Bourbon County meeting advances Elm Creek quarry plan, sets budget hearing and removes Meeks item after recusal

Bourbon County officials moved forward on a plan to begin a rock quarry at Elm Creek and to use lease payments to seed repairs at the lake, scheduled a public budget amendment hearing for Dec. 19, 2024 at 9 a.m., and removed an agenda item after Commissioner Justin Meeks recused himself citing a possible conflict.

The quarry proposal returned to the commission as a follow-up to a presentation from the prior week. Speaker 2 reopened the topic and Speaker 1 proposed the county "begin a Rockquiry at Elm Creek" and to "take our normal lease payments that we would normally pay a landowner and pay ourselves, I guess, for a capital a capital improvement fund so we can start working on the property at the lake to help start getting the lake back where it needs to be." The motion to begin quarry operations and to reallocate the usual lease payments into a capital improvement fund was moved by Speaker 1, seconded, and approved by voice vote.

Commissioners said the reallocated funds would be intended for repairs to the dam and buildings at Elm Creek Lake. The motion passed with affirmations from the two speakers present. The county did not specify estimated revenues from lease payments or a timeline for when funds would be available.

Separately, the commission voted to publish notice for a budget amendment hearing on Dec. 19, 2024, at 9 a.m. Speaker 1 made the motion to set the hearing and asked whether a staff member named Jim would be present that day; speakers indicated they believed he would attend. The motion to publish the hearing notice was seconded and approved by voice vote.

During agenda-setting, Speaker 2 moved to amend the agenda to remove the item described as the "Justin Meeks Cemetery right of way" because Justin Meeks had to recuse himself "due to a possible conflict." The motion was seconded and approved. Speaker 2 said the details of the conflict "are not public record at this point" but indicated the matter will become public in time. No further explanation or documentation of the conflict was provided at the meeting.

Other procedural items: the consent agenda was approved with the October financials moved to next week's meeting because one commissioner said they received the materials too late to review. The meeting concluded after a motion to adjourn was seconded and approved. No public comments were opened; one speaker said they were not feeling well and preferred to end the meeting.

Next steps include the Dec. 19, 2024 budget amendment hearing (publication to proceed as voted) and the October financials being placed on the next meeting's agenda for review.