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Library Makes First Payment on Prevailing Wage Judgment

The Hopkins County-Madisonville Library is one step closer to resuming renovation on its new location after making a $28,000 dollar payment on its nearly $100,000 prevailing wage judgment.

When construction on the library’s new home began, Library Board President Carolyn Ferrell said the board misunderstood the prevailing wage requirements, which apply to public projects with budgets larger than $250,000.  

Ferrell said board and library foundation members met with Jerald Adkins with the Kentucky Labor Cabinet in Frankfort last week to discuss payment options for the rest of the bill.

“From Mr. Adkins’s information we gathered there are no penalties or fines going to be added to this amount,” she said. “This is just the amount owed to the workers, and that’s all that they want and it will be paid directly to the workers.”

Ferrell said the funds came from the library foundation. She added the board and foundation are looking into a bank loan or city or county-sponsored loan from the Kentucky Association of Counties or the Kentucky League of Cities to pay off the more than 69,000 dollar remainder of the bill.

Since the prevailing wage judgment, the library board has been working with the Labor Cabinet to pay the bill.

“We’re very appreciative of the fact that the Labor Cabinet is working with us on this and not attaching fines or penalties because it was not something we did intentionally and I think they recognize that,” Ferrell said.

Once the library secures a loan and pays the workers what they’re due, Ferrell said renovations should continue on the library’s new home. She said about three-fourths of the work is finished, and once renovations resume she expects the work to take about three months.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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