The Fiscal Court passed a motion for the state to resurface Forkland Road using Rural Secondary Road funds at their meeting on March 28.

Casey Smith from the KY Transportation Office District 7 made a presentation about their annual Rural Secondary Road program. Since most road money goes toward larger state highways, Kentucky has a separate program that focuses on rural roads in counties.

Last year, they chose Quirks Run Road and Chrisman Lane in Boyle County. Smith said the work on those roads will be started soon.

This year, the state recommended to resurface about 4.5 miles of Forkland Road in total. Magistrate Tom Ellis said that road has needed work for a while.

The county gets a certain balance for Rural Secondary projects, and also a flex fund. The state recommended they use the project fund for roughly three miles of the KY 37 portion of Forkland Road, from KY 1822 to North Rolling Fork Bridge. Smith said they don’t have the exact numbers for the fund, but estimated this portion to be $340,000.

They recommended using Flex funds for the KY 243 portion of Forkland Road, about 1.5 miles to the Boyle/Marion County line. This will be roughly $145,000.

The court approved both recommendations. They did not give a timeline for the project, but work will likely begin in the next year or two.

In other business, the court:

• Agreed to give $3,564 of ARPA funds to Perryville for a new generator for their City Hall. Perryville is receiving the generator through a federal matching grant, and they have to use ARPA funds to pay for roughly 5% of the project.

• Approved the upcoming joint jail budget. Jailer Brian Wofford said they need to include several maintenance items. The court passed a motion for Wofford to get bids for a new gas oven, which may become a hazard if not replaced.

Wofford said that other maintenance they need to do includes fixing roof leaks, making repairs to HVAC units on the roof, which he estimated at around $5000, replace door locks for about $3,600, repair a freezer for $5,000, repair a dishwasher for $5,000, drain repairs for $5,000, get a new washer and dryer, replace faucets in the kitchen, and do painting.

Also included in the budget are jail employee raises from a base pay of $15 to $18. Instead of starting at the new fiscal year, the court passed a motion for raises to start the first pay period in June.

• Design for a new jail may begin soon, as House Bill 507 did not pass in this year’s legislative session. HB 507 would have banned any construction for new jails if a county has to use debt financing, which Boyle County likely would, given discussions on their plans for a new jail.

The court would have signed a contract at a February meeting with Brandstetter Carroll for them to design a new detention center. But since the court waited on a decision about the legislation, they are not going to use that agreement.

The court passed a motion to rebid the architectural services for 30 days, and they will start the process over and hear proposals. Wofford said they hope to move quickly, as the legislation may come up again in next year’s legislative session.

• Passed a motion to hire the county surveyor to survey the courthouse parking lot. The county needs to determine the exact boundaries of its lot to potentially increase parking in the future. The contract for the county surveyor to complete this work is not to exceed $5,000.

• The courthouse roof received minor damage from the wind storm in early March. Bottom said their deductible is $5,000, and insurance will cover about $4,000, since the overall cost is less than $10,000.