BENTON – Kyle O’Dell and Vicki Boatright with the Marshall County Conservation District spoke to the Fiscal Court to familiarize the new court members with their work at the District.
O’Dell covered the many events the Conservation District holds throughout the county each year and their community support events.
O’Dell presented to the court information about the four Watersheds they maintain in the county.
A Watershed is the area of land where all water that is under it or drains off of it, goes into the same place. These watersheds are located on private property of county residents but maintained by the District.
According to O’Dell, there are no new funds for operations or maintenance of these structures. When the Conservancy District was dissolved in the 1970’s, the responsibility for the structures was given to the Conservation District but without funding.
They are funded by the Fiscal Court through a .005 property tax that has been stable at this rate since 1992 and translates approximately to $74,000 for 2014-2015.
The four county structures are located on Hwy. 408 which is the largest, one is in the southern part of the county and two in the north part of the county off Purchase Parkway.
The two in the north part of the county off Foust-Sledd Road and Griggstown Road are two that are of concern to the District due to developments below the dams, which have been classified as “high hazard priority” according to the Kentucky Division of Water.
Rehabilitation of these dams is needed due to their life expectancy design of 50 years being reached, according to the NRCS.
O’Dell said that the Marshall County dams are in good shape and doing what they are supposed to be doing and the Conservation District does a good job in maintaining them.
Marshall County Conservation District has recently agreed to participate with the NRCS in rehabilitation of the two structures. These structures were selected by the NRCS based on the recent reclassification by the Kentucky Division of Water. The rehab process occurs in three phases; Planning, Design and Construction.
O’Dell would like to see a new ordinance that warns current or potential landowners planning construction below these structures that they are high hazard areas for potential flooding.
According to County Attorney Jeff Edwards, due to no county zoning, an ordinance cannot be enacted that would prohibit land owners from construction on their property but did say that a resolution could be enacted to warn property owners of the dangers and to advice them to not build any new structures below those two dams.
“There are not any good options and every option will cost a lot of money”, O’Dell said.
O’Dell would like to find a way to educate the citizens about this issue and discourage further development below these two dams.
Commissioner Rick Cocke said that the new mandate for residential and commercial inspections on any construction could be a way to educate those property owners on the problem of building in these areas.
“I don’t know what the answer is but that’s where we are with it and we just wanted to bring it and make you aware of”, O’Dell said.
The Conservation District board is made up of O’Dell as Chairman, Jeff Futrell-Vice President, Dennis Henson-Treasurer and members Ronald Hargis, Philip Jarvis, David Joseph and Tommy Riley.