Solar Project Moving Forward in Martin County

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

INEZ —Martin County Fiscal Court had a special guest at their Aug. 17, meeting, Adam Edelen was there to talk about the Solar Project underway in Martin County.

Martin County Judge Executive Lon Lafferty introduced Edelen.

“Some meetings we have are exciting times and we have a special guest, Adam Edelen, who in conjunction with Savion, is putting in a $230 million Solar Project and this is the first coal to solar in the country and it is a 2,500-acre plant that will create 300 construction jobs and 11-12 permanent jobs,” Lafferty said. “He’s going to tell you a little about the project.”

“Thank you judge, you said it all. I won’t have to say too much,” Edelen said. “It’s been four years of hard work, with four different judges. Martin County Solar Project is going to happen. We are holding our first job fair on Sept. 7, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Collier Center. We are going to hire as many as we can from Martin County and then in neighboring counties, in that order. When it’s built, it will be the largest solar plant in the state of Kentucky. We’re going to create green energy for this community. It’s a large capital investment, we’ll have $39 million in payroll.”

Edelen also said that SOAR and One East Kentucky are also involved and that Toyota, who recently agreed to purchase energy from the solar plant will also have an expanded presence in Martin County.

“There will be a lot of national attention,” Edelen said. “Last year, we made the front page of the New York Times.”

The fiscal court unanimously approved the second reading of an ordinance pertaining to the Solar Project’s bond.

The fiscal court opened bids for blacktop, gravel and surplus property.

Magistrate Cody Slone made a motion to table the bids for blacktop, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Another Magistrate made a motion to accept the bid from BTI, for blacktop and all but Slone were in favor of accepting the bid. Slone opposed.

The fiscal court unanimously approved Mountain Materials Brushy Quarry for gravel, citing that they were who the county was currently using.

Only one bid was received for each item listed as surplus property. A section of property, in Chapman Bottom, was purchased by Darlene Robinette for $1,400; tires were purchased by Ken Hinkle for $1,400; a Ford F-250 truck was sold to Jackie Harmon for $500 and a pull along trailer was also sold to Jackie Harmon for $300. The fiscal court unanimously approved each of the bids.

The fiscal court unanimously approved to accept the KBCC fund loan agreement and to authorize bids for the Grassy School project.

“You know, there is asbestos in that material and this loan is a 50 percent match with zero percent interest over the next 15 years,” Lafferty said. “We’ll get the old Grassy School cleaned up and out of there so we can begin to rebuild something back there.”

Lafferty explained that the cost would be somewhere between $60,000 and $130,000 to cleanup the hazardous materials, but that Martin County would only have to pay 50 percent of that, over a 15-year period with zero interest.

“It’s a health hazard and the people in that area of the county need to know they are important to us too,” Lafferty said. “They deserve better than that.”

Lafferty went on to say that they are trying to be good stewards of the people’s money and that they had moved all accounts to interest bearing accounts.

“They are earning 3.5 percent interest now and they weren’t earning anything before,” Lafferty said. “We are making money.”

Lafferty asked the court to approve putting a portion of monies from the ARPA fund, Flood fund and Hud fund into CDs at the bank where they could earn five percent for a time.

“They would go back into their fund, but over a period of 11 months, combining all accounts, the county could make approximately $90,000 and I know we could use it,” Lafferty said.

Slone asked whether there was a time frame for spending those monies and Lafferty explained that there is no time frame to spend it, but that they have until the end of 2024 to decide how they plan to use them.

The fiscal court unanimously approved putting a portion of the three funds into CDs at the bank.

“The county clerk provides us with excess fees,” Lafferty said. “She provided us with $10,492.81 in excess fees, but further budgeting, she will not be able to give that to us and she wants us to return excess fees to the county clerk.”

The fiscal court unanimously agreed to return the excess fees.

Lafferty pointed out that they have a position available at the road department and recommended they hire Roy Delong at a rate of $14 per hour.

The fiscal court unanimously approved the hiring and Lafferty said Delong operates equipment and that he should start on Aug. 21.

The fiscal court unanimously approved the second reading of their business license ordinance to make sure all businesses are licensed in the county. Lafferty said it helps to keep track of the businesses and it helps with the occupational tax.

The fiscal court unanimously approved the agreement and resolution for the Flex fund with the list of roads the magistrates had put forward.

The court also approved a resolution to adopt three roads into the county road system including Bowens Cemetery Road, Locust Lane and Doc Lane.

In other business, the court approved the minutes from the July 20 meeting; the sheriff’s tax settlement; the treasurer’s settlement; the executive secretary’s bond; the finance officer’s bond and the financials.