At their first meeting of the 2021-22 fiscal year, Daviess County Fiscal Court recognized a local firefighter/EMT who earned his United States citizenship, and Judge-Executive Al Mattingly announced he will not be running for a fourth term.
Pavel Zboril was born in Olomouc, Czech Republic — Owensboro’s sister city — and was a member of the Boy Scouts and an active member of his church when he lived abroad. Zboril took the citizenship test in June, answered 100% of the questions correctly and received his official citizenship certificate on June 25.
As the courtroom full of Zboril’s co-workers stood to applaud, his daughters rushed to his side to give him a congratulatory hug.
“I’m really happy to be here, to be a citizen of a great country, living my American dream over here with my amazing family, doing my dream job,” Zboril said.
At the end of the meeting, Mattingly announced he will not be running for a fourth term.
“I have done and will continue to do the best I can for this county,” he said. “I have enjoyed every minute of it. I don’t expect that I will retire and/or resign from the community.”
Mattingly said this decision did not come from any health reasons. He plans to be an active member of the community. While he doesn’t know if his time in public service is up, he knows he will not change his mind about leaving the position.
In other business, Fiscal Court noted that as a result of the future widening of KY 54, the highway department is going to be building a back entrance to the Wimsatt Court subdivision. Mattingly said this is an example of why transportation enhancements need to be planned.
The annual Household Hazardous Waste Day Grant will be returning on Oct. 9 at the Operation Center.
The court also signed an agreement for the music and entertainment that occur at the Panther Creek fireworks show on Labor Day weekend.
The following RFQs were awarded to the organizations:
- $15,689.83 for trap & skeet targets for the Gun Club.
- $14,475 for five lateral fire-resistant file cabinets for the Human Resources department.
- $10,170 for 10-ton rooftop HVAC unit replacement for the Detention Center.
Brian Freels was hired on as a Service Technician and Dr. Anthony McBride was reappointed to the Owensboro Health Board.
Toward the end of the agenda, the court discussed the fire tower at Panther Creek Park and said that an update on the cost for maintenance will be available at the next fiscal court meeting.
Mattingly referenced the outer loop survey closing today at 5 p.m. and encouraged those who have not yet already filled out the survey to do so.
Commissioner Charlie Castlen noted that the graphics that Kentucky Transportation Cabinet released regarding potential plans for the proposed loop has a 1,000-foot wide range for the location of the road and said that the current bypass is only 200 feet.
“If it were built, it would only be 1/5 of what people are looking at on these maps,” Castlen said.
Nonetheless, interested parties can fill out the survey here to let KYTC know their stance on the loop.
