In a Tuesday morning update with the Christian County Fiscal Court, Christian County Emergency Management Director Randy Graham confirmed that FEMA efforts remain aplenty in the community — with the possibility of more help on the way.
More than 400 people, he said, have registered for assistance throughout the county, and of those 404, FEMA has provided at least than $1.9 million in relief.
The deadline to file for individual assistance, he added, is July 24, and for a critical reason.
Graham said denials can also come because of incomplete insurance paperwork or other administrative jams, and that a denial doesn’t have to be “the final answer.”
As for the two tornadoes on May 16, Graham said pickups are still continuing — with staging areas planned for burning all of the green debris set for a later time. Pickups, he said, should end in the middle of July.
Magistrate Russ Guffey and Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam offered updates on that cleanup, too.
In other court news:
— Christian Count Animal Shelter Director Melissa Goff noted May was a busy month in monetary donations, intake and adoption. More than 500 animals came in the doors, with 276 outgoing adoptions. Of those, 125 were dogs, 46 were puppies, 52 were cats, 48 were kittens, two were rabbits, two were guinea pigs, and one was a snake.
The Dog Days of Summer event, she added, brought in more than $2,500, with scores of donations coming from locals, as well as the district’s Dollar General Stores.
— Magistrates approved a resolution that clarified a deed easement for the Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport, which ceded needed nearby land to the strip.
Gilliam confirmed that the county first made these measures officials in 2022 under former Judge-Executive Steve Tribble, but reworked language from the City of Hopkinsville meant the need for re-adoption.
— Magistrates made their way through second readings of an amendment to the Transient Room Tax and Special Purpose Vehicles ordinances, and accepted a litany of other legislation, including: a change order on gutters for the Sheriff’s Evidence Building, some sharpened administrative and payroll code, the lease approval of five vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office (with subsequent trade-in on five vehicles), road department bids for petroleum/road materials/road tiles, and county attorney fees collected.
— Fiscal Court next meets July 8.
