The Harlan Fiscal Court discussed a new tenant for a county-owned building in Putney during a meeting on Tuesday.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley called on Harlan County Economic Development Director Larry Calhoun to update the magistrates on the status of the building.

“JRL Coal, we have a lease out for signature to them based on them creating 115 jobs, which they’ve done in this fiscal year which follows the parameters of the rental schedule,” Calhoun said. “They submitted their payroll for verification, and I verified it. Of 115, 110 were working within the county.”

According to Calhoun, since the company employs between 100 and 150 people in the county, the rental rate will be $3,150 per month.

“The lease is for 36 months,” Calhoun said. “Every Dec. 31, payroll will be submitted by them and the lease will be adjusted. If they went below that parameter they would go to a higher rent, if they go above the parameter they would get a lower rent. That’s the way it works.”

Calhoun added the only responsibility to the county would be the roof and exterior walls of the building.

“Their intent for the building – they’re in the mining business – they have a lot of equipment they have to work on and also they would like to rebuild equipment,” Mosley said. “They certainly have a lot of people working and have a lot of equipment that would need to be worked on. “

Mosley called on Harlan County Economic Development Authority Chairman Pete Cornett to inform the court of the EDA’s take on the issue.

“We approve of this unanimously,” Cornett said. “We think it’s a good thing, it’s tied to job creation.”

The magistrates passed a motion to offer a three-year lease to JRL under the parameters of the rent schedule. The motion passed with no opposition.

In other fiscal court activity:

• The 2018 budget for the Harlan County Sheriff was approved;

• The court accepted the sheriff’s receipts for 2017 gas property tax bills;

• The Harlan County Sheriff’s 2017 receipts for oil property tax bills, limestone sand and gravel property tax bills were accepted;

• Dane Ledford and Theresa Saylor were appointed to the Harlan County Extension Board for a three-year term;

• Casey Hendrickson and Cleon Cornett were reappointed to the Harlan County Tourism Commission for a four-year term.