Magistrate Hutchings gets grilled on 'Brooks & Ken'

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 5 p.m. -- Magistrate Tim Hutchins may have gotten more than he bargained for when he agreed to be a guest Tuesday morning on WBRT's "Brooks & Ken Show."

Hutchins probably anticipated callers' questions about the hotly contested proposed smoking ban in public buildings -- which has already been the topic of two public Fiscal Court hearings.

But what he probably didn't expect were calls regarding the county's building inspector, Logan Spalding.

According to a caller, from 2003 through the end of 2007, Bullitt Fiscal Court paid the county's building inspector thousands of dollars for inspections conducted in Bullitt County.

Another Nelson Count-based Web site has posted checks issued to Spalding from Bullitt Fiscal Court totaling more than $37,000. The caller said he was aware that the total money paid by Bullitt Fiscal Court over the 2003-2007 time period to the county's building inspector was upward of six digits.

Hutchins told the caller than there's no problem if the work was while "off the clock" in Nelson County. However if the work was done while also being paid as a county employee, then that would be a problem.

The caller suggested that allowing its building inspectors to do work for adjoining counties is a good idea -- provided the fees were paid to the county. "It's an effective way to bring in revenue," the caller said.

Hutchins said he has heard rumors about the building inspector's work out of the county, but had not been presented yet with proof of any wrongdoing.

Another caller took issue with the advertising that Hutchins runs for his business, Handy Food Mart, on KY 245.

The caller complained the advertisements say the business is "just five minutes from downtown Bardstown" are untrue.

"You can't leave the Court Square, go through eight traffic lights, and get there in five minutes," the caller said. "It's impossible."

Hutchins said his advertising originally stated "five minutes from Bardstown," but since the area was annexed, the line was changed to say "downtown Bardstown."

Hutchins told the man that if you left downtown via Templin Avenue you could probably get to his store in five minutes. He added later that he may have to look at changing that part of his advertising.