Meeting of July 28, 2026
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Summary
Hardin County Fiscal Court – July 28, 2026
The Fiscal Court held a routine voting meeting, approving minutes from the previous session and hearing department presentations from EMS and E911. EMS reported over 1,400 dispatches in June and record annual revenue of $8.1 million, up 38% over five years. E911 reported thousands of calls handled monthly, noting a recent jump in workload from also dispatching for Radcliff Police Department.
A notable moment came during citizen comments when Sheriff John Ward briefed the court on a dangerous domestic violence incident the night before, in which a newly trained Special Response Team (SRT) safely resolved a hostage-style standoff after a shooting on Battle Drive. The suspect was found deceased of an apparent self-inflicted wound, and the victim survived and was released from the hospital. Magistrates praised the sheriff's office and the coordinated county response involving E911, EMS, and the coroner's office.
The court passed the first reading of Ordinance 347, Amendment No. 1 for the 2026-27 fiscal year budget, a roughly $1.2 million amendment driven mostly by EMS needs, including about $900,000 for new cardiac monitors, $55,000 for an EMS training grant, and about $160,000 for rubber modified asphalt funded by grant money.
The consent agenda, covering financial transfers, claims and payroll, personnel policy changes, a rapid response officer job description update, a paygrade classification plan change, EMS personnel changes, a homeland security grant application, and a cybersecurity training renewal, was approved after a brief clarification that one previously listed resolution had been withdrawn because it involved a resignation rather than a dismissal.
In closing comments, the County Clerk noted the county is preparing for the November general election with plans to add an early voting location pending state approval. Magistrates reminded residents about school starting soon, updated school bus stopping laws, and upcoming committee meetings, and the meeting was adjourned.
Agenda (10)
- 6:58
Call to order, invocation, and pledge
Judge Tall called the meeting to order, conducted roll call, and led the invocation and pledge of allegiance in the absence of Magistrate Pennington.
- 9:46
Approval of July 14, 2026 minutes
The court approved the minutes from the previous meeting on July 14, 2026.
- 10:31
EMS department presentation
Mark Peterson presented June and fiscal year 2025-26 EMS activity data, noting revenue reached $8.1 million, up about $1.3 million from the prior year and 38% over five years.
- 13:05
E911 department presentation
Mike Leo presented June 911 call center statistics including calls answered, dispatches by agency, and a five-year comparison of call volumes, noting increased workload from dispatching for Radcliff Police Department.
- 16:20
Citizen comments: Sheriff's Special Response Team incident
Sheriff John Ward described a domestic violence incident on Battle Drive where a woman was shot, and the county's newly formed Special Response Team safely executed a search warrant, finding the suspect deceased of an apparent self-inflicted wound.
- 22:22
First reading of Ordinance 347, Amendment No. 1
The court reviewed and voted on the first reading of a roughly $1.2 million budget amendment for fiscal year 2026-27, driven mainly by EMS equipment and grant funding needs.
- 24:00
Consent agenda review and approval
The court reviewed multiple resolutions covering financial transfers, personnel policy changes, EMS personnel changes, a homeland security grant application, and a cybersecurity training renewal, clarifying that Resolution 127 was withdrawn due to being a resignation rather than dismissal.
- 27:40
County Clerk update on November election
The county clerk announced plans to add polling locations for early voting and election day pending state approval ahead of the November general election.
- 28:28
Magistrate comments and committee meeting reminders
Magistrates gave updates on upcoming committee meetings, reminded residents about school starting and new school bus stopping laws, and praised the sheriff's office for the prior night's incident.
- 32:00
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned following a motion and second with no objections.
Motions & votes (4)
- 9:49
passedApprove the July 14, 2026 fiscal court minutes
unanimous roll call
- 23:31
passedApprove first reading of Ordinance 347, Amendment No. 1, Series 2026 fiscal year 2026-27 budget amendment
unanimous roll call
- 27:03
passedApprove the consent agenda items including resolutions 123-131
unanimous roll call
- 32:01
passedAdjourn the meeting
Transcript (25 segments)
- 0:23
The Harden County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. The Harden County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. The Harden County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. The Harden County Fiscal Court live
- 1:54
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- 3:24
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- 4:54
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- 6:23
stream will begin momentarily. The Harden County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. If everyone would check your cell phones, please, that might come in handy to uh not have that happen. All right. So, let's go ahead and get started. This is July 28, 2026 Harden County Fiscal Court regular voting meeting. [clears throat] So, let's begin and call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. — Squire Clem — here. Squire Hicks — here. — Squire Muse — here. — Squire Pennington. — Squire Saltzman here. — Squire Thompson. Squire Whitehead — here. — Squire Yates — here. Judge Tall — here. Next, we have our invocation. It's Magistrate Pennington, who isn't here. So, uh I'll go ahead and uh pray today.
- 7:38
And then the pledge of allegiance is uh Magistrate Whitehead. If you join me in prayer, Lord, thank you for the day. Thank you for watching over us and providing for us in so many ways, ways can't even imagine. Thank you. We thank you for this county. Thank you, Lord, for our first responders that are taking care of us in our times of needy. Be with them. Protect them. Bless them and their families. Watch over us during this meeting. I pray that we're able to conduct this time of this time to work together and of this county. It's pleasing to you. Again, we thank you. We praise you. Amen. — Please join me in the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag United States of America — and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. [clears throat] — All right. Again, thanks everyone for
- 8:52
joining uh today. Uh it's great to see all of you here and those of you that may be watching on TV uh streaming. Uh we'll go ahead and review the agenda. Pretty simple agenda today with um the approval of the last court minutes that we'll do here in a moment. We'll have a couple of presentations. We'll have a time for any uh comments, concerns from any citizens. After that, we do have an ordinance to vote on today and then we have our consent agenda that I'll cover all the items resolutions that are included in that. After that, we will have um our typical comment time and then adjourn. So, that's our agenda today. All right, with that we'll move on into uh the next item of business, which is to approve the Harden County Fiscal Court July 14th, 2026 minutes. Is there a motion to approve? — So moved. — Second. — Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. — Squire Clim, — yes. — Squire Hicks, — yes. — Squire Muse, — yes. — Squire Saltzman, — yes. — Squire Whitehead, — yes.
- 10:07
Yates, — yes. — Tall, — yes. Motion passes. All right. Next, we'll move to some uh department presentations, and we'll start with our EMS department, Mark Peterson. — Good evening. — Good evening. — Good evening. I have got uh our June activity report as well as our fiscal year 2526 activity report. June uh call data we um had 1417 total dispatches. Of those, 144 were 911, 13 transfers, and 129 nonvillable. collections from June. We finished June out at $738,932, [clears throat] up almost 100,000 from the year prior. Summary of our um call data this u call [clears throat] response data from 2025 versus 2425. Um pretty similar. Our 911s were down just a smidge, but about 136 runs and