Members of Meade County Fiscal Court met during a special called meeting Friday (10/24) morning for agenda which included the hiring of an electrical inspector for the Nucor Steel project.
Judge Executive Leslie Stith along with magistrates, Eli Dix, Steve Wardrip, and Randall Hardesty worked through the agenda. County Attorney Jessica Brown Roberts reported the latest findings related to the recently opened bids for the electrical inspector contract. One of the three candidates were disqualified due to lack of knowledge or issues that were discovered upon further review. Of the two remaining bids, Hendrick Electric was presented before Fiscal Court for approval at a set rate of $20,000 a month for a 18 to 24 month period. The full scope of the need is yet to be determined, but Hendrick will provide the county with a itemized invoice based upon the permits from the planning and zoning office to reflect what he has inspected as the construction phase of the steel mill progresses. He said that has already assisted David Veirs with some of the inspections so far on the project and he is currently working to get setup for the work load. After several minutes of discussion, the magistrates unanimously approved his bid.
In other business, the court reviewed and discussed the latest update on the health insurance plans for county employees. John Beavin of Kentucky Farm Bureau, gave an overview of the current rates. He said that with the claims from the past year caused the county’s rate to increase to 31.5 percent from a year ago. He said that after several rounds of discussion with the provider the rate was reduced to 13 percent. The discussion centered upon the participation of wellness program for employees and if the program was worth the extra cost to encourage self wellness. The consensus of magistrates was to evaluate another year of use and possibly eliminate it based upon interest of employees.
Judge Executive Stith asked the court to approve hiring an administrative assistant for his office which would promote a current employee and then the hiring or a receptionist. He along with his office stressed that action was not a new idea or something that he implemented since his appointment, County Treasurer Tammy Graham said the new position was need to keep up with the amount of work being processed in the office and to resolve a deficient mark on the annual audit. Magistrates approved both requests.
The next scheduled meeting of the Meade County Fiscal Court will be held on Tuesday, November 10 at 7 pm.
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