By Scott White
Woodford Sun Staff
Report for America corps member
The appointment of Jamie Bland to the Woodford County Fire District at the Aug. 11, 2026, Fiscal Court meeting, as recommended by Judge-Executive James Kay and approved by a divided Fiscal Court, dominated an otherwise routine meeting of the Fiscal Court on Tuesday.
The issue arose due to the requests of the Woodford County Fire District on Oct. 9 and State Rep. Dan Fister (R-Woodford) on Oct. 1, seeking a formal Opinion of the Attorney General on the question: Under KRS Chapter 75 and other governing law, may a county judge/executive condition his recommendation on appointment or reappointment of a Chapter 75 fire protection district trustee on the board’s adoption of a particular tax rate?
The Republican candidate for county attorney in this recent election, Carmine Iaccarino, also sent a letter dated Oct. 9 to the attorney general stating “(b)ecause the Woodford County Attorney should have a voice in this matter, I offer mine as a candidate seeking that important office.”
At the Fiscal Court meeting, Kay and County Attorney Alan George informed the court that the general counsel to Attorney General Russell Coleman requested that they provide their legal position and arguments for consideration for the attorney general’s consideration in analyzing the question posed by Fister and the Fire District.
The issue of board appointments, and specifically the Fire District appointment by the Fiscal Court, was a centerpiece of Republican candidates’ campaigns for magistrate, judge-executive and county attorney during the recent election season, which culminated in wide-margin victories for the Democrats, except for three magistrate seats and the county clerk.
All three letters set out essentially identical legal arguments – that the appointment by the Fiscal Court was improper since it was supposedly conditioned on John Varner, whose spot on the Fire District board had expired, not agreeing to lower the property tax rate the Fire District assesses against Woodford County property owners.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Kay denied the appointment of Bland was a result of John Varner’s refusal to agree to support a property tax cut, pointing out that the appointment was not his, but the Fiscal Court’s. Kay advised the Fiscal Court that since it was the appointing authority, he believed it was proper for it to approve a response as requested by the attorney general. For his part, George said he intended to respond to the request of the attorney general regardless of how the fiscal court voted, since the attorney general requested a response and the Office of County Attorney is a part of the unified prosecutorial system and that Iaccarino had expressed his opinion that the Woodford County attorney “should have a voice” in the resolution of this question.
Prior to the vote on the motion to approve George and Kay responding to the attorney general’s letter, Kay asked Magistrate Darrell Varner, John’s brother, whether he intended to recuse himself from the discussion as he had during the prior discussions of the Fire District board vacancy. Magistrate Varner asked George’s legal view on whether he needed to recuse himself from the vote. George responded by saying since he intended to respond to the attorney general regardless of the vote, he had no problem with Varner voting.
At that point, Kay said he did believe Magistrate Varner had a conflict due to his brother’s situation being entwined with the question posed to the attorney general and asked him to recuse himself. When Magistrate Varner declined, Magistrate John Gentry made a motion to require Magistrate Varner to be disqualified from the discussion and vote. The motion succeeded on a vote of 5-1, with Magistrate Mary Ann Gill voting nay. Magistrate Varner was required to leave the room.
During the discussion of the main motion on whether to approve a response from George and Kay, Gill described the appointment process of how the judge-executive proposes a name and the Fiscal Court votes yes, no or to abstain. She added that the name is normally given at the meeting “so there is no time for due diligence . . . and there is little or no discussion . . . but, to say this is the Fiscal Court’s appointment in this is just a matter of routine business.”
Despite the attorney general’s office itself requesting the views of George and Kay, Gill also said she believed the Fiscal Court should not be “interfering with the position of the Fire Board seeking an opinion, is not appropriate.”
The motion to approve both George and Kay to respond to the Attorney General’s request was approved, with Gill voting nay and Magistrate Larry Blackford abstaining.
BMX agreement
The Fiscal Court approved a memorandum of understanding between the Versailles-Woodford County Parks and Recreation Department, Bluegrass Berms dba Central Kentucky BMX and the court for the construction, operation, maintenance and operation of a BMX track at the Woodford County Park.
Jeb Gotham, a part of Bluegrass Berms, said he expects the track will soon be sanctioned for racing by BMX USA, and he looks forward to offering the sport to the community.
KY 169 Delaney Ferry Road
Gill announced that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet had denied the request of the Fiscal Court to name KY 169/Delaney Ferry Road as a STAA (Surface Transportation Assistance Act) road, which would provide restrictions to through truck traffic.
Gill said though it was a long shot, the Cabinet agreed to reconsider its decision. Magistrate Liles Taylor said he had received the same response to the request to make the same designations for Midway Road and Pisgah Pike.
The court approved motions to formally request the Cabinet to reconsider its decisions.
Code Enforcement Board
The court voted 6-1, with Gentry voting nay, for the second reading of the ordinance establishing the new County Code Enforcement Board, the details of which have previously been reported on by the Sun.
Treasurer’s Report
The current balance in the money market account is $11,079,285.96.