Among those perhaps forgotten in this government shutdown are civilian workers, responsible for many careers and operations on military installations.
During Tuesday’s Christian County Fiscal Court meeting, Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam said he and other related officials in Kentucky and Tennessee have been rather in tune to this problem, and are working toward immediate local solutions — while the federal shutdown approaches 30 days.
Firstly, he and others were part of a lead contingent penning a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell, lobbied federal leaders to allow DODEA schools have the experience of extracurricular activities during this freeze. Only one game, Trigg County’s matchup against Fort Campbell in football, was rescheduled for this Thursday.
Secondly, they have been working on ways to help the civilian workforce involved on post, which also finds itself in a concerning lurch.
Gilliam said there are roughly 4,000 such employees that have been furloughed, and mostly unpaid, since September 30. A resource fair has been organized for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week at Oak Grove’s Valor Hall.
In other fiscal court news:
+ Magistrates also entered into their Emergency Management Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement, allowing immediate response in the matters of regional disaster.
Emergency Management Director Randy Graham and Magistrate Phillip Peterson offered answers.
Graham further noted this encompasses an agreement across all jurisdictions in the state, so that a file full of mutual aid agreements in each office for contiguous counties and communities surrounding Christian County.
Answering Magistrate Maggie Ferguson, Graham said this is exactly the kind of agreement that allows Christian County to respond to somewhere like Dawson Springs — as they did during the December 2021 tornado.
Graham, however, noted they went anyway — regardless of the agreement — because of the dire need.
+ Speaking of first response, Peterson gave an update on ambulatory services and runs. Prior to the reshuffling and refitting of billing services, emergent runs average $250 to $270 a run. Last month, that was up to $579, and after paying back both Christian County Fiscal Court and the City of Hopkinsville, Peterson said Fire/EMS was “back in the black.”
He thanked former Magistrate Darrell Gustafson and current Fire/EMS Chief Steve Futrell for their leadership in this endeavor.
