Hickman County officials updated on KentuckyWired capabilities

The Hickman County Fiscal Court heard from Jim Askins Aug. 20, who updated the court on the KentuckyWired Middle Mile plan contracted by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to bring over 3,400 miles of high-speed, high-capacity fiber optic Internet connectivity to all 120 counties.

Once completed, Kentucky will be the first state with Fiber Optic connectivity offered in every county. KentuckyWired will be an open access network, which means that local public or private Internet service providers (ISPs) can connect to the network and extend services locally.

In 2017, Kentucky ranked 47th in the country in broadband speeds and capacity, which put Kentucky at a major disadvantage for attracting and growing new job and education opportunities. Broadband has become an essential utility service. However, it has been too expensive for private carriers to build out a high-speed, high-capacity network across the state. With KentuckyWired, the state will be responsible for building out the middle portion of a fiber network, greatly decreasing the cost to local providers.

Askins said the project is divided into six rings with the first scheduled for completion on July 10, 2020 and the last ring that includes Hickman County scheduled for completion on October 13, 2020.

The court held a public hearing for 2018 county tax rates. The real estate tax rate levied last year was 15.1, which produced revenues in the amount of $350,596. This year’s real estate tax rate is 15.0, which will produce revenues in the amount of $353,033. The court proposed a real estate tax rate of 15.6, which will produce a total of $367,155.

The court proposed a tangible property and motor vehicle tax rate of 11.4. Revenue expected from new property is $903, revenue expected from personal property is $106,214, revenue expected from motor vehicles is $45,370 and revenue expected from watercraft is $1,081.

Wilson said that revenue received in excess of last year’s revenue will be used for meeting the bond payments of the Hickman County Detention Center and operational costs associated with the Hickman County Dispatch.

With no public comments, the court closed the public hearing and passed a motion to approve a 15.6 real estate tax rate and tax rate of 11.4 for tangible property and motor vehicles.

The court passed a motion to accept the findings of the 2015-16 Fiscal Court Audit that were received Aug. 1, 2018.

The court passed a motion to approve a contract with Premier Integrity Solutions for workplace drug testing.

The court passed a motion to approve the updated administrative code handbook with changes to the alcohol and drug testing policy that now include random drug and alcohol tests for all full-time county employees.

A motion to approve a request from the Hickman County Historical and Genealogical Society to sponsor Jackson Purchase 200th Year Bicentennial Celebration in the amount of $250 was passed by the court. The celebration will be held on Sept. 6 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Historical Society building as part of Hickman County Heritage Days.

The court passed a motion to accept the 2016 Sheriff’s Tax Settlement Audit that was received Aug. 15, 2018.

A motion to approve miscellaneous line item transfers as presented by County Treasurer Crump was passed by the court.

The court approved a $100 donation to the Hickman County Chamber Leadership program.

A motion was passed for the court to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing litigation. Upon returning from executive session, a motion was passed by the court to enter an agreement with the respective parties concerning the repair of Rose Road.

In the Judge’s Report, Wilson said the Farm to Fork dinner was a great success, raising $2,000 — $3,000 for The Mission House food pantry.

Wilson said that he would like to encourage everyone to attend Hickman County Heritage Days that will be held Sept. 5-8.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned with a special called meeting scheduled on Sept. 6 at 8 a.m. to approve tax rates. The next regular session of the Hickman County Fiscal Court is scheduled for Sept. 18 at 6 p.m.

Present at the meeting were Judge Executive Kenny Wilson, Deputy Judge Executive Dawn Mathis, County Treasurer Amy Crump, County Attorney Jason Batts, Magistrates Irvin Stroud, Kory Naranjo, and Henry Cole.