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One of the side effects of the coronavirus pandemic is delays to construction projects because of office closures.

Tuesday, the Winchester Board of Commissioners approved a new agreement with Palmer Engineering to reapply for permits for the Fulton Road extension project.

Winchester City Manager Matt Belcher said the existing permits have all expired, and they have not been able to do the necessary title searches and surveys to acquire the final four easements for the project.

“It’s just delayed those,” Belcher said. “Palmer is moving ahead on the property acquisition process, which includes surveys.”

The deeds must be researched before the property can be surveyed, he said.

“That’s been delayed since we can’t get in the courthouse,” he said.

While the Clark County Courthouse remains open, offices are closed to public access for health concerns from the coronavirus.

“We’re trying to move things forward but the pandemic has slowed things down,” Belcher said.

The project, which has been discussed for decades, would connect two existing sections of Fulton Road and create a parallel route to Lexington Avenue.

A previous estimate for the project was at $1.4 million, but that was several years ago.

The final section would connect Professional Avenue to Fulton Road near the Quick Shop Trailer Park.

In other action, the commissioners:

— approved street closure requests for the Relay for Life and Rally4Recovery in September.

— approved the 2019 general permit compliance report for the Kentucky Division of Water.

— approved the first reading of a natural gas franchise ordinance which would establish a franchise fee of 3 percent, which is the same as other utility franchise agreements in Winchester.

— approved the first reading of $5.595 million in revenue bonds to refinance a Winchester Municipal Utilities project. Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner said the change would save the utility about $912,000.

— approved amended job descriptions for firefighters and police officers.

— approved amendments to the family medical leave act related to coronavirus.

— reclassified Jacob Jones from operator I to operator II.

— temporarily reclassified Rachael Boyd.

— terminated the employment of firefighter/EMT Paul Manning.

— accepted the resignation of communications officer Mesha Daniel.