PSI Probation teams with county to build new fence

The Warren County Administration Building and PSI Probation aren?t just mending their fences, they?re completely replacing them.

The project will be a cooperative effort between county government and PSI, whose office buildings are located adjacent to each other on Locust Street, separated by a chain-link fence which is aging and overgrown with plants and tree stumps.

The fence was one of the items discussed at a meeting of the Building and Grounds Committee last week, also attended by County Executive John Pelham.

?We need to get somebody to clean that fencerow out and take that old fence down,? said committee chairman Carl Bouldin. ?Because the owners of that building, the PSI building, have agreed to put up a new fence if we?ll clean out the fencerow.?

Pelham pointed out only the short fence that bordered the drive between the two buildings would be torn down, and not the fence separating the back of the PSI lot from county property.

?We actually got that short section of fence cleaned out some this fall,? said Pelham. ?We had a young man that had to perform some community service work and I got him over here to cut all that out, but it?s still got tree stumps and everything else in it. It?s still a mess.?

PSI has already replaced the fence on the other side of its building, and Pelham says they have agreed to build a matching fence bordering the administration building.

?If you?ll notice over on the other side of their building they?ve put up a split rail cedar fence,? Pelham said. ?It?s up high where the leaves and stuff can blow through. It doesn?t catch trash.

Bouldin said the company had called him and offered to do the fence at the rear of the property as well, which Pelham said he was unaware of prior to the meeting.

?We?ll get this one done first,? Bouldin said. ?I just wanted to get a motion to get somebody in here and clear that out.?

Pelham said he would inquire if the county highway department could do the work, and if not, the county could rent a back hoe and let the county maintenance man do the work.

As for the back of the property, Pelham said there were some obstacles.

?The only thing about the one at the back is it has several huge trees in it that are still standing,? Pelham said.

?Maybe the best thing is just to clean that out some,? Bouldin said. ?We could probably get the approval to do that next summer.?

The committee voted unanimously to approve the project and the agreement with PSI.