Meeting of April 27, 2021
4-27-21 Ohio Co. Fiscal Court Meeting · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
Ohio County Fiscal Court – April 27, 2021
The court approved minutes, routine bills/claims, and the first reading of the FY2021-22 budget ordinance, with the goal of finalizing it in Frankfort by the next meeting. The Wage Committee's recommendations were adopted, setting a 1.4% cost-of-living wage increase effective July 1, 2021, streamlining HR duties back to department heads, and requiring salaried employees to use vacation time rather than be paid out once it maxes out. Seasonal road workers who return for three consecutive years will now be moved up to a paid driver classification.
A new health insurance plan through Anthem was approved for county employees, offering both a 'free' plan with a larger HSA card and a low-cost 'buy up' plan with a smaller deductible, aimed partly at attracting employees who need family coverage. The court plans to commit to this plan for about three years. The court also accepted a deed of land near the county hospital cemetery from David and Marion Hall for use by the Bill Monroe Foundation and tourism, and approved surplus declarations for sheriff's department property and acknowledged receipt of the county extension office's budget, which saw no increase.
A custodial employee, Josh Peach, was moved from temporary to full-time status at $11.32/hour, effective April 18. The court created a new Broadband Committee to ensure Ohio County receives its share of federal/state broadband funding, and heard updates from the spray/weed control committee (starting herbicide applications for Johnson grass), the Sharky festival committee (planning a September event with new T-shirts), and the jail committee, which reported on a meeting with a consultant about pursuing a jail feasibility study, likely to be split 50/50 with Butler County.
COVID-19 numbers continue to improve in Ohio County, which has moved into the 'yellow' tier with about one new case per day. Magistrate Jason Bullock reported on renaming/accepting two new roads, Caroline Lane and Wayland Lane, which met the court's criteria after review by the viewing committee. Other magistrates reported on siren repairs in Fordsville and Rockport and requested road maintenance work. The meeting adjourned after magistrates shared updates for the good of the body.
Agenda (15)
- 0:02
Call to order, prayer, and pledge
Judge called the meeting to order and Larry Morphew led the invocation and pledge of allegiance.
- 1:33
Approval of minutes
The court approved the minutes from the April 12th meeting.
- 2:12
Bills, claims, payments and transfers
The court reviewed and approved the bills, claims, and transfer payments for the period.
- 2:55
Budget ordinance 2020-21/2021-22 first reading
The first reading of the FY2021-22 budget amendment ordinance passed by roll call vote, with plans to finalize with the state within a month.
- 4:55
Wage committee recommendations
The wage committee presented recommendations including a cost-of-living raise, changes to vacation policy for salaried employees, and pay bumps for returning seasonal workers, which the court approved.
- 7:09
Standing orders for utilities/repetitive bills
The court approved the standard recurring order for paying utility bills and other repetitive expenses for FY2021-22.
- 8:22
Clerk's delinquent property tax list
The court acknowledged receipt of the clerk's list of delinquent property taxes.
- 8:53
Surplus property declaration - sheriff's department
The court declared certain sheriff's department property as surplus so it could be disposed of.
- 10:09
Ohio County Extension Office budget
The court acknowledged receipt of the extension office's budget, noting no increase this year.
- 11:35
Employee health insurance plan renewal
The court reviewed and approved a new Anthem health insurance plan offering a free plan and a buy-up plan, aimed at improving family/spouse coverage options for employees.
- 16:39
Acceptance of deed from David and Marion Hall
The court authorized the judge to sign a deed accepting a small tract of land near the county hospital cemetery for use by the Bill Monroe Foundation and tourism.
- 17:50
Personnel action - custodial employee
Josh Peach was moved from temporary to full-time custodial staff at $11.32/hour effective April 18, ahead of an upcoming retirement in that department.
- 18:47
Committee reports and appointments
The judge appointed a new Broadband Committee and heard reports from the wage, spray/weed control, Sharky festival, insurance, and jail feasibility committees.
- 29:17
COVID-19 update
The judge reported improving COVID-19 numbers in Ohio County, now in the 'yellow' tier with about one new case per day.
- 30:25
Magistrate comments and road acceptance
Magistrates gave updates on siren repairs, road maintenance needs, and the acceptance of two new roads, Caroline Lane and Wayland Lane.
Motions & votes (12)
- 1:42
passedApprove the minutes of the April 12th meeting
Moved by Larry Morphew · seconded by Larry Kam
- 2:23
unclearApprove bills, claims, payments and transfers
Moved by Jason Bullock · seconded by Larry Murphy
- 3:09
passedApprove first reading of the FY2021-22 budget ordinance
seconded by Larry Kam · roll call: Barnes yes, Johnston yes, Cam yes, Morphew yes
- 5:30
passedAccept the wage committee's recommendations on wages and vacation policy
Moved by Joe Barnes · roll call: Barnes yes, Johnson yes, Cam yes, Morphew yes, Bullock yes
- 7:48
passedApprove the 2021-22 standing orders for utility payments
seconded by Joe Barnes · voice vote, aye
- 8:45
unclearAcknowledge receipt of the clerk's delinquent property tax list
- 9:47
passedDeclare sheriff's department property as surplus
Moved by Larry King · seconded by Larry Murphy · voice vote, aye
- 10:59
passedAcknowledge receipt of the Ohio County Extension Office budget
Moved by Jason Bullock · seconded by Larry Kam · voice vote, aye
- 14:16
passedAccept the new Anthem health insurance plans for employees
Moved by Jason Bullock · seconded by Joe Barnes · voice vote, aye
- 17:22
passedAuthorize judge to sign deed accepting land from the Halls
Moved by Larry Kam · seconded by Larry Murphy · voice vote, aye
- 18:27
passedChange Josh Peach's custodial position from temporary to full-time
roll call, all yes
- 32:03
passedAccept Caroline Lane and Wayland Lane as county roads
Moved by Jason Bullock · voice vote, aye
Transcript (28 segments)
- 0:02
[Music] call this mingle i came physical court to order on the 27th day of april 2021 at approximately 5 uh o'clock i'm going to ask larry morpheus to leave us in a prayer and a pledge to the flag lord we just come to you tonight thanking you lord for the many blessings god you're so good to us and we just thank you for keeping your hand upon us lord we're praying that you will take care of this cult we and get us through this without any more life's loss lord god we just pray for the ones that's suffered through all this and be with us tonight as we conduct business and that we would do it in pleasing to you and then orderly we just ask you to lead god and strengthen christ amen pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible
- 1:14
with liberty and justice for all right before you have the minutes of the april 12th meeting uh i would like to have a motion to approve those minutes so my motion to larry morphy second larry kam uh is there any discussion corrections or auditions any discussion corrections or additions on the minutes on folks like sign the minutes are approved uh you also have with you there you bills claims payments and transfers make them also fix that motion by jason bola second by larry murphy is there any discussions on the bills inclined did you not have them well this one was
- 2:47
april 12. um [Music] [Music] yes [Music] next we have ordinance 20 20 21 days three budget fy20 21-22 i put that up for your approval and so i'll need a second also second but larry any camps discussion [Music] not real call it miranda barnes yes johnston yes count yes mark you yes yes the first reading of the budget amendment a budget ordinance is
- 4:01
passed the goal is to have this to frankfurt and back first to prove it one month from now the fourth meeting in may so that's our goal i think it's doable don't you ah and just prior to that we'll have another we'll come in a little bit early for that one to talk about about it um uh i messed up on travis robinson's presentation we'll get it right for the next time he'll be at the next court meeting he has a legal issue to talk to us about in closed session and that's not the way i had it down on the paper so he gonna come by uh we have wage committee recommendations i'm gonna call on joe barnes to talk to us about that and make promotion it's uh it's about our salary employees and the uh the uh vacation time and we all got a packet on that and uh how we're going to conduct
- 5:12
um you know taking a vacation we've talked about a couple different things and we've gone over this scenario so y'all got it in front of you and this is what the committee's come up with okay i'll make the most of the acceptable committee recommendations second motion set is there further discussion we did we have talked about this in committee um so uh and since it related to the budget it was talked about in our budget workshop so is there any further discussion being none miranda brooke barnes yes johnson yes count yes morphew yes bullock yes i just got one question it pertains to vacation when they uh do like whoever asked first if there's a bunch of ones off the same time it was the first ones is that how they left people had their vacations it actually hasn't been a problem but i would say yes seniority is what that you have to take within the departments
- 6:27
yeah right right copy that i have a company road department they was chipping the seals or something and about three or four of one off the same time that would yeah the supervisor would have to handle that i did like to join y'all's recommendation where you talked about people that come back three consecutive years seasonal help to bring them up to class to drive paid i thought that was a good idea yeah i did too that's a good idea we have the clerk's standing order um i want to she's not here but i think that's the same thing that we do for fiscal court on standing orders it's uh we pay repetitive bills the number nine and ten is not clerk and sheriff that's our standing orders and there's only one of them it's the same as it is every year our standing orders i'm sorry
- 7:42
one issue [Music] health insurance loan payments yes the the 20 21 22 standing orders for utilities yeah joe you second though yeah okay good any more discussion being done on facebook say aye all right supposedly passes we paid those anyway it's sheriff and clerks i kind of thought they come out yeah yeah um we do have a copy two of the clerks list of the elected property taxes to give that to us we'll need to uh we'll need to notice if we got it need a motion of that yes okay so move [Music] [Music] from the sheriff's department he's
- 8:54
declaring some more property did we as far as i know those other ones that had never gone on the good of deals they didn't well they did okay he said vote said okay [Music] okay well when i called the last time because it's been a while since we've had that meeting and they still had to put it on yeah that kicked up a little bit okay okay uh but he's got that this list here and we need to declare that surplus so he can so move motion blare king second second by larry murphy is there any discussion no discussion all folks say i post life science hit pass motion fast the ohio county extension office has