Rowan Review - March 2026
March has been a big month for Rowan County, and we are excited to bring you some updates on how things have been moving along.
We’re going to share news about the new playground installed at the Harry T. Clark Community Park, and ask you to mark your calendars for the ribbon cutting on the new Senior Center in April, and a Sunday Funday in May. This is in addition to an update on the county budget, as well as other department updates.
We appreciate you for reading this newsletter. It’s important to be informed and involved in what goes on, and we hope that this newsletter which has now been running every month for the last six years has served as a resource for you in the community you call home. We’re trying out a one-article all-in-one format this month, please, let us know what you think about it!
PARK PROGRESS
In what may have felt like a surprise to some paying close attention, a new feature emerged from the ground last week out at the Harry T. Clark Community Park just in time for Rowan County’s spring break! A brand-new playground, complete with two play structures for both younger and older children alike, a climbing structure and swing set has been installed in a matter of days.
The new playground, installed and in use at the Harry T. Clark Community Park.
This much needed project, which is sure to bring enjoyment to our kids for many years to come, was only made possible by the contributions of the Holbrook Family and their friends in honor of the late Janie Holbrook, who was a pillar of this community and leaves behind lifelong legacy of caring about our young people. In addition, financial support was put forth by the Rowan County Community Fund, which has been lockstep with the Fiscal Court’s vision for this community park since the very beginning.
We sincerely hope that the community enjoys this new resource as well as the other pieces we’ve been working on, and we thank you for being patient as we “build the plane as we fly it.” The park has been a labor of love by all of those involved, and we think it’s reflected in the quality of work and craftsmanship that you see across those 150 acres. We want this park to be a place with something for everyone to enjoy, whether you’re a fisherman, dog owner, jogger, parent or what have you.
On that note, we will be holding our second Sunday Funday event at the park on Sunday, May 17 beginning at 1 PM. Expect to see food trucks, plenty of kids activities, music and just a great time. We plan to hold these every few months during the warm seasons and we hope this event will become a staple of your family’s summer festivities.
A photo from last September’s Sunday Funday event!
On that day, we will be properly dedicating this playground, the basketball, tennis and pickleball courts which were funded by Independent Stave Company, and holding a ceremony for Rowan County’s Liberty Tree which was planted as part of America’s 250th birthday.
We really hope to see you out there!
SENIOR CENTER
It’s been a long road to get to where we’re at today, but the seed first planted several years ago is finally ready to bear fruit. The Fiscal Court will be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony on the Rowan County Senior Center on Wednesday, April 22nd at 10:00 AM.
The new center located at 740 Clearfield Street is in its very final stages of construction and cleaning and will soon be ready for occupancy by our county’s seniors. Appliances and furniture are being delivered as this update is written, senior center staff are making preparations and crossing down their to-do lists, and we’re preparing for a fantastic day of celebration in Rowan County.
Our 6500 square feet facility will feature a main ballroom for daily meals and congregation, as well as dedicated fitness, game and activity rooms. A commercial cooler has been installed for food storage, paired with a great kitchen setup for preparing nutritious meals for our county’s senior population.
The Gateway Area Development District is responsible for the operation of all senior centers in the district’s five-county service region. In Rowan County, Senior Center Director Regina Thompson and her assistant Madison Whitt have worked extremely hard to create a welcoming and enjoyable environment for their seniors to congregate, visit with friends old and new, and generally enrich their lives.
Rowan County’s seniors are valuable members of this community. They’ve done their part to help build this place we call home today, and carry the wisdom and experience of that with them. It’s our hope that with this new facility, we can continue to expand our growing programs and touch the lives of the folks who helped make Rowan County what it is today.
PS: No photos have been included on the Senior Center intentionally. Check in with us next month to see it in its full glory!
ON THE ROADS
Without jinxing ourselves, we think we’ve plowed our way out of winter and are cruising our way through the springtime. As the birds return and the bloom begins, we’ve unfortunately found a lot of potholes left behind from the harsh weather we encountered and the salt we mitigated it with.
It’s important for you to know this. When we treat the roads with salt, a full event takes about 250 tons of salt scattered over about 300 miles of blacktop county roads. Each ton of salt costs a little over a hundred dollars, so you can do the math yourself on how much we hate to see the sky cloud up in the wintertime. But beyond that, on the other side of that equation - the more salt that hits the county roads; the more cracks and potholes you’ll find come springtime.
The new county salt barn we have been working out of for our first winter season at the new garage.
Last year, we procured a new Total Patcher pothole patching machine and had the opportunity to test it out on a few roads before the snow started falling. In our studies and testing, we have found the potholes patched with this new method to stay filled for much longer than other solutions. It holds up a lot better.
The Total Patcher pothole machine uses superheated asphalt emulsion oil and fine gravel in order to create the mix that fills a pothole.
All that is to say we’re about to kick our patching operations into high gear, and we’re aware of the potholes. Our plan is to keep that machine running every day we possibly can in order to catch up, so this is our way of saying, “Please bear with us, help is on the way!” If you’re a pothole, your days are numbered.
In other important road news, we had Bluestone Road closed on the Kroger end for a couple of months. It’s now open again, and we want to thank you for your patience and assure you we’re not done working there – we just wanted to make it passable again for your convenience and emergency service traffic. The slide is repaired, and after the rock settles properly, we’ll be going back over it with blacktop.
Speaking of blacktop, the plants should be firing up within days now. This should be an exciting year for us on the resurfacing front. If everything goes the way we think and hope it will, we are confident that we’ll be laying over $2,000,000 of blacktop across Rowan County this summer and fall. That’s more than we have ever laid before in a year, and it equates to two or three times the amount of asphalt being laid before this court was first seated in 2019.
Also, before we move on to the county budget, we can’t help but stress to you that mowing season is about to begin on county right-of-way. Some very important things to keep in mind:
First and foremost, the safety of our employees is top of mind. As you make your way down county roads during the day, please be mindful that a mower could be around the corner clearing the way. We want everyone to be safe and go home at quitting time, so please watch out for our guys.
We make three passes around the county each year and we’re already started on the first. With 350 miles of road to cut back, we keep two mowers going five days a week from the time grass starts growing until it stops. If we haven’t made it to you yet, we probably have not forgotten you, we’re just on the way!
Right-of-way. Please, make sure that yard signs or other property are not encroaching upon the county’s right of way. We don’t want to tear up your things or our equipment, so just be mindful of that and we would appreciate it.
A GREAT COUNTY BUDGET
Probably the most important job of the fiscal court each year is to create and pass the budget under which the entire county operates on. In Rowan County, our process typically begins in February, but sometimes as early as January, and involves the Judge Executive, Magistrates, department heads and staff projecting costs into the future, needs for capital and equipment upgrades. There are hundreds of lines across many funds, and it’s quite the complicated document when first confronted with it.
The biggest part is crafted by our County Treasurer Michele Jessee and her staff, Kala Blevins (Finance Officer) and Nicole Dulen (Payroll Officer). They work tirelessly to project personnel costs, liability insurance, rising material costs, general spending trends – pretty much everything under the sun is taken into account when crafting a county budget.
This year, of all the 120 counties in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky, Rowan County was the VERY FIRST to submit a budget to the Kentucky Department of Local Government, to which all Kentucky counties report their finances to and collaborate with closely.
It’s certainly an impressive feat, and a true testament to the skill and ability of Michele, her staff, the fiscal court and all those who have a hand in it. The second reading of this budget will be held on April 21, and following that we plan to release a more detailed dive into it. Prior to this passage, the budget will be posted at the front of the Courthouse for a period of no less than 10 days and advertised properly in the Rowan County News. You are also welcome to call us in the Judge-Executive’s office at any time if you have any questions, we are here to answer them.
Safe to say though, this is a healthy budget that adequately provides for services across all areas and disciplines. We think that 2026 is going to be a great year for Rowan County.