Meeting of January 27, 2026
Fiscal Court Meeting - January 27, 2026 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
Hardin County Fiscal Court – January 27, 2026
This meeting largely served as a storm-response briefing following a significant winter snow and ice event. County officials, including EMS, E911, and road department leadership, gave updates on emergency operations, response times, and community support efforts. Magistrates repeatedly thanked first responders, road crews, and community members for their patience and cooperation during the storm cleanup.
The Court approved the minutes from its January 13, 2026 meeting and passed the first reading of Ordinance 3443, which amends the fiscal year 2025-26 budget to account for over $700,000 in road repair expenses tied to FEMA public assistance, as well as anticipated FEMA reimbursement revenue.
A consent agenda was approved covering routine finance items, a resolution renewing Dr. Bell's contract as EMS Medical Director, several personnel resolutions, a social media policy update, and committee meeting minutes. Item F (coroner personnel resolution 12) was pulled from the consent agenda for a separate vote and passed separately, with Judge Tall recusing himself due to a personal conflict.
The Court decided not to hold a closed session regarding an employee termination matter, since the affected employee had not requested a hearing.
Magistrates used their comment time to highlight community support during the storm, remind residents of upcoming committee meetings (Emergency Services Feb. 12, Finance Feb. 17, Community Resources Feb. 18, Public Works Feb. 6), and provide updates on county office hours, landfill operations, and trash pickup delays due to weather. The meeting closed with a motion to adjourn.
Agenda (14)
- 1:08
Storm response and EMS run update
County officials discussed ongoing snow and ice storm response, road conditions, and closure of the emergency operations center while maintaining phone monitoring and warming centers. A commendation was read for two EMTs who responded to a call involving a young man with autism who had a seizure.
- 4:59
Approval of January 13, 2026 minutes
The Court voted to approve the minutes from the January 13, 2026 fiscal court meeting.
- 5:47
EMS department report
EMS director Mark Peterson gave a report on storm-related response numbers and December activity statistics, including call volumes, transports, and revenue collection compared to previous years.
- 8:16
E911 department report
Mike Leo presented the December activity report and year-to-date statistics for the 911 center, including call volumes, dispatch breakdowns, and multi-year comparisons.
- 13:26
Written reports from Planning and County Clerk
Written reports were noted as available from the planning department and county clerk with no further discussion.
- 13:34
Citizens concerns or comments
No citizens came forward with comments or concerns.
- 13:49
Discussion of closed session for personnel matter
The Court discussed whether to hold a closed session regarding an employee termination matter and decided to skip it since the employee had not requested a hearing.
- 15:04
First reading of Ordinance 3443 - FEMA budget amendment
The ordinance amends the FY2025-26 budget to account for over $700,000 in road repair expenses related to FEMA public assistance and anticipated FEMA reimbursement revenue.
- 16:34
Consent agenda review
The judge reviewed the consent agenda items including finance reports, claims, payroll, resolutions on EMS medical director, personnel matters, social media policy, and committee minutes. Item F was pulled for separate consideration.
- 19:33
Resolution 12 - Coroner personnel (pulled from consent agenda)
This item was removed from the consent agenda for separate discussion and vote; Judge Tall recused himself due to a personal conflict.
- 20:30
County attorney comments
The county attorney stated they had nothing to report.
- 20:33
Magistrate comments on storm response and community support
Each magistrate took turns thanking road crews, first responders, and community members for their efforts during the storm, and announced upcoming committee meeting dates.
- 28:53
Judge Tall updates on county operations and alerts
Judge Tall announced normal county operating hours, justice center delays, landfill schedule, trash route delays due to impassable roads, growth in social media followers, and reminded residents to sign up for emergency alerts.
- 32:13
Adjournment
The Court voted to adjourn the meeting.
Motions & votes (5)
- 5:05
passedApprove the Hardin County Fiscal Court January 13, 2026 minutes
unanimous roll call
- 15:59
passedApprove first reading of Ordinance 3443, amending FY2025-26 budget for FEMA public assistance road repairs
unanimous roll call
- 18:47
passedApprove the consent agenda with item F removed
unanimous roll call
- 19:32
passedApprove resolution 12 regarding coroner personnel
unanimous roll call, Judge Tall recused himself due to personal conflict
- 32:24
passedMotion to adjourn the meeting
Transcript (27 segments)
- 1:08
on a street and it doesn't feel like they've done a whole lot of um they haven't necessarily helped it that much, but they're doing what they can and just want everybody to realize that that your county government is working hard to make the roads as good as we possibly can and as quickly as we can. And if you think that the hard count is having the only ones having trouble, go out and look at some of the state roads. You know, they've uh they are having the same issues and the cities are having the same issues with this type of ice and snow mix. So that's where we're at right now. We'll continue to work on it. Our emergency operations center is the center itself. We are We're closing it down, but we still have several people that are monitoring any calls that may still come in there and they're picking those up on their phones to provide any help that we need. We can still open up and provide warming centers this week as temperatures get really cold. If you lost your heat for
- 2:21
some reason in your home, then you have just call at least to find some warmth. So, uh, we'll continue to do that throughout the week and provide as much help as we possibly can. Okay, so that's kind of an update on on the storm and where we're at right now. I'm hoping that we don't have a continuation and more snow coming our way. If it does, we'll address it and be ready for it. I did have one thing I wanted to help understand a little bit more about how our first responders many times go out of their way. Uh we had one run that uh in particular and we got a a note from the people that um that we responded to. I just wanted to just a quick note here. Um this is a mom. She's called she called and she
- 3:35
said that she called 911 for her son in Elizabeth Town yesterday and he had a seizure and fell in his garage. He's a young man with autism which adds another layer to an already challenging situation. She said, "I cannot say enough good things about the team that responded to that call. They were extraordinarily kind in his confusion coming out of the seizure. They communicated with my husband husband and me through the ring, bringing comfort to my heart since I couldn't get to him. I am so thankful and just wanted to share this." So, the the two uh EMTs that were on on that run, advanced EMT Timothy Hayes and Advanced EMT Daniel Clingman. And I just wanted to note that and I think that we need to be aware that these things are going on. And um I just appreciate those EMTs and along with all the other paramedics and everything that they did during this time uh regular runs and then those associated with the storm. Okay.
- 4:52
All right, we will turn then back to the agenda and move on to the next item. This is to approve the Harden County Fiscal Court January 13, 2026 minutes. I need a motion to approve. — So moved. — Second. — Moved and seconded. Any discussion? — Roll call, please. — Square Clim, — yes. — Square Hicks, — yes. — Square Muse, — yes. Square Pennington, — yes. — Squareman, — yes. — Square Thompson, — yes. — Square Whitehead, — yes. — Square Yates, — yes. — Judge Tall, — yes. Motion [clears throat] carries. — All right. Next up is um our department reports and we'll start out with EMS [clears throat and cough] Peterson. Good evening. — Good evening. — Give you a quick update about some of our responses during this. It won't take but a minute, but uh we made from 12:30 Saturday to 8:00 this morning, we made 109 responses. Of those 109, we transported 84 and we were cancelled on
- 6:04
25. So, uh not too terribly busy. A lot of that has to do with folks staying off roads like everybody asked. Um, and I'd say probably a dozen or so that were of those runs were directly related to the snow event. So, I have the December activity report for EMS. Um, we were dispatched on 1,389 calls. Um, 10 of those were transfers. Uh, 1,3791s and then 127 cancellations or non-transports. Totals for the year, we're down about 380 runs from this time last year. 7,970 911 calls, uh 7,913 responses, 57 transfers, and 804 non-transports. Here's a breakdown by our units and their stations. Um Etown trucks being the busiest and then Radcliffe, um the detention center, and then White Mills or West Harden Fire. Um we had one full month of squad 51 at West Harden Fire District. Um it made 62 [snorts] responses and the average uh response time for those 62 responses was 16 minutes and 18 seconds. A big change
- 7:17
from the 40 or 45 minute responses we received in that area. collection comparison, we collected 16, $617,45. And that puts our total for the year at 3.7, which is up about 266,000 from this time last year. And there's a look at our uh last three years uh revenue comparison for this time last year. As you can see, we're still climbing up. This time, I'll take any questions. — Okay. All right. Thank you, Mark. appreciate the report. Thank you. Appreciate all the work that you guys have been doing. — All right, next up, E911, Mike Leo. — Good evening. [clears throat] — I'm here to present the activity report for the month of December for the 911 center. And then we have some year-to- date data. 911 calls answered 45,170 9,536 CAD reports created answered 5,1
- 8:30
197 administrative calls dispatched EMS 1,400 times fire departments 411 times handled 247 attempt to serve prisoner transport and traffic stop type calls and 36,680 NCIC and link transactions calls for service agency for December EMS at 36% rank of PD at 26.5 sheriff's office at 19.6 you see the remainder of the agencies we provide dispatching services to their percentages there calls for service runs for fire departments town with 38% rack of 20.2 which is the remainder of the fire departments and their percentages there in the graph. Paul transfer secondary sites total calls 852 town police 637 Kentucky state police 215 the 2025 from January till now well till the end of December answered uh 51,2291 calls created 1,120,17
- 9:44
CAD reports 67,794 administrative calls dispatched EMS 16,255 times 4,993 fire runs handling 29,960 attempt to serve president of transport traffic stop calls 469,364 NCIC link transactions I'm probably going to mix some of these numbers up [laughter] This is a breakdown of the CAD events created from 911 calls 42.6% from administrative calls 32.4 selfinitiated events at 29 24.9 to breakdown of type of 911 calls we received 67.5% were emergencies. See 20 12.1 is duplicates. 6.7 no contact. 7.2 2 false calls and 6.5 non-emergencies calls for secondary sites. You see Etown