FISCAL COURT—Plans for a controversial business park in Madison County moved forward Tuesday as the Fiscal Court approved adding a 722-acre property on Lexington Road to an interlocal agreement for development.

The business park resolution was among several items approved on Tuesday, including "ASAP" grant funding and cooperative extension board appointments. 

Carr farm approved for business park 

The Court passed Resolution 2026-098, authorizing the Central Kentucky Business Park Authority to oversee the acquisition, development and promotion of a future business park at the site of the former Carr farm, one of the last large scale cattle farm properties in the county.

The CKBPA is the board appointed by elected leaders of four jurisdictions: Fayette, Madison and Scott counties, and Berea. The board came together in an interlocal agreement in Dec. 2024 to share industrial resources. 

An interlocal regional agreement established the CKBPA in October 2024 and laid out how the business park project would operate. Resolution 2026-098 created an amendment that allows the CKBPA to develop its second business park on 722 acres at 2494 Lexington Road in Madison County.

Construction began earlier this year on the CKBPA's first development, the Triple Crown Business Park in Berea.

The Resolution passed without discussion in a 4-1 vote. Magistrate Billy Ray Hughes (Dist. 3) voted no.

“I’ve given several reasons why I didn’t think this project was a good idea,” Hughes told The Edge after the meeting when asked about his vote. “I didn’t think I needed to belabor that point anymore. I think it’s just not a good idea.” 

County cooperative extension board appointments and ASAP budget amendment

The Court unanimously approved Resolutions 2026-094 and 2026-095 re-appointing Bethany Smith and Connie Baird, respectively, to the Madison County Cooperative Extension Board. 

Both Baird and Smith are currently members of the Board, with both of their current terms set to expire on Dec. 31. 

The Court also voted to amend next year's budget for the Madison County Agency for Substance Abuse Policy (ASAP) grant. Resolution 2026-097 brings the ASAP grant total from $40,149.12 to $60,149.12 The original budget resolution for the 2027 fiscal year was passed into effect on May 12. The amendment was recommended by the Madison County ASAP board.

County-wide broadband complete

A representative from Spectrum said the telecom company's five-year-long project to increase broadband internet access to 5,000 new homes, not including the miles of fiber already installed countywide, was complete.

According to Ben U’Sellis, Spectrum invested $12 million to lay 550 new miles of broadband, especially in more rural areas. The County invested $750,000. The rest of the funding for the project came from federal and state grants.

U’Sellis said this project has been a partnership between Spectrum and the County, involving monthly calls with County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor, Deputy Judge Executive Jill Williams and Chief Information Officer Chris Iseral. U’Sellis said these calls served as progress updates, and facilitated Spectrum's relationship with local utility companies.

“A large part of this project was attaching to utility poles throughout rural Madison County,” said U’Sellis. “More than 10,000 poles across the county we touched. That means those had to be designed, engineered, in a lot of cases replaced. We probably replaced 2,000 to 3,000 poles. So in addition to all this great fiber broadband infrastructure, you now probably have a more robust electrical grid running through rural Madison County.” 

Magistrate Tom Botkin (Dist. 4) addressed the importance of this project, noting that it is a side-effect of the pandemic. 

“You have to go back to 2020 to really realize what started all of this. We had kids at home that didn’t have the ability to go to a public library or some other place where they could get access to just do the simple things that they needed to do for their school,” said Botkin. “That’s what started all of this.” 

Other business 

The court approved Resolution 2026-096, which establishes the Fiscal Court meeting schedule for 2027. The schedule, along with the locations for each meeting, is attached to the resolution. 

The Magistrates also discussed insurance premium tax revenue. Taylor recalled when he was first elected in 2014 the county’s cash balance in all of its funds was $8.3 million. Now, the court sits at above $63 million, Taylor said. After a discussion, the Court decided to table further action until after a work session.

Deputy veteran award 

Deputy Kenton Humphrey was presented a Deputy Veteran Award by Emerson McAfee, a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1066, and Chief Deputy Sheriff Tony Terry during the meeting. 

Humphrey served in the US Marine Corps for four years. During his time he was recognized with the Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Sea Service Deployment and two letters of appreciation. 

He began working with the Sheriff’s Office in Sept. 2024, first in court security, and now as a deputy. 

The meeting took place on Tuesday, the day before Veteran's Day, McAfee said it was important to celebrate it. “[It]’s the day we celebrate those that were lost in war, those that have died since, those that are still with us serving, all veterans. We want to do what we can to celebrate their contributions to this country.”