Amending the Solar Ordinance
County Attorney Sharon Howard shown reading the amendment to the Solar Ordinance. Photo | PJ Martin
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
The Metcalfe County Fiscal Court held its first meeting of 2026 on Thursday, January 8th, with the following in attendance: Judge/Executive Larry Wilson, Magistrates Ronnie Miller, Daniel Bragg, Harvey Hawkins, and Kevin Crain, County Attorney Sharon Howard, and Treasurer/Fiscal Court Clerk Page Edwards.
Also in attendance were Financial Officer Connie Taylor, Occupational Tax/ABC Admin. Lorrie Gilpin, Sheriff Lonnie Hodges, Emergency Mgmt. Director Adam Bennett, Solid Waste Coordinator Kim Jandt, Road Supervisor Chris Compton, and Herald-News editor PJ Martin.
Judge Wilson declared a quorum present, and the agenda was adopted.
The minutes from the December 23rd special-called meeting were approved after motions by Bragg and Hawkins.
Next was a discussion of an amendment to the Solar Panel Ordinance # 25-1023. Attorney Howard explained, “So it’s accepting two more categories: that people that had already applied for the state, with the state, with a certificate of construction, or got an effective date from the signing board on electric generation.”
Bragg said, “This amendment is actually what we discussed, maybe sharing what we discussed this, but the wording was different, and the only thing that changed is from construction, physically it started, to having the license support approval, and it doesn’t. There’s only one project that falls in this category, a project that was that’s planned and had been approved in Summer Shade. So, we’ve actually already discussed this amendment.”
The motion to approve the amendment was made by Bragg, seconded by Crain, and approved.
On Monday, the Edmonton City Council voted to approve Ordinance 2025-26-04, giving the Edmonton-Metcalfe 911 Dispatch workers a shift premium of $1 per regular hour for 2nd and 3rd shift and a $1.50 per hour for overtime hours. The county pays half of the labor costs for the dispatch workers and agreed to the same pay rates for shift premiums after motions were made by Crain, seconded by Hawkins, and approved.
The magistrates voted to enter into a closed session per KRS 61.810(1)(b)-Property Acquisition/Sale at 9:07 a.m. and after approximately a half hour voted to return to open session. Upon return, Judge Wilson stated that no action was taken in closed session.
A budget transfer of $15,825.33 in ABC Program Support to the sheriff’s office was approved after motions by Bragg and Miller.
There were no interfund transfers, and the claims were approved after motions by Miller and Hawkins.
Justin Poland, Regional Political Director for the Andy Barr campaign for U. S. Senate spoke to those at fiscal court. Photo | PJ Martin
In other business, Justin Poland, Regional Political Director for Andy Barr, addressed the court, “I’m helping out Congressman Barr’s campaign for U.S. Senate. You know, we want to make sure we’re available to the elected officials and the community members. We care about the issues that you are facing. I’ll be doing outreach in the area. Anybody in the community or any of y’all need anything from me, go reach out in support of Andy Barr for U.S. Senate. Feel free to reach out at 270-590-0200.”
With no other item, the meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 22nd, at 9 a.m.
