Christian County Fiscal Court and its magistrates approved two payments Tuesday morning — locking in the second and third disbursements for the Community Development Block Grants associated with the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library.
Those grant funds are going toward major renovations inside the busy building, renovations that — as a library board member — Magistrate Rich Leibe knows plenty about.
Leibe said there is hope that there is “nothing else” to fix along the way, but one never knows, and that the work being done is “satisfactory, terrific, and in a timely fashion as possible.”
Magistrate Josh Turner added more context to the repairs.
Leibe said the library will have some brief closures starting in December, in order to allow for construction and renovations to have unimpeded days.
Located at 1101 Bethel Street in the heart of downtown, HCCPL opened in 1977, and two years ago received a $754,200 grant from the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives designated for renovations, upgrades and debt retirement.
Then Executive-Director DeeAnna Sova, now with Ascend Elements, called the funding “a big deal” at the time, mainly because it was a guaranteed $37,710 annually for 20 years, and because the library was, and still is, one of seven in the Commonwealth not funded by a library tax.
In other court news:
— Magistrates unanimously approved a pair of bids under advisement from Emergency Management Director Randy Graham. The first was a solid rod, self-supporting tower for the county’s radio system. Graves County’s World Tower, he said, beat out Allstate Tower with a bid of $110,875. The second was for electric service, halo grounding, generators and automatic transfer switches at four sites for said radio system. Graham added that State Electric, in Crofton, had the better bid over Hopkinsville’s Jesco Electric by about $7,500.
— Magistrate John Bruce noted the Crofton Christmas Parade is planned for 10 AM Saturday, December 7. Hopkinsville’s is December 14.
— Melissa Goff, director of the Christian County Regional Animal Shelter, took in more than 460 pets through October. Of those, more than 300 ended up being outgoing adoptions. Furthermore, she said the facility received more than $8,000 in donations, including a single $5,000 offering from an unnamed couple that regularly contributes, and wishes to help pay the adoption fees for others.
