Storm aftermath, incoming recreation highlight Boyd fiscal

Apr. 9—CATLETTSBURG — High praises were in order for Boyd County's emergency management team, road department and first-responders on Tuesday after a bout of severe weather unleashed two tornadoes and significant damage across the county last week.

During Boyd County Fiscal Court's first regular meeting of the month, much discussion centered around last week's storm as the county switches from emergency to cleanup mode.

Judge-Executive Eric Chaney and commissioner Jeremy Holbrook sang praises for Emergency Management Director Tim England and his team as well as the teamwork effort by all first-responders and dispatchers to areas hardest hit.

Chaney said the county strives to operate proactively instead of reactively, adding the area had learned and made tweaks from previous ice storms, giving the county the upper hand when communications went down last week.

There are still more tweaks to be made for better backup plans during extreme weather events according to Tuesday's agenda, including a new generator for the Boyd County Jail.

Chaney said the county and jail was "very fortunate" during 2022's ice storms that the City of Catlettsburg kept electricity "or we would've run into a 14-day major problem."

"With the tornado, we did run into an issue down here," Chaney said, explaining one of the jail's backup diesel generators went down, requiring hours of work before it could be used.

"If there's a way to mitigate a problem before it becomes a problem, then we need to pursue that option," Chaney said, prior to the court OK'ing the purchase of a natural gas generator to power the entire jail in case of a power loss.

"We can mark that one, almost, off of our list," Chaney said.

England also requested approval to send a grant proposal from the state's Department of Homeland Security for a radio upgrade in the event of communication outages.

"We learned a lot last week," Holbrook said. "When our cellphones are out, those radios were imperative for our emergency management and our road department."

"There's no logical explanation why we should not do that," Holbrook said, earning an "I agree," from Chaney prior to approval.

Chaney added that while the county can't control a widespread communication outage like that experienced last week, the county is working on a proposal for satellite communications.

"We realized we had a gap there," England advised when both AT&T and Verizon went down.

England also provided current numbers on the damage experienced throughout the county to the court, which included six structures ruled destroyed, 26 structures with major damage, 26 with minor damage and 58 total affected structures equaling more than $200,000 in total damages.

England said his team has taken 100-plus damage reports across the entire county.

England said for the past week his team has surveyed damages, provided updates to the state's emergency management and launched debris cleanup operations.

In non-storm related court happenings:

—A county sports complex in Boyd County is "back on the table," according to Chaney with a partnership with Synergy Sports out of Charlotte for a local government-owned complex free for public use.

"Essentially it will be owned by the local government itself," Chaney said, adding the next action surrounding the sports complex is a feasibility study which will determine the needs of Boyd County for a "tailored fit" design and functionality.

—County Administrator Justin Pruitt announced folks will soon be able to splash around in Armco Park after the county officially secured funding to bring in a splash pad to the center of the park.

Pruitt said the county collaborated with FIVCO for a $80,000 grant to fund the project, which earned selection a few weeks ago.

"We're in the very beginning stages," Pruitt said, adding the county will demolish an older structure in the "dead center" of the park before groundwork will begin.

"It'll be a lot of fun," Pruitt said. "We've had a lot of requests for it for a lot of years. ... We're really excited about it."

(606) 326-2652 — mjepling@dailyindependent.com