By Abigail Roberts
A part-time employee of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter spoke to Fiscal Court magistrates Tuesday morning about the need for another full-time animal control officer.
Currently, the animal shelter employs one full-time animal control officer and three part-time employees.
Hunter Goodin said the shelter has received many complaints and he is working almost as much as the full-time animal control officer with none of the benefits. Goodin said it would help to have another full-time animal control officer to cover the county.
“It’s not that we’re trying to replace anybody or anything like that… it’s just more or less that I want somebody in there that is going to look out for the animals and care about the county and the residents and show respect to the citizens. We’ve had a lot of complaints,” Goodin said. “…things aren’t being done like they should be. I’ve done a lot of that job as you know. I’ve had a total of 45 911 calls this year alone…”
Lincoln County Judge Executive Woods Adams said the Hustonville Police Chief came to the last fiscal court meeting to discuss the same thing. Adams said the county’s current animal control officer is covering a large county and is on call all the time.
“Sometimes expectations are the animal shelter is like 911 and an officer, medic or fireman will show up,” Adams said. “There’s tough situations. I think the biggest obstacle we’re trying to cross is another full-time position is going to run…benefits, retirement, everything adds up. That’s one of the biggest things holding us back, is funding.”
Chief Deputy Michael Mullins said he and Sheriff Shawn Hines had discussed Boyle County’s recent decision to relocate the animal control department to the Boyle County Sheriff’s Office.
Mullins said it is something the fiscal court and sheriff’s office could discuss further but noted that deputies are already stretched thin. Mullins and Lincoln County Attorney Daryl Day said they would look into what authority animal control officers have and if they can legally write citations for certain crimes.
Day said one of the common misconceptions is that the owner of a dog can be charged if the dog does anything to something someone else owns, like if a dog kills a chicken, or a cat.
“We can only charge, primarily, if a dog bites a person or attempts to bite a person,” Day said. “There are certain situations if a dog kills livestock and there is a very specific definition for livestock – it’s basically horses, cows, pigs and sheep – but I get all kinds of people who come in and say ‘my neighbor’s dog killed my three kittens’ and I say ‘I’m sorry, I can’t charge your neighbor with a criminal offense for that.”
Day said there is a complaint process for nuisance animals which is in the county’s ordinance and is a three-step process.
“A lot of people won’t follow up on the three times,” he said.
Animal complaints are never-ending, Day said. He added there is a vicious dog ordinance on the books and it is available to the public.
Magistrate David Faulkner said handling animal complaints is an expensive service and the county is providing as much service to the issue that they can currently afford.
“Everything we do costs money,” he said.
Mullins said he will continue to research the authority of animal control officers.
“If the Sheriff’s Office were to absorb animal control under our umbrella, I wouldn’t be able to take a deputy off the road to handle a dog complaint,” he said.
Faulkner said the county would have to provide the resources.
“The best we can do is what we’re doing right now,” Faulkner said. “Things could get better, we don’t know.”
In other news, magistrates:
• held a public hearing for the 2026 property tax rates prior to the regular meeting. Magistrate Joe Stanley said he requests the court take the compensating rate to give taxpayers a break, specifically those who were subject to higher property assessments. Magistrate David Faulkner said the tax rate is lowering from the previous year, despite taking the four-percent revenue increase. Faulkner said if the magistrates don’t take the four-percent revenue increase, the county will fall behind and lose a significant amount of money. Magistrates voted 3 to 1 to approve the four-percent revenue increase (the rate will go from 9 cents per $100 of assessed value to 8.4 cents);
• accepted a reimbursement payment from the Office of Administrative Courts for the lease of the judicial center;
• accepted the Lincoln County Extension Office taxing district proposal to approve the 2026 compensating tax rate;
• approved a request from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to use the $26,000 received from insurance on a previous vehicle to purchase a fully-equipped, used Ford Explorer for $24,000 from a company out of Chicago;
Magistrates also heard from Chief Deputy Michael Mullins who said he recently attended an event hosted by Congressman Hal Rogers. Rogers has secured $20 million in funding for local law enforcement departments in the 5th Congressional District. Mullins said LCSO plans to partner with the Stanford Police Department to apply for grants from the Center for Rural Development. The funding is to help police department upgrade their communications equipment;
• heard an update from Lincoln County Clerk Nancy Jackson who said she appreciates the fresh parking lot at the Clerk’s Office. Jackson said the annual delinquent tax sale was scheduled for Aug. 26;
• heard an update from Lincoln County Daryl Day about the ongoing litigation regarding rezoning of property on Airport Road. Day said there were two lawsuits filed. The first lawsuit was dismissed and no appeal was filed. They appealed to the Board of Adjustments, who agreed with the Planning and Zoning Commission that it was a final action. Another lawsuit was filed and that lawsuit was dismissed last Friday. There is 30 days for an appeal. If there is no appeal, Day said he believes there will be movement to begin constructing a subdivision in the area;
• heard from Lincoln County Parks Director Kaycie Bandura who said fall football has officially started;
• heard from Lincoln County Chamber Director Jenny Maloney who said there are several local events coming up including the next downtown farmers market on Sept. 3; the next Music Fest performance on Sept. 5 featuring the Donovan Howard Band; the annual Patriot Day Parade on Sept. 11; and the annual Chamber Banquet which will be held on Sept. 15. Tickets are available, you can contact the Chamber for more information. Maloney said she is working on putting together a Meet the Candidates event possibly on Sept. 22. Maloney also said there will be a Car Cruise-In in Stanford on Sept. 18;
• heard from Lincoln County Public Library Director Jamie Helle who said the library’s tax rate hearing is prior to the next Fiscal Court meeting on Sept. 8. Helle said the library board is asking for the four-percent revenue increase rate to help counter the loss of a $65,000 grant. Helle said a new book vending machine is being placed in Hustonville, most of which was paid for through a grant.
• heard from Stanford officials who are exploring the idea of installing a Splash Pad in the city (Lincoln County Daily News will have a separate article on this later this week);
• heard from Linda Holtzclaw who thinks the Fiscal Court could benefit from a social media campaign to inform the public. Holtzclaw said the City of Stanford has been educating the public on the inner workings of the city and the cost of keeping the city’s services running and she thinks it would be a great thing for the Fiscal Court to do as well.
