HINDMAN, Ky. (WYMT) - A Knott County man has filed a lien on the county property he allegedly helped improve.

But the county attorney said the lien is illegal and criminal charges may be coming because it was filed.

Dwayne Stinnett said he and his son Travis filed the lien on the Knott County Human Services Center because they have not been paid for work they did on the building.

"We did a concrete deck and we tore all the concrete off," Stinnett said. "We used jackhammers and took it off and replaced all of it down to the point where it still needs to be sealed and drain pipes tied in on it."

Stinnett claimed he is owed nearly $20,000 by MRS, the company that won the bid for the project and subcontracted him.

But at Monday's meeting of the Knott Fiscal Court, county attorney Timothy Bates said the county's contract with MRS was void from the beginning because of a conflict of interest. Bates said that is why MRS is paying the county back nearly $60,000.

Bates also said Stinette's filing is bogus because a lien cannot be placed on county property.

"It is my opinion that filing is illegal," Bates said. "It is possibly even a crime for him to file something like that. And I am going to ask law enforcement to take a look at that and see if there is a crime committed by him filing something he knows is illegal."

Stinnett said the threat of criminal charges does not scare him and he just wants to be paid.

"As of today the job has not been completed," he said. "(MRS) collected in full for it. (MRS) never paid the bills for it. We've tried for the last three months to get the fiscal court and county attorney to try and do something with it."