Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

At the first regularly scheduled Clark County Fiscal Court meeting of 2025 – taking place despite inclement outdoor weather conditions – discussions over several matters were an occurrence. 

Among them were whether to incorporate medical cannabis, as well as considering an agreement between the Fiscal Court and Clark County Sanitation District concerning Community Block Development Grants (CDBG) and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grants. 

Regarding the first matter, Joseph Wheeling – a member of the Clark County Fire Department – spoke. 

Wheeling, who had previously spoken about how medical cannabis had helped him deal with personal health challenges, advocated for it once more. 

“On December 11, I stood before you to share my personal story [about] my struggle with mental health, my journey to find relief, and my belief in medical cannabis as safe and more effective than traditional alternative treatments,” he said. “Since that day, I’ve continued to work hard in crafting a policy for the use of medical cannabis ensuring it’s safe enough to maintain safety, but not so restrictive that it denies those in need from benefit.” 

Acknowledging that times served as a firefighter sometimes had an impact on his mental health, Wheeling responded to why he continues fulfilling his job duties – while defending medical marijuana use. 

“Serving others is what I continue to do. It’s what drives me. It’s what I’ll continue to do even after I retire,” he said. “[Yet] serving others shouldn’t mean sacrificing my own well-being and there are better solutions available. This isn’t just about me. It’s about ensuring that others don’t have to [face] the same struggles unnecessarily.” 

Wheeling passed out to each member of the Fiscal Court a drafted policy, which Magistrate Robert Blanton confirmed would need to be dealt with via administrative code before being effectively incorporated. 

Clark County Judge-Executive Les Yates, while not explicitly stating he was against any policy, acknowledged having mixed feelings. 

“It is a prescribed drug [yet] there are a lot of questions about it,” he said. “I think right now I would lean more to postponing it or prohibiting it until we get a little bit more information to make a decision.” 

No official action was taken at this time, though Blanton advocated for an ordinance of some sort being drafted. 

Later, Greyson Evans – Director of Community Planning with Bluegrass Area Development District – spoke of the aforementioned agreement. 

Responding to a call for explanation for public benefit, he elaborated. 

“In a nutshell, what we’re doing is extending sanitary sewer service from the Strodes Creek wastewater treatment plant up Rockwell Road for the purposes of serving the Yorktowne mobile home park,” he said. “Design work by Palmer Engineering is estimated [at] probably about the 75 percent complete point, and basically the alignment in the area…is pretty well defined.” 

Evans further stated that Bluegrass ADD would likely return regarding business matters. 

“We will be back before the court with your permission…at some point in the next couple of months to finalize a handful of evidentiary materials for the CPG and ARC monies to be released,” he said. “I would anticipate [bidding the project in] April [or] May of this year….giving us somewhere in the ballpark of sixteen to eighteen months to complete that project.” 

Evans also provided a cost estimate. 

[The] total cost for extending the sanitary sewer service…[is] going to fall somewhere between eight to twelve million dollars,” he said. “Palmer Engineering has built an approved, healthy contingency budget into their estimates…with the exception of the ARPA monies that the Fiscal Court has dedicated to the sanitation district…the rest of the monies that are dedicated to the project are grant funds. These are not the monies that anybody’s going to have to finance or anything like that in order to make this project happen.” 

Further analysis will also take place as the project continues. 

“Once we have release of funds on the CBDG and ARC money and we go to bid, we’ll assess where we’re at with regard to the project alternative and construction contracts and [more].”