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Hardin County Fiscal Court

Meeting of May 9, 2023

Fiscal Court Meeting - May 9th, 2023 · Watch on YouTube ↗

Summary

Hardin County Fiscal Court – May 9, 2023

This meeting centered on the presentation and first reading of the proposed 2023-24 county budget, a balanced $59.77 million spending plan. Judge Tall walked through the numbers, noting that the county is relying on $26 million in annual hospital-sale ('legacy fund') revenue plus roughly $525,000 pulled from cash reserves to balance the budget after covering a 3% cost-of-living raise for employees, three new ambulances, and other one-time investments. Magistrates Saltzman and Whitehead voiced strong objections to using legacy funds to balance recurring operations, warning it sets a bad precedent for future courts, while Judge Tall and others defended it as a one-year necessity given inflation and flat tax revenue. The budget ordinance's first reading passed 7-1, with Magistrate Thompson opposed.

Other business included a public hearing on state road aid and local government assistance funds (no public comment), approval of the April 25 minutes, and a slate of department reports covering planning/zoning (heavy zoning activity tied to the Blue Oval SK plant in Glendale), engineering/code enforcement/solid waste (recycling, tire and shredding events, stormwater compliance), and the road department (paving progress, chainsaw safety training, storm debris cleanup).

The court honored student Ariah Clark as an honorary 'Hardin County Election Ambassador' for her poll-worker recruitment slogan work, and heard from West Point's mayor thanking county departments for their support.

The court adopted an annual standing order for recurring insurance expenses, gave second reading/adoption to a flood damage prevention ordinance amendment, and — after two closed sessions under KRS 61.810 exemptions — approved a resolution and agreement to pursue industrial revenue bonds for costs related to the Blue Oval SK project. A large consent agenda passed unanimously, covering claims, a road department truck purchase, a waste tire collection grant agreement, termination of a cleaning contract, and several personnel actions (EMS, coroner, E911, sheriff's office grant application).

The meeting closed with routine magistrate announcements (early voting dates, community events, recognition of committee work on the budget) and a final closed session regarding pending litigation, after which the meeting adjourned with no further business.

Agenda (16)

  • 4:46

    Public hearing on County Road Aid and Local Government Economic Assistance Funds

    County Attorney Jenny Oldham conducted a public hearing on the use of county road aid, municipal road aid, and local government economic assistance funds; no members of the public spoke.

  • 5:54

    Approval of April 25th minutes

    The court approved the minutes from the April 25th fiscal court meeting.

  • 6:29

    Poll worker recruitment recognition - Ariah Clark

    Student Ariah Clark and teacher Richard Roland discussed a poll worker recruitment slogan competition; the court presented Clark with an honorary title of Hardin County Election Ambassador.

  • 10:50

    2023-24 Budget presentation

    Judge Tall presented a detailed overview of the proposed $59.77 million budget, covering revenue sources, department expenses, use of hospital legacy funds and cash reserves, and future challenges like inflation and stagnant tax revenue.

  • 43:59

    Planning Commission report

    Adam King reported on board of adjustment variances, zone changes tied to Blue Oval SK growth in Glendale, permit statistics, and the comprehensive plan update process.

  • 51:31

    Engineering, Solid Waste and Code Enforcement report

    Stephanie Gibbons reported on erosion control inspections, code enforcement cases, recycling and shredding events, the MS4 stormwater permit, and upcoming waste collection events.

  • 1:00:00

    Road Department report

    Dwight Morgan reported on permits, road sign work, storm debris cleanup, paving progress (over 60 miles), and a chainsaw safety training class for staff.

  • 1:06:35

    Written reports (Animal Control, Emergency Management, Planning)

    Written reports were submitted for animal control, emergency management, and planning with no discussion.

  • 1:07:07

    Citizens concerns and comments

    West Point Mayor spoke to thank Hardin County departments for their support of the small city.

  • 1:08:23

    First reading of FY2023-24 budget ordinance (332)

    The court held the first reading and vote on the proposed budget ordinance, with discussion and objections about using legacy hospital funds to balance the budget.

  • 1:17:24

    Adoption of standing order for recurring expenses (333)

    The court adopted the annual ordinance pre-approving recurring expenses like insurance and grant payouts.

  • 1:18:39

    Second reading, flood damage prevention amendment (254)

    The court adopted the second reading of an amendment to the flood damage prevention ordinance, following a prior presentation by Alex Van Pelt.

  • 1:19:44

    Closed session and Blue Oval SK bond resolution

    The court entered closed session under KRS 61.810(1)(g) to discuss a business retention/expansion matter, then returned and approved a resolution for industrial revenue bonds related to the Blue Oval SK project.

  • 2:04:22

    Consent agenda

    The court approved a consent agenda covering financial transfers and claims, a road department truck bid, a waste tire collection grant agreement, termination of a cleaning contract, and various personnel resolutions.

  • 2:07:34

    Magistrate and official comments

    County Attorney, County Clerk, and magistrates gave updates on delinquent tax letters, early voting dates, community events, and thanked staff for budget work.

  • 2:14:53

    Closed session on pending litigation and adjournment

    The court entered a final closed session regarding pending litigation; no further action was taken afterward and the meeting adjourned.

Motions & votes (9)

  • 5:58

    passedApprove the April 25th fiscal court minutes

    unanimous

  • 1:08:23

    passedFirst reading of Ordinance 332, Series 2023, FY2023-24 budget

    7-1, Magistrate Thompson opposed

  • 1:17:30

    passedReading and adoption of Ordinance 333, Series 2023, standing order for recurring expenses

    unanimous

  • 1:18:42

    passedSecond reading and adoption of Ordinance 254, Series 2007, Amendment 1, flood damage prevention

    unanimous

  • 1:19:44

    passedMotion to go into closed session under KRS 61.810(1)(g) regarding business retention/expansion discussion

    Moved by Judge Tall · unanimous

  • 2:02:59

    passedMotion to end closed session and return to open session

    unanimous

  • 2:03:43

    passedApprove Resolution 2023-097, inducement resolution and memorandum of agreement for industrial revenue bonds for Blue Oval SK project

    unanimous

  • 2:06:30

    passedApprove consent agenda (claims, truck bid resolution 91, waste tire agreement resolution 92, contract termination resolution 93, EMS personnel resolution 94, coroner personnel resolution 95, E911 personnel resolution 96, sheriff's office grant resolution 98, and committee meeting minutes)

    unanimous

  • 2:14:54

    passedMotion to go into closed session pursuant to KRS 61.810(1)(c) regarding proposed or pending litigation

    unanimous

Transcript (76 segments)

  • 0:07

    okay well yeah good afternoon everyone uh welcome I just want to make sure I welcome all of our elected officials here obviously including our magistrates and everyone and all of our department heads that are here today appreciate all of you being here and of course all of the citizens that are interested in your County Government and all the services that we are providing so just a quick note before we start again to check your cell phones and see if they're turned off or on vibrate or something and uh this is the May 9th 2023 Hardin County Fiscal Court regular voting meeting so let's begin and I'll call this meeting to order all right so let's start with roll call Squire Clem Squire Hicks yes Squire Muse here Squire Pennington here Squire Saltzman here smart Thompson here Squire Whitehead here Squire Yates here judge tall here next we'll have our invocation by

  • 1:21

    Magister Chris Yates in Pledge of Allegiance by magistrate Larry Hicks if we can stand please Heavenly Father we come before you offering our thanks for bringing us together safely as we prepare for this meeting we ask that you would be with us may our thoughts be led be by you our conversations be inspired by you help us to put our own agendas to the side and seek your will and outcome for this meeting please grant us the wisdom in times of uncertainty and Clarity in times of confusion we also ask that you continue to watch over the men and women who are fighting to protect our freedoms at home and abroad in Jesus name amen congratulations to one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right just a few comments and then uh as you will go over the agenda real

  • 2:36

    quick it's a little different today than usual but again thanks everyone for joining us today and participating uh the the agenda um as you can I think we still have some copies up here if you're interested but um after I finished some comments we'll move right on into a public hearing after that we will um approve the minutes from the last meeting we do have a few informational items that we'll go through and then our department reports presentations by planning and engineering and road department and we have some written reports also and then we'll have an opportunity for Citizens concerns or comments and then today we have four ordinances slash resolutions to go through and before the last one that will before we vote on item d uh will go into a closed session and then we'll come out and vote on that then we'll have our consent agenda and vote on those items um we also I guess after that we'll have

  • 3:48

    the typical comments that uh that we'll have at the end uh however today we'll have another closed session that will go into um and whenever we come out of that our last item is really just a journey we won't have any more business after that closed session and that's what we've got going today the big theme today will be focused on a presentation I'm going to have on the budget and so this today will be our first reading of that and so that'll be one of our bigger items of the day okay um I guess at this time we do have a a public hearing so I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the county attorney Jenny Oldham to conduct this public hearing on road on County Road Aid and local government economic assistance funds thank you judge um today's hearing was published in the news Enterprise on April 29 2023 and the purpose of today's hearing is to gather

  • 5:03

    public input on the County's utilization of County Road Aid that's in the amount of for County Road Aid 1929 729 Municipal Road Aid in the amount of 178 708.67 and the local government economic assistant Fund in the amount of two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars so if there's anyone here who would like to provide comment on that you can come up to the podium and we'll hear that at this time okay seeing no one that will close the hearing thank you judge all right thank you all right next item on the agenda is to approve the Hardin County Fiscal Court April 25th minutes do I hear a motion to approve so move second second any discussion hearing none we'll have a roll call Squire Hicks here yes Squire Muse yes Square Pennington yes Squire Saltzman yes Squire Thompson yes Squire Whitehead yes

  • 6:16

    Square Yates yes judge tall yes motion passes okay let's move on into informational items and today we have the honor to have Ariah Clark as a guest today and she's going to talk some about poll worker Recruitment and advocacy so if you wouldn't mind come up to the mic and fill us in on exciting things that you've done you know tell us a little bit about yourself if you don't mind yeah yeah you can help her out my name is Richard Roland I teach at Craig social studies at JT hall for the last three years our school has participated in the Secretary of States uh slogan competition which he offers to middle school students the state of Kentucky for the last three years JTL has won this competition however this first year that the county clerk's

  • 7:31

    office has reached out to us with the potential of using sales level for the purposes of the November General and that is what we're looking forward to mountains very slow everybody and the Secretary of State's intention with this was that we need to recruit poll workers as Mr Smith has already pointed out we're going to increase polling locations we need workers there is no greater opportunity for this fiscal court or Euro's offices then this right here and to use this local and I hope that we're able to continue our partnership with the county clerk all right well thank you very much you have anything else you want to add no it's a fantastic slogan and I'll kind of turn it over to our clerk here Ron Smith well Ariah I am so proud of you I know your mom's proud of you your teachers proud of you your whole Community is proud of you um to carry on a tradition of keeping JT Alton in in the state Spotlight is a good thing for our community and yes we are going to we're going to use your slogans so often people will remember it more more than the slogans for a Coke and Nike and all that you're going to be

  • 8:44

    right out there with them but uh the Fiscal Court and I have a presentation we'd like to make to you if that's okay I'm gonna read this while I've got the microphones because you may not be able to it's picked up down here so uh this is on behalf of Hardin County Kentucky established 1792 in grateful recognition of your continuing service and support to Hardin County voters let it be known that Ariah Clark is hereby given the honorary title of Hardin County election ambassador thank you [Applause] foreign all right so next on the agenda is