HAZARD – The Perry County Fiscal Court this week approved payments and received updates on several water projects in the county.
Three separate projects in south Perry are either online or nearing completion this month, noted Annette Napier with the Kentucky River Area Development District. Construction on Laurel Lane and Bee Tree Road is complete, while the latter lacks only the startup of a pump to feed water into the lines. Napier said Kentucky Power Company has installed necessary hardware for electricity service at Bee Tree, and she expects that to go online next week.
A work crew has finished the installation of water lines and the pump station on Primrose Lane in Viper. Napier said the pump startup needs to be performed and the power pole needs to be set, though both should be completed by the end of the month.
In the northern section of the county, projects on Stable Fork and Ball Fork have been completed, while much of the remaining work in the area is ongoing in Ladder Branch near the Combs community.
“Most of the lines are in the ground, the pump station is done except for starting it up, and the electricity on that has been installed,” Napier said.
The fiscal court approved paying $5,603 for south Perry, and $119,632 for north Perry once coal severance funds become available.
Napier also presented the court with an update on a feasibility study for a water plant at Buckhorn, a project on which the county is working in conjunction with the city of Buckhorn.
A firm is currently conducting the study and surveying the Buckhorn Lake area to determine if a new plant near the lake would be the best option to supply water to area residents. At present, Buckhorn purchases water from the city of Hazard to supply its system. A second option being explored by this study looks at obtaining water from Carr Fork Lake in Knott County.
“They’re just trying to show if it is financially feasible to build a plant in Buckhorn and serve them out of that, or if it would be cheaper to bring it out of Carr Fork,” Napier said.
The court approved a request of $7,500 to conduct the study, which will be necessary before any project in Buckhorn can move forward, noted Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble.
A fourth coal severance request was approved to pay for the design of a new waste water treatment plant near the Chavies community. A groundbreaking was held for the plant on Wednesday, and officials expect construction to be completed by the fall of 2014. The fiscal court unanimously approved a sum of $18,772 for the project. All of the design work has been completed, according to Napier.
In other business, the court awarded bids for a variety of services and materials for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, though there weren’t many bids from which to choose. For pavement, Mountain Enterprise submitted the only bid, which was an increase of $1.60 per ton over last year’s rate.
Bluegrass Materials Company submitted the only bid for gravel and represents a 30-cent increase from the previous year. The court also accepted bids for concrete from Home Lumber, and concrete labor from Boyd Feltner Construction. Home Lumber’s price per yard for concrete was also an increase over last year, noted Judge Noble, though the price for labor from Boyd Feltner remained the same.
The court approved each of the bids with a caveat that the county reserves the right to buy materials elsewhere if they can be found at a better price.
The court also approved a lease agreement with the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts. According to Judge Noble, AOC will lease the former soil conservation office in the county courthouse on Main Street for a sum of $5,700 annually. The office was left vacant in 2012 after the soil conservation district moved to a location on Morton Blvd.
The court also approved the hire of Donald Miller for the county’s road department, effective on June 18. Additionally, William Napier and Una Gayheart were appointed to the county’s board of assessment appeals.
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