Below is a brief take on some of the noteworthy actions and discussions at Tuesday, August 11’s Henderson City Commission and Henderson Fiscal Court meetings.
- Both the Henderson Fiscal Court and Henderson City Commission authorized a property purchase by the Henderson City-County Airport. The airport will purchase two plots, 3044 Corydon Geneva Road and 3048 Corydon Geneva Road. The money will come from airport reserve funds, said a joint resolution. Airport Director Emily Herron said the properties are adjacent to the midfield apron and will be used for future growth at the airport.
- The city commission and fiscal court also approved a memorandum of understanding between the Henderson Police Department and Henderson County Sheriff’s Office in which the agencies work together as part of HPD’s Emergency Response Team. According to the MOU, the sheriff’s deputies who are a part of the ERT would fall under the command of HPD. Additionally, the ERT will respond to calls in the county if requested by the sheriff, said the MOU. If responding to a call in the county, the incident must conform to HPD’s policy and will be handled according to HPD’s risk assessment.
- Henderson Municipal Power & Light will install a light pole at the corner of Clay Street and Green Street. The installation comes after a man died after being struck by a vehicle at about 11:30 p.m. one night in early July, according to a previous Hendersonian article. HMP&L General Manager Brad Bickett said the maximum spacing between light poles on city streets, most often, is 300 feet, but that lighting from other sources, such as stores or gas stations, also play into where lights go. The new light is going on the corner of Clay and Green streets on the side of the street where the Dodge Store is located. When this is installed, a streetlight in front of the new vape shop and the new one in front of the Dodge Store will be 295 feet apart, and the distance between the new one in front of the Dodge Store and a streetlight in front of Business Equipment will be 285 feet apart, according to a HMP7L document. There is also a streetlight on the corner of Green and Clay streets on the opposite side of the street.
- The Henderson City Commission approved a resolution for $20,000 funding to the Henderson Homeless Coalition. The funding partially supports the homeless coalition case manager salary.
- The city commission approved an agreement with the Henderson Tennis Club. In it, the city will provide $1,500 for youth recreational services and $59,519 to the club for improvements to the Doc Hosbach Tennis Complex. The agreement also says that $29,759.50 is subject to reimbursement to the city.
- Henderson Fiscal Court approved amending $1 million into the current budget. The money comes from the general reserve fund. The money will be used to pay a $275,000 incentive to Columbia Sportswear for reaching hiring levels, said Judge-Executive Brad Schneider. That incentive was included in last year’s budget but didn’t get paid, so money is needed to cover that in the current budget, Schneider said. Another incentive going to Rhythm River Distillery, which is to go into effect when it opens for business, is $150,000, Schneider said. And money is needed to cover that, he said, adding the distillery looks like it will be opening in the fall. Additionally, the county needs to pay its share of ambulance service fees to Deaconess Health Systems, which is a new agreement the county made with the hospital last year, the judge-executive said. He said the payment is a percentage of the loss the hospital takes for running the ambulance service and that amount is to be determined. The county budgeted $150,000 for this fee, but the amount it ends up owing could be substantially greater, Schneider said.
- Buzzy Newman, the City of Henderson’s assistant city manager, said the city will take a break on work on the Countryview subdivision drainage project. He said the work has been ongoing for ten years. The city, he said, needs to focus resources on a drainage issue that has come up on Wathen Lane. He also said that the work done on Countryview in the last fiscal year had a price tag of $583,000, which is over its $200,000 yearly budget. In previous years, however, the work at Countryview was under budget, including $79,000 in 2025 and $115,000 in 2024, Newman said.
