The Woodford County Fiscal Court began its regular meeting on Tuesday night with a question from southern Woodford County farmer Jim Mansfield during public comment: “I have a question for when you get to the broadband discussion (it was on the agenda), will there be a way to find out if your specific residence will be served by that?” 

Judge-Executive James Kay responded, saying, “That’s a good question, and we will get to that soon, and I think you will get an answer you like.”

And, he did.

Phillip Brown, the director of government relations for All Points Broadband (APB), which won the contract to construct the rural broadband system in the county and has been giving regular updates to the Fiscal Court, was joined by Christian Blazier, the project manager for Congruex, which is APB’s contractor doing the actual work, to update the court. Brown said the construction work on the broadband system began on March 12, a month early. Brown and Blazier said the work throughout the county will be complete by the end of 2026.

Brown also told the court and Mansfield that property owners could go to the APB website to determine an approximate time period for when their property would be “hooked up” to the network system. The website also shows where crews are working in close to real time, provides a link to ask questions or raise concerns to APB and Congruex, which they said would be responded to quickly. There is also a “frequently asked questions” on the website. 

All of this is accessible from this link: https://allpointsbroadband.com/woodford-county-project-faqs/

The map accompanying this story depicts the APB broadband network lines in blue.

Yokohama property purchase

At last week’s Versailles City Council meeting, in a 5-1 vote, the city agreed to execute the interlocal agreement for the purchase of the former Yokohama facility on Industry Road, along with the county and the Woodford County Economic Development Agency. The meeting also addressed issues relating to the bonding of the project and acceptance of a $2 million Kentucky Product Development Initiative grant, which reduces the bottom-line cost to the county and city, meaning each will pay $3.25 million.

The ball then moved to the Fiscal Court to approve or disapprove the interlocal agreement, where in a close vote of 5-3 in favor, the court agreed to sign the agreement and move forward on the purchase.

“Right now, we have the lowest amount of debt Woodford County has ever carried over in our history. So, our cost-debt burden is not too high for us to meet our responsibilities in making the debt payments,” Kay said before the vote. “But, as other issues impact Woodford County, we are going to need these jobs (which were lost with the Yokohama closing), and this (purchase) is a key, critical opportunity to secure (replacement) jobs. If we don’t proceed, then I believe Versailles won’t be able to, and we will be at risk of a buyer of that property coming in with no jobs or not very good jobs. So, I recommend we move forward.”

There was no further discussion of the decision, though the court had discussed and debated the issue several times in earlier court and committee meetings since summer 2025, when it arose. 

Voting against the purchase were Magistrates Jackie Brown, Mary Ann Gill and Darrell Varner. Both Brown and Varner declined to comment on the reasons for their no vote. 

However, Gill responded following the meeting via text, explaining her no vote: “This is a risky investment with tax dollars. The only ones guaranteed to profit from this will be the reactors, lawyers and bond company. The bond will be interest-only for four years. Bond interest payments must be made for a minimum of two years, even if it sells immediately. There will be closing costs, too. Interest payments, plus the carrying costs to maintain this property, would be close to $300,000 per year if the property does not sell. This far exceeds the potential occupational tax income if a company buys it in a timely manner, and if they are able to follow through on job creation. They can do just about whatever they want, once they own it. According to the KY Chamber of Commerce, employees stay when they are connected to the community, and you won’t fill jobs unless you have affordable housing. Woodford County lacks affordable housing and has an unemployment rate of 2.7percent, the lowest in KY. We have experience in Woodford that should make us cautious. It took 20 years to sell the properties in Midway Station, with the county paying interest on the note most of those years. Companies don’t always follow through on their promises. Woodford Reserve sold the Fiscal Court on a $125 million plus bond to build warehouses with the promise of barrel tax revenue while they were actively lobbying in Frankfort to eliminate the barrel tax. The barrel tax revenue never met their projections and will go away entirely before the life of the bond, during which time they pay no property tax and no net profit tax. All said, the risk appears to be greater than the potential benefit.”

New Road Supervisor

Following the retirement of former Road Supervisor Bo Wilson last fall, the court unanimously appointed Scott Dean as the new supervisor, who will be paid $74,076.80 plus benefits a year. According to Kay, Dean was selected by the search committee from a pool of “highly qualified” candidates.

Substance Abuse community resource specialist

The court unanimously approved the recommendation of Kay to hire a “Substance Abuse Community Opioid Abatement Resource Specialist” who will be assigned to the Woodford County Health Department, and paid equally from the shares of Versailles and the county’s portion of the opioid abatement settlement dollars.  The county’s Agency for Substance Abuse Policy board also recommended that the position be created.

Kay explained that there exists a gap in services of a person who is able to do the “front-line” work of case management and be a family specialist for persons and families dealing with opioid addiction.

Treasurer’s Report

Woodford County Treasurer Melody Traugott reported that the current balance in the money market account is $14,460,007.42.