Meeting of April 25, 2023
Fiscal Court Meeting - April 25th, 2023 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
Hardin County Fiscal Court – April 25, 2023
The court opened with reports from the coroner, sheriff, and county clerk. The coroner's office reported quarterly case data showing a continuing overdose problem; the sheriff highlighted storm response, a grant for new duty weapons and body armor, and a 99% property tax collection rate; and the county clerk gave an update on upcoming primary election logistics and vehicle/real-estate revenue trends.
Judge Executive Tall gave a lengthy update on the FY2023-2024 budget, explaining that ongoing operating expenses exceed revenues by about $19 million, though the county holds roughly $11 million in one-time funds (from the hospital sale, building sales, and payouts) that can't be relied on for ongoing operations. To help close the gap, he proposed rescinding future payments (about $7 million over three years) previously committed to the Baptist Health Foundation Hardin for a future YMCA, while leaving the $5 million and land already transferred untouched.
A resident, Bobby Alexander, spoke during citizens' comments urging the court to rescind the YMCA funding and cut spending generally. The court then adopted a flood-plain ordinance amendment (required to keep the county in the National Flood Insurance Program) and finalized a prior budget amendment covering sheriff and EMS overages.
The most contentious item was a resolution rescinding roughly $7 million in future YMCA payments. After debate — including a failed friendly amendment to limit the rescission to just 2024 — the resolution passed 6-3, with Magistrates Clem, Saltzman, and Thompson voting no, citing concerns about breaking a prior court's commitment.
The court closed out with a consent agenda (payroll, claims, personnel changes, equipment and camera system bids, and grant applications), all approved unanimously, followed by magistrate comments on community events, an upcoming planning and zoning vote on solar panel siting, and the schedule for the next meeting on May 9.
Agenda (14)
- 3:39
Call to Order, Invocation, and Roll Call
Judge Executive Tall called the meeting to order, County Clerk Brian Smith conducted roll call with all magistrates present, followed by invocation by Magistrate Saltzman and pledge of allegiance led by Magistrate Muse.
- 7:16
Approval of April 11, 2023 Minutes
The court approved the minutes from the previous meeting on April 11, 2023.
- 8:09
Coroner's Office Quarterly Report
Deputy Coroner Shayna Norton presented first-quarter case data showing overdose deaths remain a significant share of accidental deaths countywide.
- 11:15
Sheriff's Office Report
Sheriff John Ward reported on arrests, citations, storm response efforts, a train derailment in Glendale, a new deputy sworn in, and a roughly $77,000 Homeland Security grant for duty weapons, body armor, and tasers.
- 18:10
County Clerk's Report
Clerk Brian Smith covered upcoming primary election logistics, absentee voting deadlines, voter registration numbers, and a slight dip in March vehicle registration fees.
- 22:25
Written Department Reports (EMS, 911, Detention Center, Planning)
Written reports from EMS, 911, the detention center, and planning were made available to the public but not presented verbally.
- 22:37
FY2023-2024 Budget Update
Judge Executive Tall explained that ongoing expenses exceed revenues by about $19 million, described one-time reserve funds available, and outlined a proposal to redirect future YMCA payments to help balance the budget.
- 34:16
Citizens' Comments
Resident Bobby Alexander urged the court to rescind YMCA funding commitments and to cut county spending; County Attorney clarified the YMCA funds were not tax dollars but hospital sale proceeds.
- 40:52
First Reading: Ordinance 254 (2007) Amendment – Flood Damage Prevention
State floodplain manager Alex Van Pelt explained the need to update the county's flood damage prevention ordinance to reference new FEMA flood maps by May 22 to remain in the National Flood Insurance Program; the ordinance passed unanimously.
- 51:01
Second Reading: Ordinance 3296 – FY2022-2023 Budget Amendment #6
The court adopted a budget amendment covering about $450,000 in sheriff and EMS overages, funded by unbudgeted interest earnings.
- 52:29
Resolution 2023-088 – Rescinding Future YMCA Funding
The court debated and voted 6-3 to rescind roughly $7 million in future payments to Baptist Health Foundation Hardin earmarked for a YMCA, while leaving already-transferred funds and land untouched; a friendly amendment to limit the rescission to 2024 failed for lack of a second.
- 1:21:47
Consent Agenda
The court approved a consent agenda covering payroll, April claims, planning commission appointment corrections, EMS personnel changes, financial transfers, an emergency management vehicle purchase, detention center security system bids, an engineering contract for a Glendale fire/EMS building, a homeland security grant application, and committee minutes.
- 1:23:14
Magistrate and County Attorney Comments
Magistrates shared community updates including a band fundraiser, an animal control pet expo, a charity golf event, and a warning about an upcoming May 2 vote on rezoning farmland for solar panel development.
- 1:36:20
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned with no objections; the next meeting was announced for May 9 at 3:30 PM.
Motions & votes (7)
- 7:16
passedApprove the Fiscal Court minutes from April 11, 2023
unanimous, 8-0
- 50:25
passedApprove first reading of Ordinance No. 254, Series 2007, Amendment No. 1 relating to flood damage prevention
unanimous, 8-0
- 52:00
passedAdopt Ordinance No. 3296, Series 2022, relating to FY2022-2023 budget amendment number six
unanimous, 8-0
- 53:50
passedRescind future payments (approximately $7 million over three years) to Baptist Health Foundation Hardin for the YMCA under Resolution 2022-254, via Resolution 2023-088
6-3, Magistrates Clem, Saltzman, and Thompson opposed
- 54:31
failedFriendly amendment to limit the YMCA funding rescission to only fiscal year 2024, leaving 2025 and 2026 to be decided later
died for lack of a second
- 1:21:51
passedApprove the consent agenda items including payroll, April claims, appointment corrections, EMS personnel changes, financial transfers, vehicle and equipment bids, an engineering contract, and a grant application
unanimous, 8-0
- 1:36:20
passedAdjourn the meeting
no objections
Transcript (76 segments)
- 2:36
time to time to get started I just wanted to say before we start good afternoon and and welcome to all of you here today it's great to see so many people here and to be involved in their local government I do want to say welcome to all of our elected officials our magistrates and uh I don't want to go through and name them all here but there's quite a few out here and all of our department heads here I just appreciate all of you being here and so at that just again just a quick note about cell phones if you haven't thought about it you might want to turn those off or put them on stun or whatever you need to do vibrate so that we don't have that interruption okay so this this is the April 25th 2023 Hardin County Fiscal Court regular voting meeting so let's uh let's start our meeting we'll call the order call the meeting to order go ahead
- 3:50
um our County Clerk Brian Smith and go ahead and have the roll call Squire Clem Squire Hicks here Squire Muse here Squire Pennington here Squire Saltzman here Squire Thompson here Squire Whitehead here Square Yates here judge tall here so we're gonna have our invocation and our Pledge of Allegiance invocation by magistrate Kenny Saltzman and Pledge of Allegiance by magistrate Kenny Muse and if we stand to do that yeah your head's with me please father God we thank you for this time that we can be here today to do the business of our county father we pray that you would be with each and every one of us help us to make the right decisions for our County today I pray that you would be with our First Responders be with our military home and abroad father I thank you for each and every magistrate the judge executive here Lord I pray to continue to bless them and their families and just watch over us today help us to do what is right for you and for this County and father we pray that whatever is said and done today would glorify you in Jesus name we pray amen amen indivisible with liberty and justice
- 5:14
forever foreign okay so again I just want to thank everyone for joining us today and participating just a quick review of the agenda it's a few slight differences than what we've seen so far as we move on into well obviously we'll we'll approve the minutes as as the next item and then we have some informational items as usual some different departments and their reports some presentations some written we've also I'll go through and give a brief explanation of where we are with the 2023-2024 budget proposal and after that we'll have some time for any concerns or comments from any of the of you citizens that are here today that want to do that and then after that we will go into some ordinances resolutions we have three of
- 6:29
those to vote on today and then as usual we have a consent agenda that has some just some basic resolutions and things that need to be voted on we'll just do all those at once I'll go through and explain what they are before we vote on those and then we'll just end with some comments okay so that's our agenda we have a few extra I can see in the um in the container up here if anybody wants one of those you can you can grab it all right so um I guess uh what we need to do next is approve the Fiscal Court for April 11 20 23 minutes and so do I hear a motion to approve second second any discussion hearing none if we'd have a roll call Squire Clem Squire Hicks yes Squire Muse yes Square Pennington yes Squire Saltzman yes Squire Thompson yes Squire Whitehead yes Square Yates yes judge tall yes motion passes all right let's move on into our informational items and we'll start with
- 7:43
um our department in office reports so our first presentation is from the coroner and I believe you know look like Pat Elmore so you just want to introduce yourself to everyone sure my name is Shayna Norton I'm a deputy coroner here at the coroner's office today we'll be reviewing the first quarter report of the year for our office as you can see in January we worked 109 cases for Hardin County seven of them being accidents 96 of them natural and six of them suicides you see of the seven accidents five of them unfortunately were overdoses for the month of February we worked 76 total cases five accidents 69 natural and two suicides four of those accidents were overdoses for the month of March we worked 73 cases three accidents 69 natural and one suicide two of those accidents were overdoses for the four-year date comparison you
- 9:04
can see we are down one autopsy from last year cremations are significantly down from last year we have had no County cremations this year or last year as you see EMS did have to transport to back to the morgue of the first quarter and that was due to two cases going on at the same time so our transport vehicle was at another scene and we had to have EMS transport back to the office and then the coroner's office did transport 38 cases during the first quarter back to the coroner's office the last slide shows The Residency of the decedents and you can see at 43 percent were from Elizabethtown two percent from Glendale 22 out of Radcliffe five percent Vine Grove two percent Sonora one percent West Point nine percent the unincorporated and 16 from out of County and or out of state have any questions yeah and um I would say roughly probably
- 10:31
three percent of those um were not Hardin County residents they were other residents that came into the county and unfortunately overdosed here any other questions thank you very much thank you thank you Shane all right next is our Sheriff John Ward good evening judge magistrates clerk county attorney fellow Hardin County Citizens County officials and guests the February March Sheriff's Office activity report is as follows 158 arrest 283 citations 150 warrants served 781 civil papers 856 complaints 73 accident and accidents investigated 64 criminal cases opened and 2829 other activities 826 school safety checks 85 violation
- 11:43
warnings issued 1918 attempts to serve and office operations we had 83 records checks 302 Concealed Carry Permits issued vehicle inspections 1403. Court Transportation transported 48 adults to court six juveniles and 81 in-state transports next slide in this profession there's many things that we do and train for that we hope and pray that we never have to utilize this training and this is just a slide showing uh some of our school resource officers and active shooter training that they participated in here recently next slide as all of you know we've had some severe weather the last couple of months that that came through our County which compared to other states and other areas we were very fortunate uh one storm that we had the wind storm uh I think it tested all our local emergency services uh but everyone pulled together