Fiscal Court - Regular Meeting

The cities of Ratcliffe, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainageways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliff, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainage ways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliffe, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainage ways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliff, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainage ways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliff, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainageways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

from the counties and uh uh regarding jails and the um the the financial burden basically that that uh the counties are feeling and leaving every day for that matter. Um, so I was um able to go and make that presentation today. It was in front of about 30 senators and and House representatives. We had three judge executives that that presented and one magistrate. And the purpose really was just to educate uh those on this committee uh about the jails and the difficulties that the counties are are um having financially because of the high price of jails. And so we were able to do that. Um and I think the one of the points I I believe that we were able to get across is that this is not just a you know a minor little thing but this is a crisis. It's a financial crisis. So I I think they felt that at at the end of this presentation. Uh just a couple of statistics and then I'll move on. Uh there's uh our our jail 646 bed jail uh 28 years old. Uh it's about 500 inmates right now and one big statistic is 183 of those are pre-trial state detainees and um so these are ones that the county is paying for um until they go to to trial. Uh because of that our jail expenses are at $11 million $11 million in this

budget year. Uh the revenues are at $5 million. So you do the math, $6 million. $6 million that um that there's a deficit and a subsidy that this court and your tax money has to pay. That's $6 million. Subsidy is about 50% of all the money that comes in from the property taxes. So you can kind of see that this is unsustainable and that was one of the points and and some of the senators and representatives that were there made that comment after after we finished u our our presentations that it was unsustainable. So I think um result I don't know yet but I hope that this is a first step that uh the state will provide some relief in some way to help the counties uh because the other counties were all different size budgets but the jail was about approximately 50% of their property taxes of all the different counties. So, um, anyway, I just wanted to kind of fill you in to let you know that that had happened and I I hope that we can continue to have the discussion and, uh, that there will be some out good outcome in this, uh this next

judge legislative year. Yes, sir.

I just want I watched it online. I just want to say that you did a very good job laying out the case for the county and I certainly hope they pay attention to the facts and especially Representative Meredith's solution which yes I think gets to the bottom of the of the pile. Yeah, there was a solution that u uh representative Meredith uh proposed and I think he actually tried to put through the last last year or two years ago and u it didn't go anywhere then but u I think with some of this discussion uh that we had today and other discussions are ongoing uh KO is is has made it a priority this year so there will be a lot of discussions with with the uh legislators and hopefully there'll be more success And I I believe some of the things that Representative U Meredith brought up were legitimate u possibilities that could really help us. Thank you. Okay. Uh moving on, I did want to um just uh let everybody know I think everybody already knows that we have a new communications officer. He's in the room and uh Brian Walker and he's right there. if you haven't had a chance to uh get to know him or talk with him, uh please reach out to him and uh he's uh on he's wrapping up his second day of work. So, uh he's getting to know the county and getting around to all the different departments and going through an onboarding process right now. Um he's I think naturally inquisitive, so some of his meetings have gone long, I think. Right. So, uh, but we're very, very excited about him, uh, coming on and, uh, you know, Quicksley's lost our game. So, uh, feel free to call him, contact

him, and, uh, get to know him. Um, I did want to say even though that u that Paty had it in her prayer, uh, I did want to mention such a significant event in our country and and just take one minute to talk about it briefly as a reminder for all of us. And so that let's just take a moment to remember Charlie Kirk. uh he's he's a a bold voice for truth, a devoted husband, uh and a man who gave his life to a mission greater than himself. At just 18, Charlie founded Turning Point USA, igniting a movement to awaken young Americans to the values of freedom, faith, and personal responsibility. Through his speeches and podcasts and relentless energy, he became a leading force in conservative thought, never backing down from the cultural battles he believed mattered most. But Charlie was more than a political leader. He was a man of deep Christian faith and he was guided by the words of Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." He didn't just quote that verse, he lived it. And Charlie's legacy calls each of us to live boldly, think deeply, and love our country and our creator without apology. May we honor him, not just in words, but in action. So, I would encourage all of us to remember Charlie and and uh what he stands for and especially his family right now in our in our prayers. Okay, so that uh wraps up my comments today and so we will move on to the next item and that is to approve the Harden

County Fiscal Court uh September 9th, 2025 minutes. Um I'll entertain a motion to approve. So move. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll have a roll call, please. Squire Clam. Yes. Squire Hicks. Yes. Squire News. Yes. Squire Pennington. Yes. Squire Saltzman. Yes. Squire Thompson. Yes. Squire Whitehead. Yes. Squire Yates. Yes. Judge Executive Keith Tall. Yes. Motion passes.

Okay. Next uh is our public hearing. Uh this is a lease agreement with Flex Financial and this will be conducted by our county attorney Jenny Olden.

Thank you judge. Um today's hearing was uh in the news enterprise published September 17th, 2025. The purpose of this is to take any public comment regarding the purchase. Uh the department of local government requires any purchase um over or lease over $500,000 that be advertised and that we have a hearing to accept public comment. So, this concerns the $882,000 lease over seven years for equipment for EMS. So, if anyone has comment or input, you can step to the podium. Seeing none, that will close the hearing. All right. Thank you, Jane.

All right. Next, we'll move on to our department presentations. The first one up is EMS, and that's Mark Peterson, our director. Good. Good evening. Sorry. I have the August 2025 activity report for Harden County EMS. Excuse me. Call data. We made uh we had 1,331 dispatches. Of those 1,322 were 911, nine transfers, and 152 cancellations. There's our numbers year to date. Uh 2,700 dispatches, 2,683 911, 17 transfers, and 305 cancellations or no needs. Chart from Mr. Salsman here. Breakdown of all our responses by area. Um the leaders being squad 1, four, six, and seven. All based out of Etown in different areas. Then the Radcliffe ambulances and then some more. Look at our collections. Um, we're up from this time last year at 619,470, increase of about $115,000. And then this is a comparison to our run volumes to our revenue for August. And then our fiscal year today uh collections are at uh 1.2 to and some change up about $256,000 from this time last year. And then again, a comparison fiscal year to date uh for revenue versus our responses. And then I'd like to invite everybody to come out October 11th to our trunk or treat uh held at uh EMS station next door. This is an annual thing that we do. There'll be lots of fun and candy, um firet trucks and tow trucks and all the things. So come out, bring your kids

and have a good time. At this time, I'll take any questions. All right. Thank you, Mark. Thank you. Appreciate it. Right. Next up, 911, uh, Mike Leo.

Good evening.

Good evening. here to present the activity report for the 911 center for the month of August. So 911 calls answered 4,42 10,598 CAD reports created. We answered 6,26 administrative calls. Dispatch ambulance service 1,352 times, fire departments 432 times, handle 2,486 attempt to serve prisoner transport and traffic stop type calls. This graph just shows a breakdown of calls for service by agency showing EMS 31.7% racked 29.8 sheriff's office 21.2 and the other agencies the percentage you can see there calls for service by fire departments e 41.6% 6% rcliff 18%. You see the remainder of the fire departments we dispatch for in their percentages. Calls transfer to secondary sites. Total calls transferred 742 678 to Etown police and 64 to Kentucky State Police. That is all I have. You have any questions for me? Short and sweet.

All right. All right. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate that report and all the work that you and Mark do in this county.

All right. Next on the agenda is a time for any citizens concerns or comments. Step up to the mic if you want to. Judge, my name is Brian Dennis from the Liztown Lions Club. I just wanted to publicly come here and say thank you. We are currently celebrating our 84th anniversary. We were founded in 1941 and we wouldn't have been around this long without the support from this entire county. So on behalf of the club, we want to say thank you.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. Anyone else? All right, we will move on then and we uh have a time for close session. I move to um to go to close session pursuant to KRS61.8101F discussions or hearings which might lead to the appointment, discipline, or dismissal of an individual employee. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Square Clim, yes. Square Hicks, yes. Square Muse, yes. Square Pennington, yes.

Square Saltzman, yes. Squire Thompson, yes. Squire Whitehead, yes. Square Yates, yes. Judge Judge Executive Keith Tall,

yes. Motion passes. The cities of Ratcliffe, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainage ways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliff, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainage ways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliff, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainageways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water.

The cities of Ratcliffe, Elizabeth Town, and Vine Grove, as well as Harden County, are coming together to help manage pollutant runoff and its environmental impacts. As rain runs off of surfaces, it can come into contact with pollutants such as oils, trash, chemicals, and pet waste that will eventually end up in our recreational and drinking water sources. Harden County and its communities are fortunate to have an abundance of lakes, streams, and surrounding natural areas. Help us protect our waterways, pick up trash and pet waste, report unusual substances in drainageways, and pick up chemical and oil spills. For more information on how you can improve water quality in your community, contact us. Remember, if it's on the ground, it's in your water. We're back in session now and we will move on and we will um look at this uh through our resolutions and ordinances. The first one up is resolution 186 related to approval of E911 personnel. Is there a motion to approve this resolution?

Some move. Second. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll have roll call, please. Squire Clim. Yes. Squire Hicks. Yes. Squire Muse. Yes. Squire Pennington. Yes. Squire Saltzman. Yes. Squire Thompson, yes. Squire Whitehead, yes. Squire Yates, yes. Judge Tall,

yes. Motion passes. All right. Next one up is the first reading of ordinance number 344-2 series 2025, amending fiscal year 2025 2026 budget. And this is amendment number two. Uh this is uh a $1.2 $2 million amendment. It's primarily primarily for EMS uh ambulance upgrade equipment uh that we'll be voting on here pretty soon. So, uh that's the biggest chunk of it. And there's also some road flex funding and bridge um replacement funding also. So, is there a motion to approve this uh ordinance?

So, moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Square Clim, yes. Squire Hicks, yes. Squire Muse, yes. Squire Pennington, yes. Squire Saltzman, yes. Squire Thompson, yes. Squire Whitehead, yes. Squire Yates, yes. Judge Executive Keith Tall,

yes. Yes. Motion passes. All right. Next thing up is the first reading of an amended ordinance number 254 series 2007. Uh this is in regard to flood damage prevention ordinance uh October 2025. Um the change in here is on page uh 11. It is uh in the section of substantial improvement definition and uh there is one sentence item C that is being removed and that's the uh I believe the only change that we're voting on today. Uh I need a motion to approve this ordinance.

So move second. Moved and seconded. Did you get the second? Okay. Uh any discussion? Hearing none. We'll have roll call, please. Square Clim, yes. Squire Hicks, yes. Squire Muse, yes. Squire Pennington, yes. Squire Saltzman, yes. Squire Thompson, yes. Squire Whitehead, yes. Squire Yates, yes. Judge Executive Keith Tall,

yes. Motion passes. And then finally, we have a resolution 182 and it's related to approval of a lease agreement with Flex Financial, a division of Striker Sales LLC. It's for $881,73946, 7 years lease. Uh again uh a reminder this is for six power load systems, 10 PowerPro XT CS and five Stair Pro stair chairs and their maintenance for these years. Is there a motion to approve this resolution? So moved. Second. Did you get those? Yes.

Okay. Um any discussion? A roll call, please. Square Clim. Yes. Squire Hicks, yes. Square Muse, yes. Square Pennington, yes. Squire Saltzman, yes. Squire Thompson, yes. Squire Whitehead, yes. Squire Yates, yes. Judge Executive Keith Tall, yes. Motion passes.

Okay. And then finally, we have our consent agenda today. I'm just going to review those items in the consent agenda. The first three kind of the typical financial items, financial report, uh September claims and um August payroll and with registers and then also I'll throw in item K which is uh resolution 190 and that's related to approval of some financial transfers. Item D which is resolution 179 is related to approval of street and drainage ways within Rosie Tulip section two in the Harden County road system. Uh this was presented to us by Adam King and the uh these roads meet our standards. It's about a,000 ft of road. Uh item E is approval resolution 180 related to to the approval of uh the I work u service agreement renewal and again this I work uh software it helps us manage our facility assets um our GIS geographic information systems storm water capital asset management uh bunch of stuff so um this is a 15,000 500 renewal for one year. Item F is approval resolution 181 related to approval of the RAVE contract renewal. Uh again, most of us should know about RAVE by now, but that's a public notification system and it's a $15,000 uh renewal. Personnel are the next three uh 183, 184, 185 dealing with personnel of animal control and EMS and the road department. Item J is uh resolution 187 related to approval of agreement with time clock

plus. Um and this is for E911 and EMS. It's about $17,000 or so for and this is basically for a scheduling program that ties in very nicely uh with our time clock and our payroll. And then the last four items LM and O are our uh committee meeting minutes. So, um, does anyone disagree with or want to remove any of these items?

Doesn't sound like it. So, we will um need a motion to approve the consent agenda items. So, move. Moved. And who was the second then? Second. Okay. Um, let's go ahead and have roll call. Squire Clem, yes. Squire Hicks, yes. Squire Muse, yes. Squire Pennington, yes. Squire Saltzman, yes. Squire Thompson, yes. Squire Whitehead, yes. Squire Yates, yes. Judge Executive Keith Tall,

yes. Motion passes. Okay. Um, we will move on then to our comments. Um, does our county attorney have any comments? I don't. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Our county employer replacement. Okay. And wishes that uh Mr. Smith will feel better. I believe he's sick right now. All right. Move on to magistrates. Magistrate Yates. I just want to welcome Brian Walker to the team and um remind everyone that our next emergency service committee meeting is Tuesday, uh October 7th at 3:30 p.m.

All right. Thank you, Maggistrate Saltzman. Yes, sir. Um I just want to say uh September the 11th, 2001 changed our country forever. That day should never pass without remembering the souls we lost and the devastation to our country. Harden County government did not remember. and as a member of this court, I sincerely hope that that never happens again. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Magistrates Whitehead.

Yes. Thank you. Uh welcome, Brian Walker. Good to have you on the team and um looking forward to working with you um as I have in the past. So, uh glad to have you here. Also, I want to um announce that the resources and community support committee meeting is Monday, October 20th at 3:30. Thank you. Thank you, Magister Clim.

Our finance committee meeting will be October the 21st, 3:30 across the hall. And our town hall forums coming up October the 27th at 5:30. Again, I want to remind everyone that's on a Monday night, not the normal Tuesday night because of conflict with the fiscal court. And u also our our community recognized the the work of Charlie Kirk on last week and had a visual. It was very well done and just want to commend our magistrate Larry Hicks for his comments and participation. It was very well done. A great servant and who will leave his mark on this nation and the world u for ever how long this world exists and remind the folks please don't drink and drive and don't text and drive.

Right. Thank you. Magister Pennington, no comments, sir. Magistrate Thompson, no comments. Magistrate Hicks.

Uh, yes. I kind of I appreciate Fred saying that and I just want to thank the all the people that came together and and put this prayer vigil together Thursday night. It was it was a great night. There was roughly 650 people there and it was done very well. Uh, I appreciate all the speakers that we had. It was a just a great night and I wish everyone could have been there because you really missed it if you wasn't. So, thank thank everybody for that. All right. Thank you, Magistrate Muse.

Just a reminder, the next public works committee meetings October the 8th, 3:30. All right. Thank you. And of course, I'll remind you of the next fiscal court. It's Tuesday, October 14th at 3:30 p.m. right here in this room. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Second. Any objections? Hearing none. Meeting is adjourned.