Meeting of August 12, 2025

mind real quick. Make sure that uh we have those turned off. All right, let's begin. So this is uh August 12th, 2025, Harden County Fiscal Court regular voting meeting. So let's begin and call this meeting to order. — The roll call, please. — Squire Clem — here. — Squire Hicks — here. — Squire Muse — here. — Squire Pennington — here. — Squire Saltzman — here. — Squire Thompson — here. — Squire Whitehead — here. — Squire Yates — here. Judge Executive Keith Tall — here. Uh, next we have our invocation of magistrate muse and pledge of allegiance, magistrate saltsman. — Let's pray. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Dear lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for our many blessings. We thank you for this great country we live in and privileges we enjoy. We thank you for this opportunity to gather today to make decisions to improve our county.

Help this court to make fair and just decisions. Help us consider all alternatives and come together to make the best choice possible. No matter the outcome, may this fiscal court continue to work together to make this county and community a better place to work and live. We pray that you protect us all each and every day, especially our first responders and the service men and women that protect our country here and abroad. Jesus name we pray. Amen. — Amen. — Amen. — I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, I have a few comments uh today. Um again, thanks for joining us. It's good to see all of you. And uh so let's uh review the agenda. Fairly typical agenda today. We have um our minutes to be approved. Uh we don't have anyformational items as such. We have some department office reports to go

through today. Uh after that, we'll have some citizens concerns or comments if needed. And then we have um an ordinance and a couple of resolutions to approve. And then we have our consent agenda that I'll cover in more detail. After that, have comments and that'll be it. So that's the agenda today. Uh just a note um I guess um as far as our last meeting uh we didn't have the uh basically the approval by the president on a a public assistance for uh the flooding that happened back in April and it was just really uh hours after that that we finally received that approval. So, we do have that approval now and um that is big news and good news for uh the counties involved including our county with a lot of expenses associated with uh with with the damage that that we incurred um primarily on two roads and then uh other expenses associated with that. So, very happy that that that

has happened. Um we will um there's there'll be more about this as we as we get into one of the resolutions uh to get some help to move through that process. I just brought like the packet that's that several of of us uh attended uh recently last week and it's kind of a a thick uh little training here that we went through with our friends at FEMA and uh the Kentucky U emergency management. So they did a good job and went through all of all the process and all the things that you that you need to be aware of as you go through what you can and can't do. So, it's a pretty uh uh it was good training. Good to know. Uh we this this county hasn't gone through this process for a long time. So, we really don't have anybody here that's been here that long that uh remembers how how to go through this process. So, this this is good to know and just to let you know that we're we are doing the best to stay on top of this. Um, the other thing I wanted to mention was, uh, I received some information from our

state senator Madanine regarding this month as railroad crossing safety awareness month in Kentucky. And um just a little information about it. It's uh Operation Lifesaver is a nonprofit organization that provides free public education and awareness programs in states across the US to prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities on and around railroad tracks, and um highway rail grade crossings. Senate Resolution 39 provided for further education opportunities for young drivers as well as continued reminder for local municipalities and public work departments to focus on removing vegetation from railroad crossing signs and sight lines to improve visibility for all drivers. So, that's kind of a a a general um information about what this month is about and uh what started a lot of this. Uh some of you may remember that there was a young man that died at Craft Road Railroad Crossing in Rinville, Kentucky on April 28th, 2020.

And um so um the parent, one of the parents reached out and was concerned about uh maybe that there wasn't that there weren't any stop signs um at this crossing still today and that uh the vegetation uh in that area has has grown up some more since then and so asking for some help there. So in response to that um we are confirming that the specific crossing in Rinville is cleaned up and if it needs it and it and whether a stop sign is appropriate or not. Um what we have found out is what we can do at this moment is we can add railroad warning signs with a head. So a railroad sign with a head and so many feet from the uh the railroad um crossing and place signs on both coming from both directions. That's something that um that we are planning to do. What we uh need to do with the railroad

company uh because they do have the right of way uh so far uh off of the railroad tracks. uh we would ask them to trim back some trees because there are some trees that are uh uh not helping matters any at this particular crossing. Uh it wouldn't really take too much to improve that sight distance and to uh consider a uh moving it from a yield sign to a stop sign. That is also the decision of the railroad. Uh they they would make that determination. So, um, another things that we have asked them to do is consider adding flashing lights given at this intersection there's been two fairly recent crashes and uh, so even just got a note here right before the meeting. Um, got off the phone with P&L and they're going to check on these things and they're going to get back with us. So, uh, one thing it's difficult to, uh, twist the arm of the railroad companies. We have figured that out over the years. Um, but we will do our best to see what we can do to make some improvements

there at that location. In addition to that, kind of reaching out throughout the county and there are several crossings uh, on county roads that don't have um, you know, the flashing lights and the bars that come down. Uh so we're get a count of how many of those that we have. Uh do some assessments of what what those look like, if there's anything that we need to clean up. Uh additional mowing that we might need to do around signs, those types of things. And uh add those to our maintenance um system so that we make sure that we're checking on those more frequently uh and make them as safe as we possibly can. So that's kind of where we're at with that. Um, and so we're responding to it, trying to do some things on our part to uh to make some improvements with safety at railroad crossings. All right, I think that wraps up my comments. We'll move on to the uh next item of business, which is approve uh the Harden County Fiscal Court uh July 22nd, 2025 minutes. Is there a motion to approve? — So moved. — Second. Moved and seconded by Paty.