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Magoffin County to use CARES funds for courthouse screening; court negotiates audit payment timeline and ratifies hires
Summary
The fiscal court approved hiring three workers to perform courthouse temperature checks and contact-tracing entry logs using CARES funds, ratified temporary hires, appointed a park board member, and described an accepted payment proposal with the state auditor to address outstanding audit bills. The court also confirmed no action was taken during an executive session on pending litigation.
Unidentified Speaker (Magoffin County Fiscal Court member) told the court that CARES funds available to the county must be used for pandemic-related mitigation and relief. To support courthouse reopening and contact tracing, the court approved hiring Dolby Sauer, Melissa Arndt, and Daryl Arndt to perform temperature checks and log visitors. The court said it will submit applications to the appropriate state department to secure approval for CARES-funded items and must spend the allocations by Dec. 31.
On long-running audit bills, the Unidentified Speaker said he, the county attorney, State Representative John Blanton (referenced by the speaker), and Sarah Beth Gregory (the state auditor's chief of staff, referenced by the speaker) discussed large audit obligations related to sheriff's audits. The speaker said he proposed budgeting $800,000 for the state order, sending $100,000 this year, and increasing payments next year; he said the state auditor accepted that proposal in a reply letter. The court noted that substantial outstanding balances remain and that legislative changes would be required to alter audit-billing practices.
The court also ratified two temporary hires—Matthew Cole and Kendall Blanton—at $10 per hour, approved making part-time grader operator Dwayne Montgomery permanent part-time at $12 per hour, and appointed Jimmy Sawyer to the park board to fill a four-year term vacancy. The court held an executive session under the cited statute to discuss pending litigation and reported no action was taken on return.
The court said personal protective equipment, screening personnel, and facility-cleaning schedules are being coordinated with the judicial center's procedures; cleaning and staffing needs were described as ongoing and subject to application approval for CARES reimbursement.
