The Lyon County Fiscal Court met Thursday, April 14 and business included talk about the county budget, a proposal from the Lake Barkley Tourism Commission, and discussion on a possible grant by the State Homeland Security Grant program.

This meeting saw the first reading of the budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year, ordinance 03-2022. The county attorney read the bill in summary, and the full text is available publicly in the office of the Judge-Executive. The current budget total is $9,598,323.56.

This meeting also saw the first reading of the Admin Code Ordinance Amendment in regard to Purchasing, Ordinance 04-2022. The purpose of this amendment is to alter the language of the local ordinance to match that of the state’s. Currently, the language says that any purchase more than $20,000 requires the purchase to be made open for bidding. However, the state law has changed so that the requirement is now $30,000, and the fiscal court wishes for the local language to agree with the state’s.

Judge-Executive Wade White intends to make a small change to the ordinance before the second reading to the effect that any purchase less than $10,000 does not require three separate bids. This change does not affect the overall intent of the bill, so a second first reading is not necessary.

The Lake Barkley Tourism Commission brought a proposal before the fiscal court to build a disc golf course on property at Lee S. Jones Park.

It has been working with HB Clark, who has a history of building these courses. The tourism commission provided the council with specs and details for the project, which will require roughly 40 acres and is currently estimated to cost $20,493, not including installation. The tourism commission has offered to pay for the project. However, the county does not own all of the land that the commission is requesting for the project; some belongs to the Lyon County school district. The commission will have to get approval from the school district before the fiscal court can act further.

Sheriff Brent White also brought State Homeland Security Grant Program #20-007 back to the attention of the fiscal court. This grant for the amount of $63,100 is provided to the county with the intent that it uses it to test new methods of voter security. The sheriff’s office wants to use the grant to purchase a surveillance system that will allow them to monitor polling sites remotely on Election Day. Sheriff White also explained that he would like to take advantage of this grant because his department would be allowed to continue to use the system for local security, and he feels it would be a great benefit to the county.

However, the concern of videoing voters, which is prevented under Kentucky Statute 117.263, was brought forward. Judge-Executive White shared he had some reservations about the intended use of the system. Sheriff White and the county clerk are both on the voting board, and they informed the Judge-Executive that they could arrange the polling locations so this was not an issue.

After much discussion, the idea of simply using the surveillance system to monitor the voting machines while they were in storage the night before was brought forward.

Former Police Chief Jamie Green, who helped Sheriff White with the original grant application, explained that it should not be an issue to submit a revised request for proposal (RFP) for the project, which would allow them to use the machines for this purpose. Green and Sheriff White will resubmit the proposed specs for the project, and the fiscal court will revisit the issue at the May meeting.

Also at the meeting, one resident thanked the fiscal court for the repair work performed on the senior center and asked that it remember the center when setting the yearly budget.

Other business included:

• Denise Sutton and Emily Fackler were reappointed to another term as trustees on the Lyon County Public Library Board.

• Tom Peek, who handles maintenance at the courthouse locations, has been given a salary increase to reflect the extra work he has been doing since the county saw the loss of the use of inmates due to the COVID-19 crisis. Scott Coney has offered to take over maintenance at the park to allow Peek to better focus on his duties.

• The claim regarding the interest on the Farmer’s Bank & Trust Loan for the amount of $2,521.40 was approved.

• The American Legion has found a howitzer to place in the Veteran’s Memorial Plaza in front of the courthouse. This arrangement was agreed upon years ago through the fiscal court, but it has taken this long for a piece to be located. The American Legion has agreed to paint the piece if the county provides transportation for it.