Hardin County Fiscal Court hears updates

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the month Tuesday.

Hardin County Animal Care and Control Director Mike McNutt provided an update on July activity for the animal shelter.

“We adopted 49, which was significantly down,” McNutt said. “We returned 34, which was up.”

The live release rate at the shelter for July was 93 percent, with the cat live release rate at 96 percent. McNutt said animal control responded to 212 complaints, mostly relating to the heat.

Hardin County Jailer Josh Lindblom said inmates at the Hardin County Detention Center collected 1,304 bags of trash along 118.6 miles of county roads in July, a number that was down as they also assisted at the Hardin County Fair.

“Intake for the month is 456, release is 442, and average daily population is 600, with 561 on the physical count without temporary releases,” Lindblom said.

Hardin County Emergency Management Deputy Director Richard DeWitt said during the previous fiscal year the EMA office issued 53 emergency notifications and responses and staff completed more than 350 hours of training. Recent emergency preparedness efforts included the creation of a supply stockpile for the first 72 hours after a disaster and the placement of mile markers along the Rough River to assist in search and rescue operations.

DeWitt also said the office is working on developing a submission form residents can submit storm damage reports to.

“They can give us a little bit of information, and it comes straight to us, so it helps us get started into looking into areas for damage,” DeWitt said.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet August 25.