WEBSTER COUNTY, KY (11/14/12) - Once again the purchase of dump trucks was the major issue for the Webster County Fiscal Court.

Following a long discussion on the bids received last month, Webster County Road Foreman Rob Mooney and David Bumpus met with a number of the bidders to determine which would best suit the county’s needs.

“We looked at the Kenworth Trucks (Worldwide Equipment) in Lexington, Kentucky,” said Bumpus. “We also looked at the International trucks, which we are very familiar with. Because of the time line, we decided to drive to Lima, Ohio (Kalida Trucks) and look at the Freightliner trucks that we felt met our specific specifications. They by far exceeded them.”

Mooney and Bumpus recommended a plan that would use Kalida Trucks in Lima, Ohio and Meyer Truck from Evansville, IN.

The trucks will be fitted with their beds and lights at the dealer in Ohio and be ready for pickup by the day after Thanksgiving. Then they will be picked up and delivered to Meyer Truck, who will fit them with their hydraulics, a process expected to take up to a week and a half.

The grand total per truck will be around $141,737.54. That’s $79,499 for the truck itself, $27,952 for the plows and saucers and $34,340 for the beds and hydraulics.

The magistrates voted to approve payment for the purchase.

The next item on the agenda was the sale of the Carhartt building on 41A in Providence.

“Clint asked me to hold that until our next meeting,” Judge Jim Townsend said, noting that County Attorney Clint Prow was in court.

Townsend reported last month that they were just waiting on surveying to be completed before the deal could be finalized. This is because a small piece of the property is being retained by the county because of the new sewer/odor control injector pump building and allowing for an easement for the county to the building which sits on the property.

Magistrate Tony Felker inquired about the status of the One Call program. One Call, now the Code Red system, allows the county EMS to contact residents via a recorded phone message in the event of an emergency.

“We, at one point, said that we were going to try letting the community put things out on One Call,” Felker said. “Have we decided to quit that?”

“I think so, it wasn’t received very well” said Webster County Treasurer Paula Guinn. “People just want to be called if it's a storm or if their waters off.”

“I’ve heard a lot of good comments,” Felker said.

Judge Townsend and 911 Director Doug Sauls both said that they had received numerous complaints from individuals who didn’t want to be called with community updates, such as Coal Festival news or community forums. Suals even said he’d had one individual to remove their number from the Code Red list because of it.

Webster County Sheriff Frankie Springfield presented the court with tax receipts for all districts totaling $5,368,385.39 for 2012.

“That’s $464,912 for real estate,” Judge Townsend said. “Tangible personal property is $488,034, and tangible property was $47,000.”

The court voted to approve the tax receipts for 2012.

Rob Mooney reported that blacktopping should be finished for the year after next week.

Magistrate Jerry ‘Poogy’ Brown said that he had received requests that the road department put gravel on the shoulder of Jack Allen Road.

Finally the court approved requests for personnel. They included part time positions for Amon Jones and Ronald Robinson Jr. with the Road Department, Jody Jones and Lendi Berry at the Jail and Pete O’Nan in Solid Waste.

Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor

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