Uh Sheriff Kilbrick, would you pray for
us, please?
>> Sure. Bow with me. Heavenly Father, we
thank you for this day, Lord. We thank
you for your many, many blessings on our
life. God, we particularly thank you for
the air conditioning in this time of
year, Lord. God, we ask for your hand of
protection about our men and women
serving in the military and our first
responders. God, we ask for your wisdom
and your direction amongst people here
at this court as they make decisions for
the community. Father, we ask that you
give them your leadership in your name
we pray. Amen.
>> Amen.
» If you would stand for the pledge.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
» Call this uh Marshall County Fiscal
Court special called meeting to order,
August 17th, 20 26.
And our first guest today is uh Keith
Travis with Life Coordinated.
They've got a lot of great things going
on over there and uh Keith's going to
share a little bit about a little bit
about what that is with us.
>> Well, I appreciate it, Judge and court,
for the opportunity to address you. It's
a It's a little bit of a daunting task
to explain this program in a way that is
uh understandable with all the benefits
that exist, but I'm going to do my best
and then we'll talk about some of the uh
if you have questions, be glad to answer
those. Uh We're located at 201 East 11th
Street, which is 100 yd to your
northeast. We've been there 2 years and
3 months.
And it's a program that's probably
little known about outside maybe this
court. I know some of the court members
have had a chance to tour,
but it's It's interesting program. My
involvement has been about a year with
the company.
Uh
I really didn't plan on being involved
this long, but I have to admit as a
retiree, as a senior citizen, I fully
align with what they're doing, and I
believe in their mission.
And their mission is very simple. Simply
stated, their goal is to help seniors
live a longer, more productive life in
their home.
Uh
all of us have to care for elderly at
some time. I don't think I ever visited
my loved ones that were in nursing
facilities that
uh my mom didn't ask me when I left to
take her home.
Uh as good as they are, and this is not
a reflection on any caregiver, but home
is the best place that people want to
be.
And so, the goal of Life Coordinated is
to provide that as a resource. So, how
do we do that?
I'm going to explain some of the things
we offer,
and then I'll answer the uh
$64 question, how do you pay for all
this?
So, if you become a member of Life
Coordinated, uh the brochure that you
have tells you the qualifications. You
have to be 55, you have to live in one
of the six counties that we serve,
Marshall, McCracken, Calloway, Graves,
Hickman, or Fulton.
If you become a member of that
organization, uh final entry is approved
by the state of Kentucky. So, it's a
duly accredited. So, if you're on
Medicare or Medicaid, duly accredited,
we will pick you up at your home,
provide you transportation to our
facility 5 days a week. We'll provide
you lunch and breakfast.
Uh we have an activities director. We
have a uh OT, a PT to help you with
physical needs.
We have a technical room where they'll
help you with your internet access, and
for some of us seniors, they'll help you
use your cell phone and get it
straightened out.
The interesting part is we also have a
nurse practitioner on staff 5 days a
week, and starting in November, we'll
have a med- a medical doctor internal
medicine, 5 days a week available.
On the off shift, what I would call the
off shift, evenings and weekends,
there's a nurse on call.
We provide you your pharmaceuticals. We
have our own pharmacy system. We provide
those. We will help you if you come to
the facility, if you're a senior and
your home environment is not safe for
you perhaps take a shower, you're
concerned about maybe falling, we have
shower facilities. We help do your
laundry. We will come to your home, help
keep your home clean.
Uh we will get you to all your doctor's
appointments. So, if you need to see a specialist at Baptist Health,
we'll provide that transportation.
And at the end of the day,
the question is, what did this cost me?
This costs you absolutely nothing as a
senior.
The company's real name is Commonwealth
PACE. PACE is an acronym for providing
all-inclusive care for the elderly. So,
if you've been on a cruise, it's
all-inclusive,
you don't pay anything extra. So, now
the question comes,
if I pay nothing for it, who pays for
it? Am I going to have lose my social
security? Am I going to lose my home?
Lose my car? The answer to that is, you
will not be charged any of those. You
can keep your social security, you keep
your home, you keep your car. There are
some income limits that are applicable
uh each month or some resource limits
that are there. But basically, what
happens and I I'll have to admit, I'm
probably not a fan of many government
programs, but this is a program that is
actually working with government health
care to provide better options.
What we do is each month, if you're a
Medicaid Medicare
participant, the government sets aside
amount of money for your care.
And that amount of money is based on
your severity. So, they look at your
health condition and they assess it and
they say, "Here's what money we set
aside."
When you become a member of Life
Coordinated,
they send that money to Life
Coordinated.
And they on the Medicaid side of it,
they take 15% off what they would have
sent. So, the state is saving 15% off
what they would have paid. That money
comes to Life Coordinated. Wherefore it
was directed to me as an individual,
it's now in a group setting.
And so, Life Coordinated becomes your
primary care provider
and your insurer.
We only take new members on the first
day of each month. So, if you started
the first day of September, the second
day of September, you had to go to the
hospital for a chronic health condition,
those costs are paid by Life
Coordinated.
Now, we do carry stop-loss insurance. We
are audited regularly. Next month, we'll
have a CMS audit.
We get four audits a year of our
facilities, of our records, of our
finances. But basically, what we're
doing and it's a fairly if you think
about the process, it's a fairly
straightforward simple process.
If Jason, we give you better health care
than you've ever had, you'll be
healthier.
Many of our seniors we find live alone.
They live
with a dietary need that's not met. Some
of them have no transportation.
And so, they're in an isolated
environment and if their health
declines,
they have one option. That's pick up the
phone, dial 911, have an ambulance take
them to the hospital. They go to the
emergency room. They get treated in the
most expensive care provider in the
United States.
If it's
or they need to, you're put in the
hospital for a day's observation and if
they can, you're discharged back home or
to a skilled nursing facility. And that
cycle goes on and on and on. Our goal
is to help you stay out of that cycle to
stay healthier than what you would have
been under without being a member of
PACE. This article that I gave the judge
is one from the national conference and
I think it was an April posted in June
and it shows that members of life
coordinated have a longer life
expectancy and fewer admissions than
those in non-integrated programs.
Uh
Senator Carroll toured the facility the
other day and uh learned a lot about
Senator Carroll. He had more interesting
questions about health care and the
benefit programs that are out there. I
mean, he was really thorough. Our CEO
answered every one of them and one of
them it was, "What are you going to do
if you have Medicare cuts?" And the
response was, "We won't be cut because
our efficiency numbers are so much
better than the other providers
that they'll leave us to use be utilized
while others that don't have that
efficiency may face cuts."
So, our goal is not to We're not here to
criticize anybody. We're not here to be
competitive with anybody. We're here to
offer a service that has not been
offered previously.
Um
we do have statistical information. Even
working with the judge a little bit, we
have this dream I
the CMS administrator is Dr. Oz.
And I don't know that he's ever toured a
PACE facility and Benton seems like a
good place to invite and we'll see how
that goes, but CMS is the biggest
insurer in the world and they cover more
lives than probably any other
organization.
And his interest in it, if you get a
chance to read the article, his interest
is quite an endorsement of what they're
doing. And the reason is it's providing
longer lives and lower cost. Uh I don't
know where else you can get that
combination. Now, there's challenges to
facing this. Uh
number one, when I when you go in and
you talk to someone about this program,
they say I it's a scam.
And as a senior who's been scammed, once
you've been scammed by by somebody, you
you're more receptive you're more
attentive to all the details.
It is not a scam, but on the same virtue, seniors are are very
reluctant to change. I know I am.
Somebody comes in, I'd like to change
your provider.
If you sign up with with Life
Coordinated, you start the 1st of
September or the 15th of September, you
don't think this program is for you, you
can get out the 1st of October. It's a
month-by-month contract.
Um
people are reluctant to change. We are
not allowed You will never hear me
calling you on your cell phone offering
you a $300 medic
a gift card for all the Medicare
advantages. We're not allowed to cold
call.
So, the only way we reach people
is through the community knowing that
we're here and through references. And
so, if you call us and say I'd like for
you to if you know somebody that's
interested and you give us their name,
it's a seven-step process. Every person
that we interview is tracked from the
initial entry until either they enter
the program or the reason they were not
entered into the program. So,
accountability for what we do is pretty
thorough. But we can't go knock on
doors.
We are working with some partners very
thoroughly and I'm excited about it.
Mark Donahue from Marcellus
you know, is doing 400 meals a day and
still has people on the waiting list
that need assistance.
Even Mark told us that in their program,
they put meals on the doorknob. If
they're not there, they come back the
next day, then they're going to do a
wellness check to see
about that person. But he said, "We
don't check on their physical condition.
We don't check on their pharmaceuticals.
We don't know what other issues are
going on in that senior's life."
So, starting in November, our members
can go see a doctor 5 days a week.
They can see therapists. You know, if
you break your hip, you're going to get
a you're going to get a PT or an OT
prescription for 15 visits. They're
limited. In our environment, they're not
limited. You can see them as long as you
need to see them. We will provide you
that transportation across the street.
Every day you probably see three Fulton
Transit buses parked down here at the
Five Star. They are part of our
transportation fleet. We have two of our
own vehicles that we operate.
That number
is [clears throat] destined to grow.
Uh this facility can probably
accommodate between 500 and 700 members.
And as we speak, our organization is
opening another facility in Winchester,
Kentucky and another one in Springfield,
Kentucky. All of these are destined to
be rural health areas.
Uh there's 3 million Americans who are
eligible for this program.
About
4% of that population, 120,000, use it.
It's really a challenge to market. I
began [clears throat] as a driver
helping them out part-time going to do
that in about a month ago,
uh the CEO said, "Would you help us with
marketing?" Well, marketing isn't my
forte, but I know a lot of people and a
lot of it's just communication, telling
you what we do and why we do it.
And I will tell you this, if you would
like to see the facility
from the inside, you're welcome to do
that any day of the week. We'll schedule
a tour, take you through, let you see
it. It seeing it is more impressive than
my presentation because it's a little
bit overwhelming sometimes to see all
the things that are actually going on.
Uh but I see seniors that I've
transported that are
we're not going to stop the aging
process. That's not capable. But I see
seniors that have stabilized and their
life has become more orderly and their
health is better.
And I think, "Gee, that's what I'd like
to do." And so, that's the reason I
continue my role with them as a retiree,
and I encourage you to learn more about
it. If you've got individuals, churches,
we've talked to churches as a as a
group, individual churches.
It's a matter of getting the message
out. And again, we're covering six
counties, but my goal is to really get
as much started right here in Marshall
County as I can because transportation
costs are easier.
And we can get the nucleus started and
get it to the point we have we're
approaching 50 members now.
But 50 is a long way from the 5 to 700
that could be using it. So, we're going
to be increasing that market presence,
inviting people to Benton, to Marshall
County to see what the program is about.
So, that's kind of a 40,000 ft overview
of it without taking too much time. I do
appreciate your interest in the senior
population in this county. It is It is a
significant part of our community, and I
appreciate your what interest in their
well-being. [clears throat]
Judge?
>> Well, first of all, I'd like to say
we're very fortunate and proud to have
this facility in the county, and I
remember the first time I I came over,
and uh
I think my my response was, "Well, this
sounds too good to be true." You know, I
was waiting, "Okay, there's going to be
a catch to this." And then I thought,
"Okay, how long a contract are they
going to have to enter into?" You know,
I was expecting a year or something like
that, but you know, 30 days at a time
there's they've they've taken away
really any reason not to try this uh
try this out and see if it's a fit for
them. So, uh
>> We have several adults that are trying
to care for their elderly at home.
They're trying to work a job and provide
that care.
So, we provide them that transportation
over here. They're under our care during
the day. We take them back home.
But just getting them to the doctors is
a problem. As an insurer, you might ask,
"We use Marshall County Hospital and
Baptist Health as our network."
Our one issue that comes up sometimes
people say, "Well, I don't want to
change doctors." Well, our primary care
doctor will be your primary care doctor.
However, we will pay for two visits a
year to your original doctor if you want
to go back and see him.
Why do we stipulate that our doctor is
your primary care? Because you would be
amazed at how many people come in with
how many meds
and there's no coordination.
And so, for you to get better,
somebody needs to be looking out at you
looking at your
uh health care plan on a regular basis.
We have a team that does that for every
member.
Uh I will brag a little bit on them in
January when the when the snowstorm hit,
they had a driver they called every
member every day to see if they had
their medications, they had food, if
they had heat.
That might not seem like a huge task,
but when you're senior living in an
isolated area of a remote county,
that's a pretty big and they had a
four-wheel drive and those that did not
have were taken care of.
And it got to where during the day by
the end of the week they were looking
forward to the call expecting a call
from Life Coordinated to check on them.
We often say we do that in our churches
and we try to care for people,
but it's hard to do that on a personal
level and to the point of medications
and the and management to that degree.
And so, uh
this is a this is a different option.
It's a different way of health care and
I hope it has a long future here in
Marshall County. I think it will. I
think it has a great opportunity in the
state Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Any other questions?
>> Is there Is there a phone number people
could reach out to?
>> There's one on the back of this
brochure.
Um and it's if you look at the brochure,
it's got a little funny number on the
corner. Every brochure we do is approved
first of all by CMS.
So, this number is the front desk over
at the Coordinated Center. My business
card is on there. Uh
I have no clinical skills and well, I'm
not uh neither am I an expert in
Medicare or Medicaid.
But, if you call, we'll get someone in
touch with you that can help your loved
one or someone you know do that. Uh we
are not a hard sale organization. When
you go through the seven-step process,
it's a pretty thorough review of
finances, everything that goes on in
your personal life before Medicaid
approves that. Eventually, the state of
Kentucky approves every member. So, you
can call my number, you can call the
number there on the brochure, but that
is one that uh CMS has approved for us
to use and uh somebody will be there to
answer it.
» Yeah, that that number is uh 855
209
5451.
And um
So, Keith, anyone can come in and tour
the facility at any time. Do they need
to make an appointment or anything like
that?
>> a little better. We like to know if they
can because obviously, and then what
I've trying to do is 4 days a week, I
try to have a have a tour and invite
some people through. So, Mr. Thorpe's
coming through tomorrow from the
Marshall County school system. You might
ask why.
Well, because they see families and
environments that we don't see.
Mr. Kurtner's been through. Uh Mr.
Cutsinger from the ambulance service, uh
the police, the fire department. Why?
Because they make emergency calls, they
see home settings for situations that
you and I might not see otherwise or
made aware. So, it's a referral process
and uh we're we're open to anyone. I I
would like to schedule as much as
possible. If you just walk up and knock
on the door, it's secure. You will have
to there have to wait there for the door
to get entry. But, if you can make a
schedule, I'd like to do that in an
orderly fashion where we can get you
through and let you see those
facilities.
>> Okay.
Anybody have any more questions?
>> Thank you again for your support.
>> Well, thank you for coming in and
sharing this with us. We appreciate it.
>> [clears throat and cough]
» Okay, under old business, I need a
motion to approve the minutes from the
August 4th meeting.
>> So moved.
>> Second.
>> Any discussion?
All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Any opposed?
Motion carries.
Uh ordinance 2026-05 budget amendment,
Mr. Pagel is going to give us a second
reading on that.
>> Okay.
Um
so, we're looking at increase of revenue
accounts, state grant $79,000, grant
fund cash balance July 1st $733,460.56.
General cash fund balance July 1st
$27,829.15,
road fund grant reimbursement $413,000
for a total of $1,253,289.71.
The increase of spending expenditure
accounts, park crumb rubber grant
project $79,000, Bryant Road FEMA
project $733,460
$56.
The Aurora Aurora packaging plant
$27,829.15
and paving $413,000
for a total of $1,253,289.71.
That's the second reading on this
17th day of August.
>> Thank you. Need a motion to approve and
adopt.
>> So moved.
>> [clears throat]
>> Second.
>> Motion second. Any discussion?
All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries.
Uh day use parks, unless anyone has
anything they want to add to that, I
think we'll just
postpone that, you know, after
I'm just talking my opinion here. You
all are certainly welcome to chime in.
I think we probably experienced
hopefully a one-time isolated incident
and think it'd be hard to put something
in place to
cover everything.
Unless we have
other problems.
Jason, you got any thoughts to add to
that?
Anybody else?
>> Uh,
yep. Good with that.
>> Okay.
I know uh
Andy had reached out to
some of the other facilities. I talked
to Josh at Moore's and uh
would just I guess if we have something
else come up, we'll deal with it then.
Okay, advertise for bids.
Uh, need a motion to advertise for a
road department truck. We had one that
was recently
totaled in an accident. Thankfully,
uh occupant was not injured.
» So moved.
>> Second.
>> Motion second. Any discussion?
All those in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries.
Flex funds.
Uh,
need a motion to approve and sign.
>> So moved.
>> Second.
>> Motion second. Any discussion?
>> Glad.
>> Yep.
>> I'm very glad. I want to thank Roy for
all of his work on that and uh I believe
we'll soon as I can get everything
coordinated. Correct me if I'm wrong,
but I believe we'll be using that paved
bill road.
>> That's correct. As soon as we get the
letter back when you all send that in.
>> They have gone in and replaced
uh all the culverts down through there.
I think there were 22 of them.
Get everything trimmed and ditched and
uh
so we're very excited to to be able to
do that. Our our flex funds come in a
little less than normal. We were
anticipating that, so uh
kind of is what it is, but we're very uh
appreciative for getting that and being
able to complete that project.
>> They're a billion dollars ahead, but you
know,
13 million behind on road funds, imagine
that.
>> Get
just give us
>> Anyway.
» All in favor.
» [laughter]
>> I've got a lot I could say, but I'm not.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh
Okay, did we have a motion on that
already? I think I said All those in
favor.
>> Uh
>> Any opposed?
Motion carries.
>> We're waiting on money to kick the
horse.
>> Yeah.
Uh let me see here.
Let me see if I got that letter up here.
I know you gave it to me.
Well, you gave it to me and I didn't
make it up here with it. Okay.
>> I've got it in front of me.
>> Oh, you do? Okay. Uh this next one is a
grounds policy. I'm just going to let
Andy read that to you real quick.
>> Sure.
Uh it's addressed to the fiscal court uh
from August 7th the other day.
Benton Benton partnership and Lake Kim
are hosting a harvest fest on November
7th, so it's still a few months out from
3:00 to 5:00, a 2-hour block on the
court square. Currently still in the
planning phase. We'll hope to have
activities on all four sides of the
court square.
Lake Kim's going to bring uh try to bring in a petting zoo and
would like to use some courthouse space
for this. Try to
clean up any mess they have when they're
done.
A couple of hours on November 7th. Uh
there's a number to reach out to at the
city of Benton. We can reach out to Beth
Cooper if we need to for more
information.
>> That would be courthouse lawn. I know I know you said courthouse, but that is courthouse lawn. I'm Well, not
in the courthouse.
>> not
The petting zoo, that would actually
save us some fertilizer, though.
>> It would.
>> Yes. And it might save mowing, depending
on if they got goats, you know, or
something.
So.
>> Weed eating cut out on the weed eating.
>> We did check with county attorney make
sure we didn't have any issues with
that.
>> I move we approve.
>> Okay.
>> Second.
>> Any discussion?
All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries. Mr. Pagel,
if you'd please notify Beth on that.
>> I'd be happy to.
>> Uh board appointments, uh need a motion
to postpone to the next meeting.
>> So move.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries. We have no
transfers today.
Um
need a I'll need a motion to pay the
bills. There is one bill uh we're going
to have to add to that.
And uh we got that all sorted out this
morning. And this is uh budgeted. It's
$125,000
uh
to
Miracle of Kentucky and Tennessee.
That's for the completion of the
playground.
>> So move.
» Pay the bills including that. Is there a
second?
>> Second.
>> Any discussion?
All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh
pertaining to the playground is complete. Uh we've got
fencing scheduled. Uh I think we're
still
couple weeks out on that. Once that's
done, we've got a little bit of uh
landscaping and curbing to do on the
outer perimeter of the fence.
And uh then we're going to do some side,
and we're working on uh getting things
in order on that uh retaining wall down
the side of that so we can add an
additional 15 or 20 parking spots. So,
it's still kind of a work in progress,
but but very excited to get the majority
of it done. The uh
first game of the fall season is 29th.
So, uh they'll be able to see that and
enjoy that while they're there. So, very proud of that. I think it's turned
out great. And uh
we'll keep moving on to the next phases.
Okay. Uh
let's see here.
Executive session.
Litigation, personnel, and economic
development. Need a motion to go in
executive session
to discuss those per KRS 61.810
1C, F, and G.
>> So moved.
>> Motion and second. All those in favor?
>> Aye.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries. We'll call
the meeting back to order.
Uh
pauper burial. All efforts have been
made to locate
family of the deceased. There's one
estranged family member unable or
unwilling
to pay for burial or cremation.
Excuse [clears throat] me.
The new Senate bill
SB 27 amends
KRS 72
450.1A
and allows the fiscal court to order
cremation or burial.
With that said, um
cremation amount
uh $750.
That
» I move we
uh
What what I I hate to
That seems like a crazy uh move to um
cremate
as this pauper burial.
» Second.
» And pay the invoice also. We'll go ahead
and include that.
>> Yes.
>> So, we can get that covered in the
bills.
>> Second.
>> Okay. Motion second. Uh I want to thank
our coroner, Kenny Pratt. He put a lot
of work into this as everything he does.
He's very thorough.
So, I want to thank him for his efforts
on this. So, I have a motion and a
second to uh
cremate and pay the bill.
>> Mhm.
>> All those in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed?
Motion carries. Just need a motion to
adjourn.
» I have a I'd like to make a motion to
give Judge Spraggs the authority to sign
a letter of support to join the state in
an economic development proposal
for project meteor.
>> Okay.
>> Second.
Any discussion?
All those in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries.
Uh
we got a lot of momentum right now
economic development wise. So, we should
have some really good announcements
coming soon. Appreciate everybody's
work, Elizabeth's work, and everybody's
on on getting these things done. Looking
forward to the announcements.
Okay.
Uh I just need a motion to adjourn.
>> So moved.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Motion carries.