Fiscal Court approves grant for Animal Shelter, merger of Mannington and Crofton Fire Departments

It was a full agenda at the first meeting of the new year for Christian Fiscal Court Tuesday morning.

In some exciting news, the Christian County Regional Animal Shelter is the recipient of an ASPCA Shelter Initiative grant in the amount of $83,490 and Fiscal Court approved acceptance of that grant unanimously. Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam says that money will be used for capital investments into the facility on Russellville Road.

They also declared some property as surplus from the Animal Shelter and the County Treasurer’s Office, while approving some house keeping measures such as annual adoption of the search and rescue plan and the emergency operations plan through Christian County Emergency Management.

One the list for approval was the consolidation of Mannington Fire and Rescue and the Crofton Volunteer Fire Department, due to low volunteer numbers, funding and area of responsibility factors. Judge-Gilliam says by Mannington coming under the organization of the Crofton Fire Department, it would allow for better service to those areas while sharing resources.

Magistrate Russ Guffey says he thinks the consolidation is a good idea, not just for the communities they serve, but also for the volunteer firefighters, who are being asked to do more and more with limited funds and manpower.

The merger was approved unanimously.

In other action, magistrates approved adoption of a resolution for CDBG funds for the Trilogy Recovery Center for Women and heard an update and presentation from the Airport Board about futures plans for the Christian County Airport.