Commissioners Begin Reversing Hardinsburg Dissolution After Lawsuit Settlement
- Jacob Dufour | Publisher
- Jun 3
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 10
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The commissioners meeting at the Washington County Courthouse on Tuesday morning took some unexpected turns, from heated debates breaking out in the gallery to a surprising turn of events in which the commissioners put the town of Hardinsburg back on the path to incorporation.
Citizen Lucy Brenton was the first to speak on the agenda and began by revisiting comments made by Clerk of Courts Stephanie Rockey during the May 20th commissioners meeting. “[Rockey] had said that the dissolution of Hardinsburg was started by some concerned citizens, was tabled for a while, then came back in 2021, when the calls started coming in again from a different individual,” Brenton began.
“Now, a really big part of the meeting last time was arguing about whether there were people who actually wanted Hardinsburg dissolved. So, according to Stephanie's own testimony in the previous meeting, an individual called, and that seemed to start the whole thing. I'd like to know who that person is, because that certainly isn't the majority.
“Now, Commissioners Ewen, Marshall, and [former 3rd District Commissioner Rick] Roberts have all made it seem like there were folks clamoring for the county to take over the town of Hardinsburg. There is little evidence to support this claim. Stephanie's own testimony said, 'an individual'. In fact, the opposite is true. A petition was circulated, and an overwhelming majority of Hardinsburg's residents wanted to keep the town alive and the county out.”
Brenton then brought up the results of a poll taken in a Hardinsburg Facebook group, where out of 58 votes, 80% favored reincorporation, 6% wanted to remain under county control, and 14% were undecided. She then proceeded to read into the record a letter from Attorney General Todd Rokita from April of 2023, which concludes:
“Since Hardinsburg was not established pursuant to law, but rather by law, the OAG believes that the appropriate means for dissolution of the Town of Hardinsburg is via repealing legislation from the General Assembly. While the county election board and commissioners followed statutory procedures to dissolve Hardinsburg, it is not clear that such procedures would be applicable to the Town in this situation.”
“I'm not mad at you guys – you just made a mistake,” Brenton concluded.
Next up on the agenda was Hardinsburg resident David Kolle, who asked the commissioners what they planned to do to take care of the roads in Hardinsburg in the event it stays unincorporated, stating that the county has neglected to remove snow from certain roads in the town this past winter.
“I'll respond to that,” Commissioner Todd Ewen began. “Hardinsburg is being treated no differently than Fredericksburg, or any of these other unincorporated towns. It would probably be a little difficult to go down there and find any potholes that you wouldn't find anywhere else. We have almost 900 miles of roads, and we have other responsibilities.
“I would like to put this to bed, about this snow removal you keep mentioning. The last snow we had, which was about 2-3 inches, and was pretty slick, I went down there personally that morning and drove around the town of Hardinsburg while our county highway department crew was plowing the streets – and by the way, we can't use a full-size tandem dump truck. We have to use a one-ton truck with a salt spreader on it, because the roads are so narrow. Some of them are nine feet wide.
“This area you keep talking about that did not get plowed, is an alley, and you were told several times that there is a tree growing off to the side of it,” Ewen continued. “And by the way, all those streets, three streets around this area where you live, are shaped in a 'U'. Both the exits and the entrances come out on Highway 150. Your alley splits those parcels in two. There's probably nine parcels there. And you know what? I noticed that all that was plowed, with the exception of your alley, which you were told several times that they can't get a truck down because they can't make the corner. And you know what else I discovered? Every driveway within that area with those eight or nine parcels is accessible to the roads we plowed. The only accessibility for the alley is the rear entrances of the residents. And you led people to believe that that was the only way that these people can get in and out, and that is simply false and you know it. I would be happy to drive down there right now and take as many people that want to go, and show them, and show the public, that what you're saying about plowing this alley and denying accessibility to these people is totally not true, and I'll prove it to you!”
“Well, I'll prove you wrong,” Commissioner Tony Cardwell interjected, “because his driveway is not accessible to anything other than the alley, and neither is two of his neighbors'. That is true, and I went to you [Ewen] when this all happened, and you said, 'did that alley get plowed prior to that?', and I told you yes, and you said, 'well, Mr. Kolle deserves to be paid back.' so I gave you instructions on what to do, then you reneged and lied and said you did not say that right in a public meeting! Did he not, Dave? And there's probably a couple other people sitting out in this audience right now that would admit to that. So don't sit here and patronize these poor people, because I know for a fact – I grew up here, I live around here – and his driveway is not accessible to anything other than the alley. And there's what, three other homes there, or two, that is not.”
Commissioner Phillip Marshall asked what the plan would be for Hardinsburg to be self-sustaining if the decision to dissolve the town was reversed, considering the low population and shortage of local funds. Kolle responded by stating that once the town board was re-appointed, they would again be eligible for grants from Community Crossings. “And as far as the roads and snow removal goes, they were already being taken care of by the town, so it wasn't an issue.”
“We were told that citizens weren't getting what they deserved,” Marshall replied. “That's why we made the move to do what we were told we had to do. As far as I'm concerned, you can have it back yesterday. But I've gotta go about the legal way of getting it back to you.”
“I appreciate your good intentions,” Lucy Brenton cut in from the gallery, “but unfortunately our Attorney General disagrees and says that you didn't have the power to do what you did.”
“We're having a meeting here,” Marshall replied. “If we didn't have a meeting, people would raise heck.”
“Well sure, because you're required to have a meeting,” Brenton replied.
“That's right, and the town of Hardinsburg needs the same things!” Marshall exclaimed. “Have meetings. Have open-door policies. Give the people – the taxpayers – the justice they deserve.”
“They think the town never had meetings,” Cardwell began. “But the town had meetings. You [Kolle] attended them, so did other people. Am I correct in saying that?”
“Yes,” Kolle replied.
“No, that is not correct!” Hardinsburg resident Stephen Coots interjected from the gallery.
“May I speak?” asked his wife Denise. “The original problem of Hardinsburg that was put into question back in the teens, was by a legal resident asking to attend town board meetings. The town board meetings did not exist.
“There were no town board meetings during that era. I don't care if there were minutes sent to the State of those town board meetings. They did not exist. There was proof repeatedly.”
“My wife and I attended every town board meeting [since they moved to Hardinsburg] except for three,” Kolle rebutted. “One because my wife's mom passed away in Pennsylvania and we had to go bury her, and two because of COVID shutdown. Every other month, there was a paper posted on that fire department where they had a meeting every single month, and we attended every single one of them for years before the town was dissolved.
“If there wasn't an official meeting, how did they sign up for Community Crossings grants, and get road work done, if they didn't go through all the steps to get approved for the grant?” Kolle argued. “How could they get a budget if there were no meetings?”
At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Cardwell made a motion to amend the agenda.
Attorney April Geltmaker explained the purpose of the amendment. “There is a pending lawsuit involving Hardinsburg PAC [a political action committee started in 2023 by Tony Cardwell] and the commissioners – I guess this is more for the public's knowledge,” she began. “For a couple years, this lawsuit has been pending, and there have been negotiations between the PAC and the defendants. It's more than the commissioners – it also involves the election board. There's been a settlement proposal, and all parties have preliminarily accepted it. What needs to happen today, is the commissioners want to move forward with that settlement agreement, which would include the county commissioners agreeing to repeal Ordinances 2022-8, 2022-10, and 2022-11 [the ordinances that dissolved Hardinsburg].
“In addition, the settlement provides that the commissioners will transfer back property belonging to the town of Hardinsburg that was deeded to Washington County, and the county will transfer back to the town of Hardinsburg its funds that may remain," Geltmaker continued.
“Washington County Superior Court will retain jurisdiction as needed for the town, should it need to file any requests. [These ordinances will be considered] null and void, and therefore the town of Hardinsburg goes back to the way it was prior to those three ordinances.
“Board, if you vote today to accept the settlement, this is first reading for your ordinance to rescind those three ordinances, and we'll come back in the next meeting [Tuesday, June 17th] to formally adopt the order to rescind.
So today, the Board is wanting to consider a motion to accept the settlement agreement.”
“I'll make that motion,” Cardwell stated, who then clarified that he resigned from the Hardinsburg PAC in January upon becoming commissioner.
“I'll second it,” replied Commissioner Marshall.
The motion passed, with Commissioner Ewen voting against.
With the commissioners accepting the lawsuit settlement and initiating the repeal of the ordinances that dissolved Hardinsburg, the town is now on course to regain its incorporated status. The final vote is scheduled for June 17 at the next commissioners meeting.
The Washington County Times is now completely free for everyone — no paywalls, no subscriptions, just unlimited access to local news. We believe journalism should be accessible to all, but it still takes time and resources to produce. If you value our work, you can support it with a recurring donation. Click below to learn more!
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