Meeting of May 12, 2026
Fiscal Court Meeting - May 12, 2026 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
Hardin County Fiscal Court – May 12, 2026
The court opened with roll call, invocation, and the Pledge of Allegiance before Judge Executive Keith Tall noted the historic White Mills Bridge has been closed after an inspection revealed safety concerns; further testing will determine next steps. The court then approved minutes from the April 27 meeting and issued two proclamations: one recognizing Period Poverty Awareness Week (May 11-17), highlighting the Pink Dot Project's efforts to fight period poverty, and one recognizing EMS Week (May 17-23), honoring first responders.
A public hearing was held on the use of County Road Aid ($1,872,330.42) and Local Government Economic Assistance funds ($284,400) for road construction and maintenance, but no members of the public offered comment. Department reports followed from Planning & Development (zone changes, building permit increases, an award for the Glendale small area plan), Public Works/Solid Waste (code enforcement, shredding events, landfill and recycling data), Engineering and Road Department (bridge funding, flood plain management, pavement and safety programs), and the County Clerk (early voting information and fee/commission revenue trends).
During citizens' comments, two residents spoke passionately about the need for stronger, sustainably funded fire and EMS services in Hardin County, urging the court to invest in future infrastructure such as the planned Glendale (Ford plant) EMS/fire building.
The court's most substantial discussion centered on the first reading of the FY2026-27 budget (Ordinance 347). Magistrates debated at length over funding priorities, ultimately approving a magistrate-amended version of the budget that cut roughly $1.9 million from the Judge Executive's original proposal — including a new Fire Services Deputy Director position, some cost-of-living increases, EMS equipment purchases, and funding for architectural plans for the new Glendale fire/EMS facility. Judge Tall expressed strong disagreement with these cuts, warning they could hurt service quality and employee retention, but the amended budget passed 7-1 (Magistrate Hicks and Judge Tall dissenting/opposing in different ways) and will proceed to a second reading in June.
The court also passed two other ordinances: the annual standing order pre-approving recurring expenses (Ordinance 348) and a second reading amending the FY2025-26 budget (Ordinance 344, Amendment 4), both passing unanimously. A consent agenda covering claims, personnel changes, E911 equipment contracts, and a BRIC grant application for community safe rooms was also approved unanimously.
In closing comments, magistrates reminded residents of upcoming committee meetings, the Pink Dot donation project, early voting deadlines for the upcoming primary, and community events like Glendale Springfest. The meeting adjourned with the next fiscal court meeting scheduled for May 26, 2026.
Agenda (15)
- 6:09
White Mills Bridge closure update
Judge Tall announced the historic White Mills Bridge was closed after a state inspection revealed safety issues; further testing will determine next steps for repair.
- 7:47
Approval of April 27 minutes
The court approved the minutes from the April 27, 2026 fiscal court meeting.
- 8:14
Period Poverty Awareness proclamation
Beth Eavy and Ann Fisher presented on the Pink Dot Project and period poverty statistics; the court issued a proclamation recognizing May 11-17 as Period Poverty Awareness Week.
- 15:00
EMS Week proclamation
The court proclaimed May 17-23, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week, honoring EMS providers; EMS Director Mark Peterson accepted on their behalf.
- 19:04
Public hearing on County Road Aid and LGEA funds
County Attorney Jenny Oldham held a public hearing on the use of County Road Aid ($1,872,330.42) and LGEA funds ($284,400) for road maintenance; no public comment was offered.
- 20:06
Planning and Development report
Adam King presented zone change cases, building permit and plat statistics, and an award received for the Glendale small area plan.
- 24:57
Public Works/Solid Waste report
Stephanie Gibbons reported on code enforcement cases, document shredding events, landfill tonnage, and upcoming free disposal events.
- 33:12
Engineering and Road Department report
Mark Absher reviewed bridge funding, flood plain management, pavement analysis, road safety reviews, and grant efforts, followed by road department slides on permits, signs, and paving.
- 42:01
County Clerk report
Brian Smith reviewed upcoming primary election voting details and fee/commission revenue trends for March and April.
- 47:30
Citizens concerns and comments
Two residents, Bill Mullins and Matt McDougal, spoke about the need for sustainable funding for fire and EMS services and investing in the county's future.
- 56:04
First reading of FY2026-27 budget (Ordinance 347)
Extensive debate occurred over magistrate-proposed cuts to the Judge Executive's budget, including cuts to a new Fire Services Deputy Director position, EMS equipment funding, and cost-of-living increases; the amended budget passed.
- 1:40:21
Adoption of annual standing order (Ordinance 348)
The court adopted the annual standing order pre-approving recurring expenses.
- 1:41:02
Second reading of FY2025-26 budget amendment (Ordinance 344)
The court passed the second reading and adoption of a budget amendment for the current fiscal year.
- 1:41:39
Consent agenda
The court reviewed and approved a consent agenda including financial claims, personnel resolutions, E911 equipment contracts, and a BRIC grant application for community safe rooms.
- 1:45:24
Closing comments and announcements
Magistrates gave closing remarks about upcoming committee meetings, the Pink Dot project, early voting, and community events before adjournment.
Motions & votes (6)
- 7:51
passedApprove the April 27, 2026 fiscal court minutes
unanimous
- 7:51
passedSecond reading and adoption of Ordinance 344, amending FY2025-26 budget (Amendment 4)
unanimous
- 58:17
passedFirst reading of Ordinance 347, FY2026-27 budget as amended by magistrates
7-1, Magistrate Hicks and Judge Tall voting no
- 1:40:27
passedReading and adoption of Ordinance 348, annual standing order for pre-approved recurring expenses
Moved by Klem · seconded by Saltsman · unanimous
- 1:45:01
passedApprove the consent agenda (claims, personnel resolutions, E911 contracts, BRIC grant application)
Moved by Yates · seconded by Saltsman · unanimous
- 1:51:10
passedAdjourn the meeting
Transcript (89 segments)
- 0:00
will begin momentarily. The Hardin County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. The Hardin County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. The Hardin County Fiscal Court live
- 1:44
stream will begin momentarily. — The Hardin County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. The Hardin County Fiscal Court live stream will begin momentarily. All of you here today, appreciate you
- 3:03
being here. Uh just check your cell phones, if you wouldn't mind. On vibrate and off. Helpful. With that, we'll go ahead and get started. Let's begin and call this meeting to order. Start out with our roll call, please. — Squire Clem. Here. Squire Hicks. Here. Squire Muse. — Here. Squire Pennington. Here. Squire Saltsman. Here. Squire Thompson. Here. Squire Whitehead. Here. Squire Yates. Here. Judge Tall. Here. Uh next we have our uh invocation, with Magistrate Thompson, and then the pledge of allegiance, Magistrate Hicks. I invite you to pray with me. Father God, we acknowledge you, creator of all things as ruler of all the earth. Thank you, Father, for that. Lord, we adore you. We pray, Lord, that uh our weakness strength will bear and prevail. We pray, Father, that uh you would guide our thoughts today.
- 4:18
Glorify you while we work. Thank you, Father, and we ask in Jesus' name. 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. Again, uh just want to thank everyone for joining today. See all of you and those that are watching on TV. Want to take a moment, review the agenda. Next, uh we will have approval of the last fiscal court uh minutes. Then, we will have a couple of uh proclamations. After that, we will have a public hearing. Then, we have uh several office report presentations. Next will be an opportunity for
- 5:32
citizens' concerns or comments regarding something on the agenda. After that, we have three ordinances that we will vote on today. Then, we have a consent agenda, which I'll go through and explain those items in more detail. After that, we have our typical comments and we will adjourn. So, that's that's the agenda for today. So, uh I just had one thing that came up this afternoon. Uh for those of you here from the White Mills area, unfortunately, we had a the White the historic White Mills Bridge has been shut down. Um we the state uh the goes around and checks bridges uh periodically and unfortunately, well, fortunately, they found it, but unfortunately, there are uh some issues with the bridge that make it unsafe. Uh this was a surprise. Uh this we have, you know, somewhere around 35 bridges uh on county roads in this county and this bridge was not on our list uh to be repaired or um some some it was one of the one of the bridges that we
- 6:47
were the most concerned about. So, um we asked the the bridge inspector and um she said, "Well, it's a old old bridge and this this happens." And so, that's all that's all the explanation we got, right, Mark? So, uh they are uh there's more testing that's going to be done and and uh so, we'll find out what the results of that and then we'll pursue uh any repairs. Uh hopefully, we can open it back up, but that doesn't happen very often, I don't think, once they shut it down. So, uh uh again, sorry for this inconvenience for those that live in that area of our county and I can assure you will will get uh to any kind of uh uh we'll resolve it as soon as we possibly can. All right. With that, we'll move on then to approve the Hardin County Fiscal Court April 27th, 2026 minutes and need a motion to approve. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? Hearing none, we'll have a roll call. Squire Clem. Yes. Squire Higgs. Yes. Squire Muse. Yes.
- 8:02
Squire Pennington. Yes. Squire Saltsman. Yes. Squire Thompson. Yes. Squire Whitehead. Yes. Squire Yates. Yes. Just all. Yes, motion passes. All right, next up we have a couple proclamations. Uh the first one is regarding period poverty and I'm going to ask if Beth Eavy and anyone else that's here uh wants to come up and uh explain that to us a little bit, enlighten us, and then after that we'll have a proclamation. Thank you. Thank you. Hi everyone. And Judge, thank you so much for doing this and the Fiscal Court, we really appreciate it. Um I'm here with my Heels Together uh fellow Heels Together investor Ann Fisher. Um we're here on behalf of the entire Heels Together Investment Fund um of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation and also Dr. Shannon Holt. For those of you that know her, she is um an amazing OBGYN in our community and um she came to us a couple of years ago and said um I'm seeing patients and they're asking me to stop their periods because they can't afford menstrual products. Um and she did some digging and realized it's a very real issue across the country, period poverty, um as well as
- 9:15
right here in Hardin County. And she had this vision of an initiative called Pink Dot that we launched in October of last year to end period poverty um here in Hardin County if we can. And we have these donation bins set up all over the community um to um for people to donate period products including um in our County Clerk's office. So we very much appreciate that. Um, but just the statistics, so you guys know, um, um, and I know some of that's in the proclamation, but two in five women struggle to afford period supplies. Um, one in four girls miss school because they don't have access to those supplies, and [clears throat] three in 10 women, on average, miss work. So, we're trying to, um, make a difference. I don't know if there's anything else you'd want to add, Ann? No, um, one thing that Dr. Holt um, also emphasized is the struggle of the cost alone, um, over a woman's lifetime will spend more than $35,000 in, um, period products, uh, through the course of their life. And another burden is these products are being treated as a luxury item subject