Repairs at the Harlan County Detention Center was the focus of a special called meeting at Harlan Fiscal Court on Monday.

“We have an issue at the jail,” said Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop. “Two people have fallen in the kitchen area, one with a serious injury. If we don’t take action on this now, I’m afraid we’ll have more trouble in the future. In the interest of safety and solving a problem, we need to address this problem because it is not going to go away.”

Several members of the court discussed other types of flooring which could be purchased in order to solve the problem.

“It’s a poured flour with a seal on it,” said Magistrate Jim Roark. “There is a type of sand that goes in paint to make the floor more useable for a kitchen area.”

Magistrate Paul Caldwell suggested the county buy the paint and other supplies and let the inmates do the labor to save money. This item was tabled until their next meeting to allow time to obtain other options.

“The roof is leaking bad at the jail,” said Grieshop. “We had a company come out and look at the roof and they thought they could come back and fix the roof in two days work. They would not guarantee just two days. They saw a lot of mistakes in the construction of the roof.”

Magistrate Jim Roddy asked the question of who was liable for the mistakes made in the construction of the roof.

“The company that got the bid for the roof has since gone bankrupt,” said Grieshop. “Codell has been contacted numerous times but they have not resolved the issue. So where do we go from here. It costs money to redo these things. We trusted Codell and those who were supposed to have been watching the construction of the jail. The roof on the building next door was not done properly, but we finally got that fixed.”

Harlan County Engineer Leo Miller said Codell should have written a final acceptance letter to fiscal court saying all contractors who worked on this project completed their work. Grieshop said he would check their files for this letter.

“When we find this letter, then we should go after Codell,” said Magistrate David Kennedy.

Grieshop said when the jail had ceiling problems Codell was contacted and they fixed the problem without any cost to the county.

“We had Codell and Thomas Heck watching and still several things were not done properly,” said Grieshop. “We’ll just have to wait and see if I can find the letter from Codell and go from there.”

This issue was tabled until their next scheduled meeting.

Roark advised the court there had been a mudslide on Newberry Saylor Hollow located in Wallins.

“Something has got to be done now,” said Roark. “People have been digging and gouging above the road and now water is washing it out. I’ve had some people looking at it and they suggested either putting in guard rail or steel posts. The only way to fix the problem is to get up on top and direct the water away from where it’s coming down.”

Roark said the county would have to get an easement to redirect the water.

“We’ll lose the whole road if we don’t do something,” said Roark. “We put barriers in and they got pushed away by the mud and water. Also, there’s a waterline in there that may get damaged. Everyday we wait it could cost us double or triple. If the whole thing comes down we’ll have to put a whole new road in plus water lines. That’s about 300 feet of road we’re talking about.”

Roark said when the weather is cold, you have freezing then thawing and this process tends to loosen dirt and cause mudslides.

The magistrates voted to get a price for repair work on Newberry Saylor Hollow in Wallins and proceed with repairs under the approval of Grieshop and Miller.

The court also approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Harlan for repair of sidewalks after the old jail demolition is completed.