By Jay Compton

jay.compton@middlesboronews.com

 

Kentucky Mr. Football Daniel Thomas was recognized at Tuesday’s Bell County Fiscal Court meeting.

“We’ve got a very, very special guest, and we’re going to take just a second to recognize this young man for his accomplishments,” Judge-Executive Albey Brock said. “These type of kids don’t come along very often. Not only is this young man a phenomenal athlete and football player, he’s a good kid and you don’t always get those two things together.”

Brock read off some of Thomas’ stats from his outstanding senior season when he helped lead the Bobcats to a 13-2 record and a trip to the Class 3A State Championship Game. Thomas led all high school rushers in the nation in 2023 by 300 yards. He set new Kentucky state records with 3,817 rushing yards (255.2 yards per game), 54 rushing touchdowns and 373 total points scored. Thomas also started at outside linebacker on defense and finished with 94 tackles and 74 solo tackles.

“So not only can he run, he can catch them. And from what I watched, when he caught them, he whacked them,” Brock added. “Then he got up and went back to the huddle. He didn’t taunt anybody; he just got ready for the next play, which is very admirable.”

Thomas has signed to play college football at the University of Virginia at Wise. As a student, he finished with a GPA of 4.091.

Brock asked for a round of applause for Thomas and asked if he’d like to say anything.

“I’ve just been blessed to be in the situation I’m in and I give all glory to God,” Thomas said.

Brock gathered all of the magistrates in attendance at the meeting along with County Clerk Debbie Gambrel, Sheriff Mitch Williams and County Attorney Chris Douglas for a group pictured with Thomas.

“We appreciate what you’ve done on the football field for Bell County and the positive light you have put on our community,” Brock told Thomas. “You’re off the field stuff is just as special as your on-field stuff.”

The judge added that Thomas was the great-grandson of former Judge-Executive Curt Hoskins.

“Judge Hoskins served for four terms and 13 years and I’ll always say that Curt Hoskins was the best judge that we’ve ever had, present company included,” Brock said. “So Daniel has a connection to this court outside of everything else.”

Tuesday’s meeting was opened with a prayer by Pastor Don Messer.

The court approved the transfer of funds back into the 2023 General Fee Account from the 2024 General Fee Account by the Bell County Clerk. Those funds were used to cover the clerk and staff payroll for the first pay period in January due to the vehicle registration shutdown while the new KAVIS system was being put into place, leaving no funds available for the payroll.

“The long and short of that is Debbie is paying her debt back,” Brock said.

County Clerk Debbie Gambrel thanked the court for allowing the money to be borrowed so her office could meet payroll. She added the new KAVIS system is now up and running.

“It’s working a lot better today than it was on January 11 when we opened back up,” she said. “There are a few things we can’t do like trailers, and some things may take a little bit longer but we’re up and running.”

Brock praised the efforts of the Bell County Clerk’s office in getting through the transition as smoothly as possible.

“I know it was chaos those first few days, but you all have done really good,” he said. “I’ve read a lot of reports from other counties that have had a lot more of a nightmare scenario than you guys did.”

Gambrel said it was a credit to the girls that work in her office, adding that they had been training for the transition for about a year.

The court also approved the adoption of a resolution authorizing the filing of a Kentucky House Bill (HB) 1 Jail Arraignment Equipment Grant application for up to $50,000 in HB 1 Project Funds with the Department for Local Government (DLG). The resolution also directs Brock to execute any documents which are deemed necessary by DLG to carry out the project and to act as the authorized correspondent for the project.

In other business, the court:

• approved payment to Kentucky State Treasurer for FEMA-DR-4358-KY for the amount of $93,112.67;
• hired William Daniels and David Saylor as full-time employees at the Bell County Road Department at $13.00 per hour and Brenda Feltner as part-time Paramedic at $17.00 per hour effective February 15;
• changed Marcus Chaney from part-time dispatcher to full-time dispatcher and Millie Galloway to full-time EMT effective February 15;
• changed Chase Nantz from full-time paramedic to part-time paramedic retroactive to January 18.
• changed Tammy Frederick, Sonya Warren, and Matthew Warren from part- time deputy jailers to full-time deputy jailers effective February 15;
• accepted checks in the amount of $250,857.21 from Sheriff Mitch Williams and in the amount of $3,476.53 from County Clerk Debbie Gambrel. (There was no January ad valorem tax payment due to KAVIS report error and system shut-down).