Groundbreaking Ceremony Scheduled for New JC Fairgrounds Project

There will be a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, September 19, 2025, at 2:00 PM.”

The Fiscal Court met on Thursday, September 11, 2025 for its regular monthly Fiscal Court meeting. The meeting was called to order by Judge Gabbard, and the minutes from the previous meeting were then read and approved.
Judge Gabbard reported to the court, “The work of the committee that the Fiscal Court appointed to advise us on the new Jackson County Fairgrounds project, on McCammon Ridge Road, has been very productive. We advertised for bids for earthwork on the project and had a bid opening on Friday, September 5th, 2025.
The advisory committee for the Fairgrounds project opened bids on Friday, September 5, 2025. Three companies bid for the project, and after much discussion, the committee agreed to recommend Praxel as the winning bidder. Praxel had the low bid of $825,000. The Fiscal voted to award Praxel the earthwork project for the new Fairgrounds. There will be a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, September 19, 2025, at 2:00 PM. Representative Truett, Senator Stivers, members of the committee, available Fiscal Court Members, and elected officials will be in attendance. Local media as well as citizens are invited and encouraged to attend.
Judge Gabbard also informed the court that he has applied for funds from a new funding source that the State has opened for resurfacing County Roads. The Local Roads Assistance Program is a new initiative offered through the Office of Rural and Secondary Roads, which coordinates funding requests to the State Legislature in hopes of securing money for resurfacing County Roads. Each county that applies and is awarded will need to provide a match for the project, with the match amount based on population. Judge Gabbard reported, “If Jackson County is awarded, we would be responsible for a 12.5% match towards the project cost. Each County can request up to $500,000 per project. I recently submitted 2 project requests, each close to a $500,000 request minus our match. These are for Lodge Hall Road, Buncomb Road, Smith Road, and Cave Springs Road. The projects will be graded based on the number of households on each road, pavement conditions, and safety concerns. I requested these roads based on these factors, as well as Magistrates’ recommendations, public requests, and current conditions. The awarding of the projects will be decided by the State Legislature and KYTC.
The Magistrates reported that they had been answering calls for maintenance as well as finishing up mowing. Magistrate Vaughn had received a request to close Lewis Branch Road. Judge Gabbard advised that he would have the road foreman view the request and report before the next meeting.
Jailer Brian Gabbard reported that the Detention Center had received around $75,000 in state inmate pay, $11,000 from phones, as well as another $10,000 in other revenues. He also appreciated the work release program for their hard work in the County.
Brody Keck was named interim director at 911 Dispatch due to some circumstances that had arisen. He presented some policies and procedures for dispatch to the Court. The court voted to send them to the 911 advisory committee for final draft and bring them back to the next Fiscal Court meeting.
The court appointed Danielle Numikoski and Sara Bowman to the EMS Board of Directors.
The court approved the County Tax Rate for Motor Vehicle and Watercraft at 11 cents per $100, which is the same rate as the calendar year 2025.
The court approved an Operation Unite Opioid Abatement request of $5,000. This will be used for continuing education on opioid abuse disorder in our community.
The next Fiscal Court meeting was scheduled for October 09, 2025.;