By Scott White
Woodford Sun staff
Report for America corps member
The Woodford County Fiscal Court directed County Attorney Alan George at its Sept. 22 meeting to draft an ordinance establishing a Code Enforcement Board to act on code violations via a civil process, which could include fines, rather than the existing situation in which violations are enforced criminally by the county attorney.
Several meetings ago, Magistrates Mary Ann Gill and Larry Blackford were asked to study the issue of code enforcement and make recommendation to the court. Following their work, the matter was discussed, and the drafting was done in the Ordinance Committee. That committee met just prior to the Sept. 22 Fiscal Court meeting, where Gill provided an overview of the proposed board with assistance from Planning Director Steve Hunter.
The new board will consist of five members appointed by the judge-executive and approved by the Fiscal Court, with two alternates. As Gill said, Woodford is the only county in the region without a board and still prosecutes violations criminally. In recommending the ordinance, she said, “This is a no-brainer.”
Magistrate Jackie Brown asked whether this ordinance would apply to farmers – in terms of things such as the weed and nuisance ordinances. Gill said these are nearly all zoning violations, and will help clean up problem properties that impact neighbors’ standard of living and property values.
“We have, what, 26,000 in the county, hundreds of homes, and we have only 40 cases right now,” she said. “If we pass this, then, as Director Hunter said, he can immediately begin working on those.”
Magistrate John Gentry had his concerns allayed that properties participating in the flood buyout would not be investigated or cited for code violations following the passage of the ordinance. Kay confirmed that this has been made clear with Hunter and the Planning Commission.
Judge-Executive James Kay asked George to try to have the ordinance ready for its first reading at the next regular meeting on Oct. 13.
KY 169 and KY 33 truck use
Gill reported to the court that due to several accidents on KY 169 and KY 33 involving heavy trucks and semi-trailers, she reached out to District 7 of the Transportation Cabinet and spoke with chief engineer Kelly Baker. She said Baker told her that the improvements planned for KY 169 will likely increase the frequency of heavy and large trucks.
To address this, Gill said Baker suggested the Fiscal Court pass a resolution and send a letter to the Cabinet asking that restrictions on such vehicles be put in place. The court unanimously approved the resolution, and Kay said a letter would be sent right away.
Flood buyouts
The court learned that FEMA has begun making deposits of funds to be used to buy out owners of properties impacted by the 2025 floods who have chosen that route. Emergency Management Agency Director Drew Chandler said this will now allow the county to move forward on funding several of the properties.
Mentors & Meals
McKenna Halderman, the program director of Mentors & Meals, asked the Fiscal Court to fund its portion (50 percent) of a $3,000 grant from the opioid settlement fund that was approved by the Woodford County Agency of Substance Abuse Policy (ASAP), which administers the funds. The City of Versailles approved its 50 percent share at its last meeting.
The grant will pay for one student who has been directly impacted by opioid use from a parent or guardian to participate in Mentors & Meals programming.
Halderman responded to questions from Magistrates Liles Taylor and Kelly Carl and George about how the tuition directly relates to education and the prevention of opioid use. Satisfied, the court unanimously approved the grant.
Treasurer’s report
County Treasurer Melody Traugott reported that the current money market balance is $10, 448,660.80.
Traugott also provided an update on the recent Kentucky Association of Counties’ (KaCO) Opioid Settlement Project cohort program, for which Woodford County was selected for participation. She said that she, Nancy Blackford, executive director of ASAP, and Woodford County Public Health Director Cassie Prather attended the most recent meeting, where they participated in a tour of KaCO’s program facility, attended a small group meeting and discussed ideas for a pilot program, which will be the end product of the program.
30,000 Trees program
The Fiscal Court approved a project between the county and the Woodford County Detention Center for a program recommended by the 30,000 Trees Coalition.
The program is a tree nursery operation that will be operated by Detention Center prisoners and inmates working under the supervision of the UK-Woodford County Extension Agency’s master gardeners.