The Harlan County Outdoor Recreation Board Authority met Thursday in a special called meeting to approve several items, including the purchase of two entrance signs for the trailheads.

The signs, which will be placed at the entrances of the Baileys Creek Park and the Putney Campgrounds, will be funded by grant money.

Board treasurer Ken Crider informed the board that the property where the sign will be placed at Putney will have to be leased or gifted to the board for a period of 25 years in order for the grant to pay for the signs.

Putney land owner Stephen Foster, who was present at the meeting, agreed to the terms.

The attending board members approved the purchase of the signs, noting that they would have to decide on exactly where the signs would be placed.

“We can approve the purchase and then figure out the logistics of where they will go,” said board chairperson Kim Collier.

The purchase was unanimously approved with the exception of board member Mike King, who was not present at Thursday’s meeting.

The board also approved moving forward with the trail signs by voting to pay a one-time set-up fee to Extreme Designs Unlimited, as well as a format for the signs’ design.

“We can’t vote on a specific amount of money because we don’t know how many we are going to need,” Collier said.

Crider said that he and board member Dallas Gilbert would ride the trails to count the exact number of signs that were currently needed, noting that extra signs would be needed as trails were added in the future.

The cost of the trail signs will also be covered by grant funding.

In other business, the board also agreed to begin construction of the Baileys Creek trailhead building.

While the construction of the building is not covered under a recreation trails grant, the board agreed that they should go ahead with the building from their own funds due to its necessity.

“We need the building and we need it quick,” said Crider, noting that the building will be useful to the board because it will provide a place to sell items such as shirts and other trailhead accessories.

Collier noted that she did not like the idea of using the board’s money to fund the project because “We don’t know what’s coming down the road.”

However, Collier did agree that the building was needed and the sales of the shirts could help boost the board’s budget.

The board agreed to begin the project with the motion being made by Gilbert and seconded by Crider.

The board has later plans to also construct another building at Putney, but noted that building would be paid for with coal severance money.

The board also agreed to allow the Kentucky Mountain Crawlers to use three of the trails at Baileys Creek for the upcoming Fall Crawl, which is to be held in October, noting that the group has its own insurance to cover any accidents or mishaps.