Ryan Pratt Scott County Magistrate - 6th District

12/28/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the December 28th meeting.

-We updated the Code Enforcement Ordinance to allow Code Enforcement to issue a citation if a notice of violation is not remedied within five calendar days.

-We accepted Willow Brook Lane and Pemberly Cove into the county road system.

-Steve Woodrum was reappointed to the Airport Board.

-We accepted the amended detention center Standard Operating Procedures as presented by Jailer Broyles.

-We approved to rebid the naming rights to the new Farmers Market in downtown.

-We approved a motion to move all Thursday night meetings in 2024 to a 6pm start time.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

🚦🎁 The best early Christmas gift for our community! 🎄🎉 Guess what Santa brought us this year? 🎅🏼✨

🚦 Our brand-new dedicated turn light at Paynes Dept and the Bypass is up and shining bright, making this intersection safer for everyone!

Spread the word and share the good news! Our community just got a whole lot safer with this early Christmas surprise. 🎊🤶 🚦🎄

Photo Credit to Liz Everman

🦃Wishing you and your family a happy Thanksgiving. 🦃

🚧Information regarding the connection of Ward Hall Estates to US 460🚧

I have been contacted by several residents and have been watching closely the construction of the entrance connecting Ward Hall Estates to US 460 (Natchez Trace to US 460, directly across from Paynes Landing Boulevard). I share in the concerns about this narrow stretch of road and the proximity of two major subdivisions both which raise legitimate concerns about the increased risk of accidents.

It is important to note that US 460 is a State road and falls under the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC). I have been in direct communication with KYTC officials to discuss traffic control measures that may be implemented in this area. They have informed me that the current permit involves the construction of an entrance only, without the addition of turn lanes or any other traffic control measure such as a roundabout.

They advised the decision to forgo turn lanes was based on a traffic volume analysis conducted in 2021. I recognize that there has been significant growth and development in this part of our county since that study was conducted, including the construction of a new high school. These changes undoubtedly affect traffic patterns and warrant a reassessment of the situation.

I have requested that KYTC conduct a new traffic study once the construction is complete to ensure that our roads can adequately handle the increased traffic volume. While they have not yet committed to this request, I will continue to advocate for our community’s safety and for a traffic study to address the concerns of our residents.

🚦I have some good news! 🚦

The dedicated turn signal at the intersection of US 62 (Paynes Depot Rd) and Mcclelland Circle (The Bypass) has been approved! The turn signal should be active as soon as the traffic crew activates it. I will provide an update when this happen. Thank you to everyone who reached out and recommended the dedicated turn signal. I have personally witnessed a serious accident at this intersection and hope this turn signal will contribute to a safer intersection and community.

🚦 Ryan Pratt

Today, we honor the brave men and women who have served our country in the military. We thank you for your sacrifice, your service, and your dedication to protecting our freedom.

On this Veterans Day, let us all take a moment to remember the fallen and to show our appreciation to the veterans who are still with us. Thank you for everything you have done for our country.

10/26/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the October 26th meeting.

-There was a second reading of the RV Campground Text Amendments. This has been thoroughly discussed at previous meetings with respect to research into appropriate language for the ordinance.

-Kandice Whitehouse presented a proposal to relocate a donated trailer from the school system to the Gathering Place to be used as a White Flag Shelter. A White Flag Shelter provides a warming center to those in need when temperatures drop below freezing and a cooling center when temperatures are above 95 degrees. The relocation quote was for $24,000 which includes delivery, setup, a new anchor system, new moisture barrier set to code, and pouring new footers to set the structure properly. The County approved $12,000 with the expectation that the city will cover the other $12,000 during their next meeting.

-We approved the Reservoir Advisory Committee’s recommendation to name the reservoir property, “Lytles Fork Recreational Area”. Lytles Fork is a water source that runs through the property from Eagle Creek.

-We approved a bid for 8 new bay doors for the SC Fire Department totaling $163,740 from McCormick. New bay doors are desperately needed as some of the current doors are in poor condition. Eight more bay doors will still need to be replaced in a future budget.

-We approved the proposal for Trick-or-Treating in the County to be on October 31, 2023, from 6-8pm.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

Reminder, Super Recycling Day for Scott County residents is scheduled for Tomorrow, Saturday October 21st from 9AM-2PM at Toyota. You will need to enter through Gate 1. Please see the attached pamphlet photos to see what is and isn't allowed to be dropped off. A big thanks to Toyota for helping to sponsor this event and keep our community clean.

10/13/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the October 13th meeting.

-We listened to an update from the Reservoir Advisory Board.

-RJ Pamler with Compass Municipal reported the Bond Sale is complete for the new Sheriff’s Office/Clerks Annex, the new EMS Station, and the Farmers Market Pavillion. The bond sold at a rate of 3.9% to the Baker Group which is lower than the estimated interest by Compass 4.15%. The lower interest rate is great news for the Court.

-We approved Devere Construction to complete earthwork at Great Crossing Park to prepare the ground behind the current tennis courts for future tennis court/pickle ball construction. The bid from Devere was $37,071 and includes dirt work, grading, compaction, seeding, and straw.

-We approved the bid from Bluegrass Construction to demolish 257 Leesburg Pike. A FEMA Grant will cover $25,000 of the bid and we anticipate recovering the remaining balance when the property is sold in the future. This property was purchased with a FEMA Grant after the homeowner had 5 catastrophic floods in a row.

-The annual Fire Prevention Parade will be held downtown on October 19, 2023, at 6:15 PM. Please come out and show support to our First Responders.

-We received an update from Joe Pat Covington on the new Justice Center. They are waiting on the architect to finalize the drawings/plans of the 42,000 square foot building. The hope is to have the building out for bid around Christmas, with bids staying open for a month. If everything goes to plan, they should break ground in February.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

9/28/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the September 28th meeting.

-We had the first reading of the RV campground text amendments. This has been thoroughly discussed at the last few meetings with respect to research into appropriate language for the ordinance. The second reading will be at our next meeting.

-We voted to accept the contract change order with value engineering numbers for the new EMS station that will be located on Lexus Way. The new contract bid amount is $7,155,374 that is split equally between the city and county, so each entity will be responsible for $3,577, 687 for this project. This station is desperately needed and will help decrease EMS response times throughout our community.

-We approved a financing plan from Compass Municipal Advisors that will guide the Fiscal Courts financing of three major open projects. Those projects include the new Sheriff’s office/Clerks annex, the new EMS building, and the new farmers market project in downtown.

-We approved a resolution for an 8-inch water main/fire hydrant placement on the northern side of Porter Road near the interstate. Chief Ward spoke in favor of this extension indicating it is greatly needed for a fire that might occur at any of the current or proposed businesses in that area. The total project will cost an estimated $115,000. The county will pay $40,000, Sadieville City Commission will pay $40,00, and KY Lodging and Development company will pay $35,000.

-We approved the purchase of 5 more Flock cameras for the Sheriff’s Office. They currently cost $2,500 per year and this will bring our total cameras to 10 in the county.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

9/8/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the September 8th meeting.

-We had the second reading of the Reapportionment Map for Magisterial districts. This process takes place every 10 years by statute to realign the magisterial districts based off population changes gathered from Census data. Please see the attached picture for the expected new map.

-We discussed a text amendment to the RV park ordinance. This amendment was tabled pending further changes to the sanitation portion of the ordinance.

-We approved a lease agreement with Shelby Broadband for $250/month to lease space on county owned radio towers. Shelby broadband provides internet connection to those in the remote part of the county.

-We approved a resolution to establish the basic structure for the establishment of a fund balance for Scott County. The Fund Balance Policy will ensure that the County is able to achieve the following.
o Provide sufficient cash flow for daily financial needs.
o Secure and maintain investment grade bond ratings.
o Offset significant economic downturns or revenue shortfalls.
o Provide funds for unforeseen expenditures related to emergencies.

-We approved a grant application for cyber security to cover County Government. The total amount for the grant application is $415,067. If awarded it will have a 20% match of $83,014 from the County. There are many items listed in the grant application, including: threat protection, email security, multifactor authentication, upgraded firewall, ransomware protection, data backup, and wages/benefits for the IT coordinator.

-We approved an agreement for the School Resource Officers (SROs) with the Scott County School system.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

Super Recycling Day for Scott County residents is scheduled for October 21st from 9AM-2PM at Toyota. You will need to enter through Gate 1. Please see the attached pamphlet photos to see what is and isn't allowed to be dropped off. A big thanks to Toyota for helping to sponsor this event and keep our community clean.

8/24/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the August 24th meeting.

-We had the first reading of the Reapportionment Map for Magisterial Districts. This process takes place every 10 years by statute to realign magisterial districts based on population changes from census data.

-We approved a Grant from County Clerk, Rebecca Johnson in the amount of $158,546 that will be used to purchase election equipment.

-We approved a purchase order from the Sheriff’s office to purchase new handguns. The total purchase price for guns and accessories is $36,591.61 from Kiesler Police Supply. This includes a rebate for the current guns.

-We approved a motion for a revised pricing list from Marilla Construction related to the construction of the new EMS station.

-We approved a motion for a bid advertisement of the new downtown Farmers Market/Pavilion.

-We accepted the bid from Verdin Clock Company to repair/update the Courthouse clock. They will repair the clock, add a new control mechanism, and most important change out the faces so they can be pulled inside the clock to be repaired in the future. Currently a crane has to be rented to work on the clock faces. The bid was for $49,780.

-We approved a bid advertisement for mowing, fertilizing, and w**d prevention for the new/updated soccer fields at the Lisle Road Soccer Complex.

-We approved a grant proposal request from Kandice Whitehouse, our Director of Affordable Housing related to applying for a Rapid Rehousing Grant. The grant is for 152,996, with a match of 38,249 that will be split evenly between the city and county. Rapid Rehousing is a tenant based rental assistance program that operates a housing first program within the community. The goal of the program is to move individuals without housing into housing as quick as possible, provide intensive wrap around services, and move them into sustainable housing within 16-24 months.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

After yesterdays post a few of you asked about a dedicated turn arrow for the traffic light at the intersection of US 62 (Paynes Depot Rd) and Mcclelland Circle (The Bypass). I will say I have personally witnessed a very bad accident happen at this intersection. Today I reached back out to the Highway Department. Kelly Baker stated, "This signal at this intersection has protected left turn phases(green arrow) for the Bypass, but not on the side streets. We have evaluated it several times in the past, but the side streets have not warranted the change. We will be performing counts at the intersection again to see if anything has changed to where warrants would be met." I asked Mr. Baker to follow up with me after the traffic count study is completed. I will update you all as soon as I hear from him. Ryan Pratt

I have been contacted by a few people since school started back about the lack of a dedicated turn signal at the intersection of US 460 (Frankfort Pike) and KY1143 (Mcclelland Circle/The Bypass) by Western Elementary school. Today I reached out to Kelly Baker at the District 7 road department as this is a state road. Kelly informed me via email that , "Something happened over the summer where the signal reverted back to the way that it was previously phased. No on noticed until school got back into session.". This intersection will now have a dedicated green turn arrow especially during high traffic times. Ryan Pratt

***ROAD CLOSURE/DETOUR***
Georgetown Municipal Water & Sewer Crews are working in the area of Paynes Depot Rd and have closed that road from McClelland Springs Drive to Copperfield Lane. This area will be closed through the middle of next week. Please use an alternate route to gain access to this area.

8/11/23 Fiscal Court Recap. Below are highlights of actions taken by the Fiscal Court during the August 11th meeting.

-We approved the new county Property and Real Estate tax rates. The Real Estate tax rate went from 0.0600 down to 0.0570, while the personal property tax went from 0.0567 down to 0.053.

-We discussed several RV campground ordinance amendments as presented by P&Z. We tabled the amendments to allow the Magistrates and P&Z to continue to refine the ordinance. There is concern over the number of camping sites related to the number of entrances that need to be provided, allowances for a safe entry into the campground to not disrupt traffic on the roads, and sewage regulations. The ordinance amendments will be on a future agenda.

-We renewed our agreement with Scott County Parks and the Scott County School system for field usage.

-We approved a bid from Advanced System Technology for a new control system in the detention center. The control system is the brains of the jail and operates all the electronic functions inside the jail. The bid approved was $129,704.00.

-We approved a wooden guardrail type fence to be constructed by Glass fencing at the Lysle Road soccer complex. There is evidence that people have already driven on the brand-new fields with the intention of causing damage by performing donuts. It is our hope that the fences will stop this senseless behavior. The cost for this fence will be $32,775.00.

To see all discussions and votes, you can livestream the Fiscal Court meetings on YouTube or you can re-watch the entire recording by following the SC Fiscal Court YouTube channel. ().

Today was an exciting day as we gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking of the all-new Scott County Sheriff's Office and Clerk's Annex. The building will be located off of Betsy Way across from Great Crossing High school. This projects is more than just a building – it's a valuable assets that will contribute to the safety and efficiency of our community! Your Fiscal court is working hard to make the community a better place!

This is exciting news for our community and schools!

Update Cynthiana road is now reopened for use

Cynthiana Road is closed both ways near Corporate Blvd while crews work a serious injury crash. This closure may last a couple of hours for collision reconstruction.
Make alternate plans if you need to travel this road.

It was an honor to get to hear Dan Crenshaw speak last night. He is an American hero with an amazing perspective on our country. He reminded us that we are all responsible for the future of our country, and we have to be accountable to those we agree with and disagree with.