County Commissioners addressed several questions pertaining to the restructuring of the Road and Bridge department in Bourbon County, as well as the raise given to the Bourbon County Appraiser’s position. Jerrod Handly of the Bourbon County Review pointed out that the appraiser’s salary is nearly $10,000 above the next-highest paid employee in the county, the County Attorney. Commission Chairman Allen Warren countered that the current county appraiser does $14-15,000 worth of work that is contracted out in other counties, while her salary remains lower than theirs. “She’s saving us money,” said Warren. Commissioner Barbara Albright also mentioned that the county appraiser is a “highly skilled” position and deserved to be paid as such when compared with the salaries of appraisers in neighboring counties.

Handly then brought up the restructuring of the Road and Bridge department and the addition of the new position of “Director” in that department. Warren replied that because of the large amount of work demanded of the current County Public Works Foreman, he had been working on the Road and Bridge budget in order to help the department keep up. Warren said, “The county crew is getting an awful lot of work done,” but there were things that still needed to be done on the budget and planning that could not be done by a person who, as Warren put it, has been running “from one end of the county to the next” every day. Warren also mentioned that counties such as the neighboring Crawford County have a road foreman for every district, rather than just one for the entire county, in addition to a director. “We’re not making changes just for the fun of making changes,” Warren said.

Warren explained that having a Road and Bridge Director would make the department more efficient by allowing closer supervision of employees. When Handly asked the commissioners about the amount set for the salary of the director’s position, Warren answered, “We can’t put someone in there that has no experience and expect to save money.” Handly then asked if the current Public Works Foreman had not been doing his job, to which Warren countered, “There is more [work] than one person can do.” Warren said that if the employee had not been doing his job, they would have terminated the employee. Handly said, “You guys are spending money that we don’t have,” to which Commissioner Harold Coleman said Warren had kept “a close eye on every penny” that went through the county.

In other business:

• County Custodial Supervisor David Neville presented a proposal from Extrusions, Inc. for repair on windows in the courthouse in need of renovation. Warren suggested that Neville check with Peerless as well.
• According to Marty Pearson, Public Works Foreman, KCAMP estimated the damage to the County Barn to be $8,500. Pearson reported that the insurance company would prefer that the county install Heritage shingles, which Pearson pointed out would be more expensive than the 3 tab shingles that currently cover the building’s roof.