. No penalties were listed in the Ordinance. County Attorney Brian Goettl suggested that the fire marshall add that and return it to the fiscal court with penalties. This Ordinance was tabled.