Magistrates’ salaries a hot topic

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February 13, 2010

By HEATHER PYLES, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Sat Feb 13, 2010, 02:28 AM EST

The Pulaski County magis-trates’ pay was the topic of conversation, at least part of the time, during this week’s fiscal court meeting.

1st District Magistrate cand-idate Tim Daulton addressed the Pulaski County Fiscal Court during Tuesday’s meeting, asking that the court tackle the much-discussed issue of the magistrates’ salary.

“I realize we’re speaking to less than one percent of the real budget, but evidently there is enough interest in the subject to write about it in the local paper,” Daulton said while reading from a letter he’d addressed to the court.

Daulton asked that the magistrates decrease the base salary from $30,000 per year to $20,000 per year.

Magistrates also receive around $3,600 a year in undocumented expenses.

“You magistrates are not held responsible for the present salary, but in light of the ... article, you will be held responsible for how you handle this issue from this time forward,” Daulton said.

By law, magistrates can only either increase or decrease their salaries by May for the next four-year term, which would begin in 2011.

No one on the court commented on Daulton’s request.

In other news from Tuesday’s Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting:

• Attorney John Prather, representing Norfolk Southern Railway, or the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway (CNO&TP;), told the court the railway company is slated to relocate a crews change station to Pulaski County — in the Tateville, Antioch area, specifically.

While many in Pulaski County know the railway company as Norfolk Southern, CNO&TP; is a wholly owned subsidiary of Norfolk Southern.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Prather said the relocation of the change station will bring anywhere between 80 and 90 employees to Pulaski County.

“It’s certainly something with an economic impact,” Prather said.

Prather said people with the company have made trips to the area to acquire some property along the railroad in Tateville to widen and build two additional tracks and add a building for the change station.

Prather said the company is seeking an easement from the county to allow the company to shift a road in the area to allow for the construction. The court agreed to that request.

• Brad Butcher, county commercial building inspector, updated the court about one of the last scattered site housing construction projects that has yet to be completed.

Butcher, speaking for Kriss Lowery, of Kriss Lowery and Associates, said a project started in October has been delayed after the contract with the original builder was terminated.

“The project’s already past due,” Butcher said.

Butcher stated they’re hoping to rebid the project on an emergency basis to continue the project without much delay, noting that the neighbor’s drive was torn up to make way for the new home and water lines are exposed while the project continues.

Butcher also said the future homeowner is still waiting to move into his own home.

“Just need to get somebody in there to repair and get this fellow in his home,” Butcher said.

• Attorney Fred Neikirk asked that the court withdraw a petition to close a public passageway known as Thinnes Lane located in the Garland Bend area. Neikirk, representing a resident in the area, said his client wished to remain “a good neighbor” than close the passageway.

That closing was met with significant opposition, and several Garland Bend residents attended a public hearing held on Monday to protest the closing.

Neikirk had first come before the court in the beginning of January to discuss the possible closing.

• Pulaski County Attorney Bill Thompson opened a bid for GPS equipment for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department from Ron Collins Aviation Electronics for $50,000. That bid was the only bid received by the county.

• Pulaski County Judge-executive Barty Bullock stated the U.S. Census Bureau requested a small space in the lobby of the courthouse to set up an informational table for individuals interested from March 19 through April 20.

The U.S. Census Bureau is carrying out the 2010 census in the spring and summer.

• The court discussed the bidding process for equipment for the Regional High-Growth Training Center. The county received a $250,000 grant to purchase new equipment for the center, which trains individuals in highly-skilled jobs.

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