Local officials will hold
town meeting Friday
BY ALLISON EVANS
PRESS ASST. EDITOR
Crittenden County's USDA Service Center on East Bellville Street is scheduled to close as a result of a statewide restructuring prompted by budgetary cuts.
Crittenden's office was spared closure in 2005 during a previous restructuring, but now it is scheduled to consolidate with the Livingston County office with all
services moving to Salem.
The move requires the approval of NRCS's national headquarters and won't take effect for two years.
Still, local leaders are upset about the plan, and will hold a town hall meeting at 7 p.m., Friday at the courthouse.
The USDA Service Center provides various services for farmers and landowners. It administers government conservation and farm subsidy programs among a vast array of other things.
According to U.S. Census figures, Crittenden County has 698 farms and Livingston County has 518.
According to Kentucky's NRCS website, 41 county offices will be closed. In most cases, the office with the smaller workload will be consolidated into the office with the larger workload. That, however, is not the case in Livingston and Crittenden counties. A map of county-by-county workload shows Crittenden with a larger workload based on the number of applications in all programs.
By comparison, there are seven employees in the Marion office and five in the USDA office at the Tambco Center in Salem. Three FSA employee, including Susan
Champion, the district supervisor, spend time at both offices.
The Crittenden County USDA office houses the Natural Resources and Soil Conservation, Farm Service Agency, Crittenden County Conservation District and a
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources office.
The Kentucky NRCS website has this to say about the restructuring: “It is a good business decision. The plan matches personnel to workload, and budget. With reduced budget projections it’s a necessity.”
The website says eliminating 41 offices statewide translates into an annual savings of more than $500,000. The site says the intent is to get rid of “bricks and mortar” (offices) rather than employees. The restructuring plan calls for maintaining current personnel numbers.
“We need to keep it open,” said Beverly Herrin, Crittenden County Conservation District chairman. He said Marion is the center of commerce for Crittenden Countians and seldom do residents go to Salem for other business.
Herrin compiled a list of reasons the consolidated offices should be located in Marion, and they include the following:
•Crittenden is a larger county and has more NRCS employees.
•The office in Marion is large enough to house both the Livingston and Crittenden offices.
•Salem is not the county seat of Livingston, but Marion is the county seat of Crittenden.
•Administrative work has been performed for both Livingston and Crittenden counties’ FSA offices at the Marion location for the last seven years.
•There is no city police protection in Salem.
Herrin said he doesn't know whether someone is pushing closure of the Marion office or why the state decided to close Crittenden’s office.
“I suggested they close Livingston’s office, sending people south of the Cumberland River to McCracken County and the others to Marion, but that didn't go over at all,” Herrin said. “It didn't make sense to them.”
Herrin says bringing Livingston County's office to Marion would be less disruptive, as there are more agency employees in Marion than in Livingston County.
Ian Young, director of the NRCS office in Salem, would not comment on the restructuring. “We're just here, we don't have any say in it,” Young said.
Lois Jackson, public affairs specialist with the Kentucky USDA NRCS office in Lexington, said the restructuring plan does not specify exactly where in Livingston County the new consolidated office will be located.
“At the point that USDA is ready to advertise for new space to combine the two locations, we will evaluate exactly where in Livingston County the office would best serve the agencies,” Jackson said in an email to The Press. “The workload and customer service area of all USDA agencies is the determining factor.”
Asked why Crittenden's
office will be consolidated in
Livingston County since its
workload is higher, Jackson
said the state restructuring
plan also took into account
travel patterns.
Conservation districts,
according to the NRCS web
site, may remain in each
Kentucky county; however,
that is not financially possible
in Crittenden County
without support of the fiscal
court, Herrin said.
The conservation district
uses space within Marion’s
USDA service center and in
exchange provides employee
assistance within the NRCS
office.