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The day following Christmas, the Clark County Fiscal Court met again for a regularly scheduled meeting. 

While the festive holiday mood still hung in the air, business continued to be conducted as usual. 

The Fiscal Court voted to move forward with an offer from CSX Transportation, a leading U.S. supplier of rail-based transportation, for action to take place regarding necessary maintenance on the Red River Bridge, hoping to obtain future funding from the Kentucky legislature. 

This motion follows months of discussion and debate among multiple parties.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, one Clark County resident mentioned issues that have occurred when the bridge is closed, including a negative impact on local business. 

“Our community of thirty-five families [is] trapped…water down there is over the bridge,” she said, adding that the closure of the bridge created challenges following the death of her husband. “Something needs to be done.” 

Another resident spoke of problems with emergency services accessing the area when the bridge is closed. 

“I had an attorney contact me about a class-action lawsuit…I don’t want to go that route, but I also think we must have something done,” she said. “I know there’s rights. I know CSX is hard to get a hold of…,[but] there [are] ways to be doing something, and we expect it done.” 

Later in the meeting, Clark County Judge-Executive Les Yates also spoke and referred to a contractual offer sent from CSX, which Clark County attorney William Elkins and others reviewed. 

“[The] interpretation…[is] there is no commitment from CSX in those contracts,” he said. “They will give the bridge to the county under the stipulation that the county can then claim it’s theirs, and then the county can go after state monies to get the bridge fixed, and then…it will be the county’s bridge. They will maintain the bridge then in perpetuity.” 

Yates also expressed frustration regarding the offer. 

“What bothered me is the [bridge] has to be maintained per their requirements,” he said. “Basically, it’s not even an offer, in my opinion.” 

During the discussion, numerous Magistrates – including Ernest Pasley – spoke. 

“From where I sit, if we continue to face off [with CSX], we have no future. We have no bridge,” he said. “These people are in this situation forever, and the alternative is [that] we consider this and prepare ourselves.” 

Clark County attorney William Elkins also spoke. 

“The contingency alleviates the risk,” he said. “That also doesn’t prevent you from looking at every other possibility to get it done [such as] free ways, expensive ways, quick ways [and more].” 

Magistrate Dan Konstantopoulos also spoke. 

“Ultimately…if we don’t receive funding from the state, we’re not bound by anything in this agreement,” he said. “For that, it’s better that we go ahead and do this…so we can get into that pocket of money and push our legislature to approve this.” 

The Fiscal Court voted unanimously to approve the contractual offer provided by CSX.