By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Members of the Barren County Fiscal Court praised the efforts made by county and state personnel during the recent winter storm.
Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd opened the Feb. 3 meeting by acclaiming the county’s road crews’ preparation and response to winter storm Fern.
“This has been an extreme storm that we’ve been through; this is now going on day 10, but we had a lot of people affected by this storm. We’ve had a lot of road issues because of the ice,” Byrd said. “We are working hard to deal with that, but I want to give huge props to our road department. They have been working nonstop since this storm started — and even before that.”
“They have done a phenomenal job,” she added.
The county’s emergency management was also lauded by Byrd during the meeting, saying she was “so impressed.” Barren County Emergency Management Director Garland Gilliam said the agency did welfare checks, provided transportation — primarily to those working in nursing homes and hospitals — and coordinated efforts with the 90 national guard members deployed to the area.
He also said the state offered “cut-and-toss teams” that allowed county crews to focus on snow removal.
“When Frankfort offered us cut-and-toss teams we jumped at it,” Gilliam said. “Our road department on Monday was having trouble pushing snow because they had to keep stopping and cutting trees out of the road…. So they started cutting trees so we [road crews] could push snow.”
Gilliam confirmed that people from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were in Barren County conducting their Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment, which is the beginning of localities obtaining federal and state assistance.
“I think it was a great, coordinated effort between all entities,” Byrd said.
Magistrate Tim Durham advised people to check on their neighbors during this cold time.
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