Fiscal Court approves of agreement with city to build men's rehab center

Mar. 1—Blake Vickers

The Madison County Fiscal Court unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with the Richmond City Commission to create a men's rehabilitation center with the opioid settlement funds both governments will be receiving over the next 18 years. It comes after the city officially consented to its part of the agreement during a city commission meeting earlier in February.

Richmond City Manager Rob Minerich presented the fiscal court with the plan last month. The city government has been working with the Fletcher Group and Blue Grass Area Development for over a year to get an Economic Development Association (EDA) grant from the federal government to help fund the center. It has been estimated that the facility would cost $6,150,000.

Minerich's proposal was for the city and the county to equally split the rest of the cost for the facility (approximately $1.5 million each) left over after the $3 million EDA grant. Blue Grass Area Development District would pay for the remaining $150,000. As of the Feb. 28 fiscal court meeting, both parties have agreed to that plan.

It was repeatedly stressed by multiple city and county officials that opioid settlement payments would be used to pay for the project. The city's first opioid payment amounted to roughly $480,000, while the county's was $523,548.

According to Minerich, the City of Richmond does have an option for a property that could house the facility located on a qualified census tract. Meaning that the rehab center could be created by renovating that existing structure, rather than building one from scratch.

Provided everything works out as planned, phase one of the project will start with 40 beds in the facility, with that number being raised to 55 beds in phase two. A portion of the beds would be able to host non-violent drug offenders incarcerated at the Madison County Detention Center. The facility would be operated by New Vista Recovery Services, which already maintains an active presence in Madison County.

"This is really exciting for us because it gives us the opportunity to address substance use issues along the whole continuum. The initial phase focuses on that first step in recovery, so it's that residential piece. That's something New Vista already does," said New Vista Chief Clinical Officer Nikki Stanaitis.

As currently planned, there would be 28-day stays in the rehab facility, with New Vista working with clients on the following steps like employment and housing after their stay.

"It gives us the time and the ability to work with an individual that has come right at their most acute state — from that initial stage, all the way through to housing. That housing and supportive housing on-site starts at phase two part of the development," Stanaitis said.

Under the first phase of the project, the facility will look at the most vulnerable populations in need of New Vista's services. Recently released inmates of the county jail are just one example.

The possibility of bringing along the City of Berea into the agreement was also discussed in the meeting, with Berea City Commissioners Katie Startzman, Teresa Scenters, Ronny Terrill, and Jerry Little in attendance at the meeting.

"Mayor Fraley has reached out to me and informed me that there is an interest for Berea to participate in this," Minerich said. "If Berea does decide what they want to do, we can come up with another local agreement between the three governments."

According to Minerich, Judge Executive Reagan Taylor suggested that the three governments could use a percentage of population payment, where each party would pay for funding based on their population.

Grayson Evans of Blue Grass Area District Development said that the interlocal agreement is a vital part of a strong application needed to secure the EDA grant to pay for roughly half the facility's development costs.

"This interlocal agreement is one of the last dominos to fall... Many of you know that large federal grants are typically desired to be the last dollars into a project. We've essentially set the stage and lined up all the dominos to make this project move forward," Grayson said. "This project very well could set a new standard in our area for regional cooperation on recovery housing efforts and addressing the substance use disorders that are so discouraging in our communities."

Bridge replacement project update

A $283,981.99 bid was accepted from Vanhooseco Precast for a bridge replacement project on East Billings Road. It was the only bid received on the project.

Magistrate Billy Ray Hughes asked if it was normal to only receive one bid on projects like the bridge replacement. County road supervisor Scott Shepherd pointed out that the occurrence is fairly common, usually due to the detailed requirements in bid packages that the county writes out.

Magistrate Botkin also had several questions about the bid, sighting contradictory wording regarding the unloading and installation of the bridge. As Shepherd said that the company will be taking care of those tasks and said such language discrepancies are normal. Even so, it was agreed to contact the contractor to make the language more consistent.

The fiscal court also passed Resolution 23-20, which amends the cost to pay for inmates of the Madison County Detention Center to be temporarily housed in the Casey County Regional Jail. The rate to house prisoners in Casey County was changed to $35.34 per day, which is the state's standard rate for the practice.

According to Judge Taylor, the contract with Casey County had previously been set at $28 per day for many years.

"They have partnered with some neighboring counties down there. I think the neighboring counties had found out that we were only paying $28. It could have been a little bit short-sighted on someone's part, forgotten because the agreement had been there for so long," Taylor said. "To be consistent and fair to their neighboring counties down there they had to raise the price with us."

Children's Champions Month

March was also named Children's Champions Month in Madison County during the meeting. Phillis Adams, president of the Children's Champions of Madison County, was presented with the proclamation and spoke about the organization.

"The big thing about Children's Champions month... It's a program in Madison County to encourage adults to help all children and be successful. Once a year we stress this for all of our adults and all in our community to really know what's going on with children; their activities with their parents and so forth. The children are very much involved this month," Adams said.

Each year, Children's Champions hold a contest for elementary school students to draw a picture showing the importance of protecting and ensuring the success of children. That drawing will then be displayed on several billboards in the county. This year's winner is Emerson Radcliffe of Glenn Marshall Elementary.

Other business;

Virgil Gardner was appointed to the Madison County Public Library Board.

The county road department budget was amended by $124,260.

In Resolution 23-21, the court approved a payroll breakdown for cost-share employees.