South Hancock Park getting new building; new Senior Services Nutrition Site

The Hancock County Fiscal Court met on Monday, December 12th and went over their goal to expand the senior services nutrition sites, as well as the purchase of salt for icy roads this winter. The main topic of discussion was covered in last week’s Clarion about the un-finalized proposal made by Green River distillery to possibly purchase land in Lewisport for a new bottling facility and rickhouses.

New Senior Services Nutrition Site

Lona Morton, Program Director for Hancock County Senior Services, has been working on applying for grants that will help to expand the program. As she stated in a previous fiscal court meeting, she had applied for 2 different grants. One of them was not successful and the second one is still pending. She said that she hopes to announce the dates for the start of the new nutrition site at South Hancock Fire Department by February or March of 2023. The fiscal court has agreed to back the expansion whether the grant comes through or not. The grant money would be an added supplement toward the new program.

When the new senior services site at South Hancock Fire Department opens in 2023, the tentative schedule is on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with a lunch catered by Five Stars and served at 11:30 a.m. Lona said they are looking at partnering with a couple of different agencies along with the public library to also provide recreational activities like Bingo, educational activities and crafts, as well as informational materials that are important to older adults.

Lona said that they already have staff in place for the new site, but there are still a few pieces of equipment that they need to purchase, such as a warmer for keeping the catered food hot, etc. She also has an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) nutrition site checklist to go over to make sure the facility is accommodating to seniors.

They are trying to gage how many seniors will be attending the new center on Tuesdays and Thursdays in South Hancock. In order to help Lona and the staff at Hancock County Senior Services get an idea, she said to please give them a call at the office, at 270-927-8313 and let them know if you plan to participate weekly.

Judge/Executive Johnny Roberts said that they are excited to offer the service to the seniors in South Hancock. “There are so many positives to what the senior service centers offer and for those people to be a part of it, we’re excited about that,” he said.

South Hancock Park

At a recent fiscal court meeting it was discussed to replace the concession stand building at South Hancock Park. “We’re going to replace that building,” Judge Roberts said. “What we’re looking at now is how we’re going to go about it. We need to expand the size of it a little bit. That concession stand is in dire need of repair, it’s all rotted out, and is about to fall down on someone. What we’re going to do is just build a new building. We’ve looked at whether we’re going to put it there (in the same spot) or move it. We’re trying to determine some of the regulations that we need to adhere to.”

The current building is 20×16 and the new one will most likely need to be larger in order to allow for considerations such as handicapped accessibility. Once all of the details are calculated, the new construction can begin.

To allow for a larger space for the increase in size of the new building, they may need to choose another location in the Park for that construction. Magistrate L.T. Newton said, “It’s a bad spot and it’s not groomed there for another one. The hookups have to be changed – when you move it, all of the plumbing has to be changed and everything else. It’s completely shot and to put the new one there, it’s really cramped. They have to be a certain size and I’m not sure whether or not we have enough room there to do that. It would be tight. It has to be handicapped accessible. The electrical is coming down. That needs to be reworked there. It is just a mess.”

Magistrate Kasey Emmick added, “We need to find out what all our code specs are and then see what size we can put in there before we can go much further.” Roberts added to the conversation that, “It could go back with a metal building – with the inside finished and painted. We can do the metal, about like they are building at Vastwood.”

Salt Purchased for Icy Roads

One hundred tons of road salt was purchased for the Hancock County Road Department. The salt will be mixed with sand, which provides traction and also makes it harder for roads to re-freeze. The mixture will be used for covering icy roads this winter.

By Jennifer Wimmer