Progress continues on scattered housing project in county

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Fourth District Magistrate Glenn Maxey and Deputy Judge Donnie Girdler both were on hand at the fiscal court meeting yesterday. The court passed several resolutions to help the scattered housing project move forward. Susan Wheeldon Photo

July 9, 2008

Pulaski County Fiscal Court

By SUSAN WHEELDON, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Wed Jul 09, 2008, 07:42 AM EDT

Progress on the scattered housing grant continued during the Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting Tuesday.

Kristen Lowery, with Kriss Lowry & Associates, Inc., who is helping administer the grant for Pulaski County was on hand with the resolutions needed to pass for the project to move forward.

The county received notice in May that they had been chosen to receive $1 million in scattered housing grant money, which will allow homes to be rebuilt for the housing needs of low-income, elderly and disabled individuals — those whose homes are badly in need of repairs. Those chosen will primarily receive completely new homes.

First, the court approved Travis, Pruitt and Powers as the attorneys to execute title searches if needed for the project. Of the three bids the county received, Travis, Pruitt and Powers gave the lowest bid on the project.

The court also adopted an anti-displacement plan resolution.

Lowery explained that an anti-displacement plan must be in place for the project, even though there really is no anti-displacement since the project is voluntary and those involved are getting a new home.

Lowery also presented resolutions adopting urban renewal plan/program guidelines and procurement standards resolutions, which sets the method of procuring materials and workers needed in the project, whether they should be through small purchase procedures, competitive sealed bids, competitive negotiations or noncompetitive negotiation.

Lowery also presented an assurance resolution, which states they have committed $50,000 to the project and a resolution which would help them apply for a grant and provide additional money to go towards the project.

The court also approved the county paying Lowery for her work in administering the project.

Lowery told the magistrates they should be able to complete 12 new houses with the funding, instead of the expected 10.

A scattered site housing project is voluntary in nature, and only people who have owned their home for at least half a year are able to apply for the homeowner rehabilitation. Of the people involved, 100 percent have to be in low- to moderate-income homes that need to be torn down and rebuilt.

Currently, the county is taking contractor applications for the project. Administrative Assistant Lorie Hines said they only have two applications, and they hope to get more before the deadline of July 31.

She said once the contractor has been chosen, the individuals chosen to get new homes will be contacted and Hines said they are hoping demolition will begin sometime in September.

Hines added that the contractor who bids on each individual project will not only be responsible for building the new house, but also demolition of the old house. She said all 10 to 12 houses will not be bid out at once, but will be bid on in phases.

• Carolyn Mounce, executive-director of the Somerset-Pulaski County Convention Visitors Bureau, told the fiscal court the Fourth of July holiday weekend went well. She said the Corps of Engineers estimated there were 284,000 people on Lake Cumberland over the weekend, which was up 35 percent over last year.

Mounce said Pulaski County’s portion is normally calculated to be 1/3 of this number or approximately 95,000.

“This number is 5 percent less than the average for the weekend over the last four years,” said Mounce, noting the change in gas prices. “This indicates to me that we had an exceptional weekend.”

Mounce also said for the year 2007 tourism expenditures for Pulaski County were $97,239,428, which was up 7.5 percent from 2006, compared to a statewide increase of 7.2 percent.

• The court approved accepting bids on Class A pumpers, a drill tower at the Hal Rogers Fire Training Center, tanks and a tanker. The bids will now go to the fire commission to consider.

• Due to the lack of a motion to take the roads out of the county road system, both Edward Meece Road and Taylor Cemetery Road will stay in the system.

• The court approved four part-time employees of the jail to receive the pay increase of .45 cents, as the court did not approve those employees during the last meeting. All county employees received a .45 cent raise for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

• The court approved an Inter-local Agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and Pulaski County and 12 other counties in regard to the National Marijuana Investigative Initiative. The initiative is an Appalachia HIDTA Drug Task Force, which addresses trafficking and production of marijuana, methamphetamine and other drugs on public lands or on land connected to public land.

The agreement will increase the investigative jurisdiction for the task force from six counties to 13 counties.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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