Court adopts hazard plan

News Live

October 8, 2011

Tornadoes pose major concern

by Heather Tomlinson Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Sat Oct 08, 2011, 06:10 PM EDT

Somerset —

In what may have been the shortest fiscal court meeting in some time, officials approved several items on the county’s agenda Friday, including the re-adoption of a hazard mitigation plan.

In the speedy 8-minute special meeting Friday morning, Pulaski County magistrates unanimously approved the adoption of the Lake Cumberland Area Development District Regio-nal Hazard Mitigation Plan, something the county has elected to do since the Disaster Mitigation Act was passed in 2000.

The plan, developed by LCADD as required by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), identifies all high or moderate risk hazards that affect communities within the LCADD area.

In Pulaski County, residents are classified at highest risk of damage by events such as tornadoes, of which 16 have been officially recorded between 1950 and 2003, according to information available about the plan on the LCADD website. Those do not include damage caused by straight-line winds. Property damage in Pulaski County has also resulted from flooding, most recently during the May 2010 floods.

Highly-ranked natural disasters change from county to county. For example, Cumberland County has impact by the failing of Wolf Creek Dam as one of its high-risk natural disasters, accord-ing to information pro-vided by the LCADD.

“The mission of the LCADD Hazard Mitiga-tion Plan is to promote sound public policy, to protect citizens from harm, and to protect property and the environment from damage caused by natural hazards by increasing public awareness and by identifying resources for risk reduction and loss prevention,” stated the mission and purpose of the plan, made available on the LCADD website.

In essence, adoption of the plan means that a county can qualify for federal assistance funds through FEMA in the event of a natural disaster, or they may qualify for grant funding for mitigation projects. Adoption of the plan means county officials have identified those areas that are at high risk of impact by certain natural disasters and establishes some type of plan of action in the event of such a natural disaster.

The resolution is reviewed and adopted again every five years.

In other news from Friday’s special-called meeting:

• Pulaski County Public Safety Director Tiger Robinson informed the court that the county has received its annual reimbursement from the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management for $34,892.98. Part of that covers Robinson’s salary, office administration work and vehicle training.

• Pulaski County Tre-asurer Arlene Young presented a bill list and nunc pro tunc bill list to the court. Those were ap-proved.

• Requests for 600 tons of cold mix and 1,500 tons of rock by the Pulaski County Road Department were approved.

This Tuesday’s regu-larly-scheduled Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting will not be held because Pulaski County Judge-executive Barty Bullock will be out of town for a conference with the LCADD. The next meeting will be held on Oct. 25 at 10 a.m.

Text Only

News Live

Local man airlifted after two-vehicle crash
May 25, 2012 1 Photo
Mopar Mania to highlight Cruise
May 25, 2012 1 Photo
‘Dry’ forces concerned about wet signs
May 25, 2012 1 Photo
Visitors rave about beauty of Lake Cumberland in May
May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Pulaski’s Memorial Day weekend to be packed
May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Locally-born Rotary leader Pigman dies at 78
May 24, 2012
Technology summit gets underway
May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Local Democrats diss Obama
May 23, 2012
Floyd edges incumbent in city council run-off
May 23, 2012
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.”

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
More News Live Headlines

News Live

Search Results

Court adopts hazard plan

Tornadoes pose major concern

Site Map