Whitley Co. Water District criticized for compliance issue

Whitley County Water District was found to be in violation of Kentucky Law for the failure to comply with the reporting requirements set forth in the Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS.

The water district had complied with all of the requirements other than keying the information into the designated computer system, said Andrew Meadors, chairman of the water board.

KRS 65A.020 was enacted in 2014. The new statue required special purpose governmental entities to enroll and use an online program to make their data available to the public.

The statue outline what the portal is, who is required to submit information, what information is required to be submitted, the policy to hold groups accountable if they don’t submit the information and the fee assessment for the registry startup and maintenance.

Meadors said the Whitley County Water District collected all of the required data and submitted it to the different organizations that needed it. It failed, however, to submit the data to the online portal. According to the notice of noncompliance from the Department of Local Government, the water district did not comply with The district was noncompliant with 2016 Amendments, YE Actuals; 2017 Registration and Budget Estimates, Amendments, YE Actuals; 2018 Registration and Budget Estimates.

“The auditor of Public Accounts has been notified and state funding for this entity will be withheld until further notice,” according to the notice.

The issue was addressed during the May 24 meeting of the water district board.