The following is an edited text of Brad’s remarks on the State of the County, delivered July 28, 2022
It is with great optimism and confidence in the future of this community that we declare that the state of Henderson County is strong and the government that serves it is in the best financial and strategic position it’s been in modern history.
Through the diligence, expertise and dedication of the 200-plus team members who work directly for county government, or for one of the agencies we share with the city, the services our citizens expect from us are being delivered at a level of combined effectiveness, fairness, transparency, consistency and cooperation many longtime observers say they have not seen in decades.
In collaboration with Fiscal Court, our elected officials and department heads, we have:
- Managed the county’s finances well enough over the last six fiscal years to give our teams the proper equipment and training they need to best perform their duties;
- Improved their pay and benefits to acknowledge and reward their value to us and to the people of this community; and
- Bolstered our reserve funds to the point that nearly any disaster, unforeseen cost challenge or economic development opportunity are within our capacity to act upon immediately.
We’ve done all that without raising county property, insurance premium or occupational taxes a single penny.
That could not be possible without a spirit of shared commitment and shared goals from those who lead county government. In personality, professional experience, philosophy and political affiliation, the current court is the most diverse in our lifetimes. That has resulted in honest, spirited, respectful and open debate without the shadow of partisanship. And that has produced better governance.
The elected officials and department heads with which Fiscal Court works everyday are devoted to their jobs and the people of this county. They are recognized among their peers around the state as being among the very best in their positions.
Henderson County is fortunate to have them working for us.
The efforts of all those folks and their teams over the last year have resulted in numerous accomplishments and advancements that have benefitted county residents. The list is too long to recite completely, but here are some highlights:
The County Clerk’s team has helped spearhead the development of the voting center model for elections in Kentucky. These one-stop shop polling places are easier for voters to use and easier to staff.
The Sheriff’s Department has stepped up its efforts to recruit new deputies and now has a nearly full complement of officers, either in the field protecting you or training to get their full credentials. The Sheriff’s Department just recently completed agreements with the Henderson Police Department to collaborate on narcotics investigations, firearms training and active shooter response. Finally, the department even has a new police dog, Brix, handled by K-9 Officer James Eblen.
The road department managed the laying down of just over 24,000 tons of new asphalt last fall and moved 64,000 tons of material during the course of its work. Our parks department completed the walking trail at Sandy Lee Watkins Park, including finding and refurbishing yet another antique bridge. The recycling department sold a record number of commodities.
The detention center team continued to battle the COVID threat to its deputies and inmates, and while COVID nearly ended the jail’s community service program, the building that housed those activities is now being remodeled into a regional REAL ID and driver’s license branch which should be open soon. Henderson might otherwise have lost its local licensing office.
Our emergency management team jumped into action to help our fellow Kentuckians impacted by the tornadoes in December. Kenny Garrett, along with our coroner, our Sheriff’s Department and road department all pitched in at the disaster sites in the days and weeks after the storms. Our EMA office has now been tabbed by the National Weather Service to develop a county-level weather preparedness protocol that could be used by other communities across the nation.
The team in the judge’s office has worked through three different retirements to keep the trains running on time for the rest of the departments. We’ve completed major upgrades and repairs to the inside and outside of the courthouse. We’ve helped secure more than $600,000 in FEMA reimbursements to the county for past flooding incidents. We’ve received our sixth straight positive county audit, and for the third straight year the audit contained not a finding of any sort.
Our County Attorney’s office kept up their frenetic pace despite some turnover and retirements on their team and also provided key expertise in a complete review and update of both the county’s ordinances and its administrative code. Steve Gold’s crew collected $766,000 in delinquent taxes and $5.6 million in child support and arrearage payments.
Turning to the county’s economy, we are in the midst of one of the greatest periods of public and private investment in our community’s history.
Nearly $1 billion is being spent in Henderson County to create new jobs, new infrastructure and new prosperity.
You all know about the arrival of Pratt Industries. Henderson County government was proud to be a key partner in that project with the city, the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet, Henderson Economic Development, utility companies and all the other agencies that helped seal that deal. It was truly a team effort, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
But the good news extends beyond Pratt.
Just in the last six months we’ve celebrated new jobs and new investment at Columbia Sportswear, Ellis Park, Accuride and Sitex. Just this morning Hydro Aluminum announced it will invest $15 million more in its smelter here that should keep that facility employing Henderson Countians for years to come.
Right now in Henderson County jobs are plentiful, wages are up, home values are up. And there’s more good news on the way.
Within the next few weeks we expect to announce two more significant economic development projects that will create more than 100 good paying jobs and, in one of those cases, a major boost to our local grain farmers. For Pratt, Columbia and these two new projects, the county has committed $2.75 million in cash incentives. We did that because we could, and we now have the financial strength to compete for opportunities with larger communities.
We have major infrastructure projects on the way. The new Spottsville Bridge will be open for use within the next two months, and the beginning of construction on Section 1 of the I-69 bridge is a major victory for Henderson County and Western Kentucky. A small army of advocates in our state and in Indiana have worked for decades on I-69 to get to this point, and to see it actually come to fruition is both amazing and inspirational. Western Kentuckians really can do anything we set our collective minds to.
For years now another form of infrastructure, affordable high-speed internet service, has been missing for rural residents of our county. In 2021 we landed a $350,00 grant to help Watch Communications upgrade and expand its wireless internet options here, and those new technologies are now up and running.
But I have even better news.
On August 9, Kenergy, the primary electric co-op in this region, will announce that in partnership with a company called Conexon, it will officially move forward on building a cutting-edge fiber network that will provide every current rural Kenergy power customer connection to the internet at speeds up to 1 gigabyte per second and at prices that will match or even better those charged by other providers. The network will take a couple years to build out completely, but customers will not have to wait until the entire project is done to get access. Sections of service will be switched on as they are created. We will soon be getting more details on a preliminary timeline for Henderson County residents, and if a portion of the county’s $6-plus million dollars in remaining federal COVID recovery funds can help speed that timeline up here, we’ll be ready to spend that money.
Fiscal Court is also keenly aware that our county and its residents face challenges now and in the near future. COVID, inflation, supply chains, workforce shortages, housing options, child care, a potential recession – these are very real issues. Fiscal Court has helped where it could.
At the height of the pandemic, we gave $60,000 to the Henderson employee relief fund. Last year our first expenditures of federal grant funds were $300,000 to help local non-profits continue to provide their services to our community and even look ahead to projects that could perpetuate their missions. We gave $500,000 to Henderson Community College to help it offer training on advanced manufacturing technology so folks needing good jobs could get back in the workforce, or those needing better jobs could enhance their careers. And all of that is an addition to the $350,000 we budget each year for a variety of charitable organizations.
No matter what the world throws at us, we have confidence this community can adapt, improvise and overcome.
Here’s an example: From 2019 to today, the county has recorded a net gain of 391 new business licenses. Those are businesses with local addresses. Of those three and a half years, the 12-month period that had the greatest growth in new licenses was 2020, when the pandemic was at its worst. Instead of succumbing to lockdowns, many entrepreneurs became even more aggressive, and that spirit will help us power through any economic turbulence we experience.
To aid that effort, Fiscal Court will continue to shepherd its resources wisely and transparently so that we can provide relevant, effective services without placing undue burdens on the businesses and people of this county. We will respect and nurture our county employees so they can continue to serve the people of this community. And we will maintain our strong relationships with our friends at the city, local agencies, our neighbors in the region, as well as elected officials and government leaders in Frankfort and Washington.
We will do everything we can to keep the momentum going and assure Henderson County stays strong.
– Brad