Christian Fiscal Court agreed to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Rural and Secondary Road Program recommendations Wednesday morning and Judge-Executive Steve Tribble says there’d be more money for road improvements if the General Assembly agreed to raise the gas tax.
Tuesday’s regular meeting was postponed to Wednesday to allow Judge Tribble and fiscal court magistrates Rich Liebe and Darrell Gustafson to be in Frankfort Tuesday morning to advocate on behalf of House Bill 580.
That legislation would increase the tax on a gallon of gasoline by about nine cents and it would also increase the fee to register a vehicle. Judge Tribble says many state and county roads in Christian County are in poor condition and there simply isn’t enough revenue from those outlets to address them all.
A total of 17 miles of road resurfacing is in the transportation cabinet recommendation, including two miles of KY 117 from KY 345 to South Christian Elementary. Just under two miles of Cox Mill Road will be repaved heading north from Newstead Road and most or all of Binns Mill Road will be resurfaced. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says Substation Road will be closed in mid-May as reconstruction of the bridge gets underway.
In other action, Steve Bourne from Community Development Services had a request for a 20 foot easement on Hipkins Street approved. The county owns property there and Bourne says the Storm Water Utility has received a $300,000 grant to go toward a $350,000 project to address flooding issues near Second Baptist Church on West Seventh Street.
Two representatives of the ‘Resign Rick’ movement spoke during public comments, with Amy Colon asking magistrates and Judge Tribble to make a public statement on the letter Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling wrote to former governor Matt Bevin on behalf of Dayton Jones.
Tammy Mason says she is attempting to gather a petition of 10,000 signatures from people who have no confidence in Boling’s ability to do his job. Mason acknowledges there’s no way in state law to remove Boling from office and he has said multiple times he has no intention of stepping down.