County attorney seeks road investigation

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

INEZ —Martin County Attorney Melissa Fannin-Phelps has asked the attorney general’s Department of Criminal Investigations to look into the spending of Flex money for road paving that was not listed on the 2020 Flex fund list. The Martin County Fiscal Court receives Flex-fund money to pave roads approved by the Kentucky Department of Transportation, District 12. The 2020 list was submitted and approved by the fiscal court and the transportation cabinet, and Mountain Enterprises was the firm hired to do the paving of the specific roads, the letter said. According to a letter to the attorney general written by Fannin-Phelps, on or around Aug. 17, a portion of Lafferty Road was paved, but the road wasn’t on the 2020 Flex fund list, nor is it a county road. Also, a portion of a parking lot near Rebecca Street was paved, the letter said. Rebecca Street also was not on the 2020 Flex list, but it is a county road. The letter, however, says the parking lot in front is a privately owned business and not a county road, but it was paved as well, the letter said. “The Magistrate from that district, Roger Preece, was present at the time the work was performed and in fact, directed the work to be done by Mountain,” the letter to the attorney general said. Mountain Enterprises submitted an invoice, which is included with the letter to the attorney general’s office, for three roads that are in question, including Lafferty Road, $918.99; Rebecca Street, $2,667.11; and Stepp Bottom,  $4,701.14, for a total amount of $8,287.24.County Treasurer Susan Hale sent an email to the judge-executive’s office notifying it that they had received an invoice for Lafferty Road, Rebecca Street and Stepp Bottom, which are not part of the Flex Fund. She said there is not funding for the additional paving, so an appropriations transfer needs to be made, the letter said. Hale asked in her email where the transfer needs to come from, such as gravel, drains, etc. Hale also said in her email that Rebecca Street is located adjacent to Farm Bureau, and the Farm Bureau parking lot was paved at the same time as the road. “We need confirmation that the paving of the parking lot was separate from the road paving,” Hale said in her email. “A lot of questions have been asked about the paving in this area, and we need documentation to show that this is above board.” Prior to becoming Martin County judge-executive, Bill Davis owned and operated Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance with his son, Brian Davis. Afterward, he turned the reins over to his son. The building suffered fire damage from high winds and was torn down in January and is currently being rebuilt in the same location.