By Fiona Morgan

fiona@amnews.com

The Fiscal Court awarded a bid to replace building roofs at Constitution Square Park at its meeting on Sept. 26.

They awarded the bid to Mulberry Builders in Lexington. The company has done other roof replacements, including to the Waveland Historic site.

Constitution Square Park is where the original Kentucky Constitution was written. The park’s historic cabins include an old courthouse, post office, church, etc. The roofs are covered in moss, and magistrates said they have needed replacements for years. The park also has larger historic buildings including Grayson’s tavern, Goldsmith House and row houses.

The base bid for just the cabins is $109,098. Alternate bids include the other larger buildings, totaling $237,510. The base bid plus all alternates total $346,608.

The cabins will be paid for with ARPA money, and they had budgeted money in the general fund for roofs on the other buildings. However, they do not have enough money to include the row houses, but all other buildings’ roofs will be included.

Philip Moody, commercial construction project manager, said they did an inspection of each building to assess the damage. He said the cabins have a double layer system sub roof with cedar shake on top.

“You’ve got different kinds of metals on there, metals touching copper, which is going to corrode, so you’ve got some good things on there that are going to get damaged by some bad things,” Moody said.

He suggested keeping the double layer system but replacing the second layer to where it’s not touching the first layer.

Mulberry will be getting drone footage to show progress from before, during, and after construction. They will send copies to the county for them to use for any promotions or social media.

Moody said they could have the materials delivered in as soon as three weeks, so they will likely start construction before winter.

Public Works Facility Maintenance Director Mark Gordon shared some other recent improvements they’ve made to Constitution Square Park.

In the last few months, they re-keyed all the building locks and made a list of everyone who’s got keys; painted all the hand railings; pressure washed the Governor’s Circle; replaced a privacy fence that blew over in the spring; put mulch around all the trees and flower beds; put a pressure treated skirt around the new stage; removed plexiglas and its framing in the historic courthouse so people could walk through it; removed walls and plexiglass from the meeting house; installed leaf guards for gutters, and other things.

The next project is to replace uneven sidewalks in front of the row houses. They are also currently installing security cameras.

Solar Panels

The court signed a memorandum of agreement with a new local organization called Solarize Boyle. The Fiscal Court will put information about the group’s service on their website.

Solarize Boyle was formed to help local residents get solar panels to power their home or business. The organization does not support or promote large industrial solar farms with thousands of solar panels.

County Attorney Chris Herron said he reviewed the agreement. Since the county is still reviewing its solar ordinance, both parties agreed to add a sentence that says the organization “in no way promotes or encourages solar farms, solar parts or solar power stations that harvest solar power.”

The program helps to get discounted rates on solar panel installations for Boyle County residents, small businesses, farms, and non-profit organizations. Volunteers of the group will be connecting applicants with solar installation companies.

Volunteers will pre-screen the applications to filter out bad applications. With guidance from the Kentucky Solar Energy Society, they will also pre-screen solar installers to help applicants get the best service and avoid scammers.

Discounts can come through available tax credits and rebates, in addition to discounts by participating installers. The program will also provide education to customers who are unfamiliar with solar panel use. There are other similar programs around the state and the country that serve as tested models.

According to a general information handout, the organization’s tentative timeline is as follows:

July 2023: Identify sponsors.

Fall 2023: Develop marketing plan. City and county develop web portals.

Nov. 2023: Issue RFP to potential solar installers.

Dec. 2023: Solar installers approved.

Jan. 2024: Program announcement and promotion begins.

Feb. 2024: Enrollment and contracts begin.

July 2024: Customer enrollment period ends.

Dec. 31, 2024: Installation completion deadline.

In other business:

• County Surveyor Rich Murphy presented the final survey of Whites Park, which is next to the Veterans Memorial Park on the western Danville bypass. To determine official boundaries, they found some of the existing corners and set some new corners so it’s a complete survey.

There’s a little maintenance building that’s over the property line. There’s also a picnic pavilion and restroom building on one side that’s on county property as well. Murphy said the roadways that go through the park are private roads. But the county still has right of way access through Veterans Memorial Park.

The survey is available at the county clerk’s office. Murphy is also completing a survey of courthouse property lines, which he will present at the next meeting.

• After an executive session, the court voted to authorize the county judge executive to purchase property at 1331 Lebanon Road, not to exceed $539,175, and it’s subject to title opinion.

• The court passed several budget amendments related to occupational tax, county road aid money, election reimbursement money, and other things.

• The court heard a presentation from Boyle County Farm Bureau President Spencer Guinn about farm operations in the county. To hear the presentation, go to the Boyle County Fiscal Court Youtube page and click on the video titled “Boyle County Fiscal Court Meeting – September 26, 2023.”

• The court recognized Human Resources employees Steve Griffin and Shannon Greene for National HR Day.