The Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum Thursday morning between Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen and his Democratic challenger, Rod Kuegel, during its monthly Rooster Booster breakfast at the Owensboro Convention Center.
Kuegel told the audience during his opening remarks that he entered the race out of concern that the next generation of Daviess County children and grandchildren “wouldn’t have the opportunities we had here” and they “may be forced to move away because of a lack of opportunity.” He cited a recent Kentucky Leadership job growth report that showed Owensboro-Daviess County grew at minus 1.5% over 10 years while the state grew at 10%.
“That’s just not acceptable,” said Kuegel, who put much of the blame for the poor numbers on a lack of cooperation between city and county government, which he said state officials have noticed. He said a state official told him, “we want to put (businesses) somewhere where governments get along, where they have commonality, communication, collaboration, and have a vision for their community.”
“Understanding what he told me remained the cornerstone of this campaign, to assure that we build strong relationships between our governments, our commissioners, our judge-executive, our mayor, our city manager.”
Castlen opened by telling the crowd he learned the value of “hard work, treating people right, and faith” while growing up on a small farm near Stanley. He said he is “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and pro-family,” and that he was “proud” of the accomplishments Daviess County Fiscal Court has achieved “under his leadership” during his first term as judge-executive.
“Undeniably, the best economic development news in many years: $414 million invested, 727 good-paying jobs, and the lowest property tax rates since 1975,” Castlen said. “Countywide broadband has been completed, we have a brand-new senior center, strong financial backing for the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office and the Daviess County jail, the RNG methane to clean gas project is completed at our landfill, a solid repaving schedule for our county roads, we passed an ordinance banning junk papers tossed in driveways and yards, and we have new pickleball courts, restrooms, and shelters in our parks, and a more conservative board for our library.
“But the work is not complete, and that is why I’m here today.”
The candidates gave opposing views of what the role of judge-executive entails, with Castlen believing the position encompasses two distinctly different roles.
“I’m the judge when we sit in fiscal court meetings and an executive, CEO of the county, the rest of the time,” Castlen said. “There are many, many decisions that are made in the course of the day that I don’t have time to call the fiscal court and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ I had to make the decision. And many of them are very time sensitive.
“The way that we are structured, there are certain things that are done and handled by the CEO, and there are other things that go to fiscal court, and those are the items that the fiscal court members vote on.”
Kuegel, meanwhile, sees the position more as being one part of a group effort.
“I want to make a team out of our fiscal court; I want to make a team out of the county commissioners,” Kuegel said. “I want us to communicate. I want them to know everything I know. You elect them, they are full-time. They’re not advisors, they’re your commissioners. We’ll work together, put the court on a straight and narrow path and a path that we can do in unity.”
Kuegel returned to his view on city-county government cooperation being critical to economic success when the candidates were asked how they would grow and strengthen the business community.
“In the past, in our history, we have always had joint ownership between the city and the county on industrial property, on opportunity, and now we have an industrial park that only the city owns because the county didn’t want to participate,” Kuegel said. “We’ve got to clear that up. We’ve got to make Frankfort understand that we work together. We’ve got to be partners in everything we do here in Owensboro and Daviess County.
“We also need to clean our place up. We have to beautify this place. When somebody comes to visit our community, it’s like the first date, and that first date makes an impression, whether it’s a person visiting as a tourist or somebody that comes in looking to create jobs or bring a business. We have to look like we’re open for business.”
Castlen noted the amount of land in Daviess County has not and never will change, but that fiscal court took action to make properties more available for economic development ventures.
“The reality is, what I did, and the leadership that I had, is we opened the gates to where, if you were on any of the major road corridors, it’s easier now to rezone that to industrial,” Castlen said. “So if you’re on Highway 431, 231, 81, 56, 54, and the rest of them, 60 east and west, it is now easier to rezone those to commercial. … I look forward to additional growth in our community.”
When asked their top priority for improving the quality of life for people who live in Daviess County, both noted having good-paying jobs as important.
“The truth of the matter is jobs are important, and that’s why I’m proud to say, again, that we’ve had the best economic news that we’ve ever had in this community with the 727 new jobs,” Castlen said. “Many of those were at Swedish Match, and those are excellent paying jobs; I would argue they are premier jobs for this community. (Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation president and CEO) Claude Bacon has done an excellent job. I serve on the GOEDC board, and I’m very pleased with the work that we’ve done, and when Claude champions something, I’m right there with him championing.”
Kuegel also applauded the work of Bacon and the GOEDC, but again, he said government cooperation is mandatory for true success.
“We just have to help Claude by putting our governments together, by concentrating on that effort, by recruiting and bringing in jobs that pay well,” Kuegel said. “We need jobs here that can support families. We need jobs here that pay, where we can make a living wage and support a family. And that’ll be my main topic, my main concern, if I’m an elected judge-executive.”
The potential for a data center to locate in Daviess County has been a hot topic in recent months, and both candidates said whether one would be welcome here depends on what the county and its residents would gain from it.
“Every business opportunity that we have in Daviess County needs to be vetted, and we need to understand what the potential benefit is, and we need to understand what the potential cost is,” Kuegel said. “We have to vet it and make sure that we guard our resources, our water, our electricity, and our people. All of that has to be weighed in, and in the end, you look at the benefits and the costs. If the community doesn’t benefit, it doesn’t exceed the costs of bringing that company in here, then we don’t do it.
“But when we take a year to do a moratorium, and I think we have four or five of them now, when we have a full time fiscal court, and we pay them full time, it shouldn’t take a year to find out what’s best for our community. Find out who’s doing it right and who’s doing it wrong, and you move forward.”
Castlen said he continues to hear from residents who want a full ban placed on data centers in the county, which others have done. But Castlen is adamant such a move won’t hold up legally.
“We did a one-year moratorium so that we can get the rules right, but the reality is, we cannot legally ban any business from coming to Daviess County,” Castlen said. “Those (bans) are not constitutional, and they’ll be overturned in court, and I’m not going that route. I lean heavily on our legal staff and (the Kentucky Association of Counties). I’m not going to get us into lawsuits.
“The reality is, we need to be open for business, and we need to make sure that whatever business comes to Daviess County is going to serve our community well and be a good partner. That’s why we’ve got the moratorium, to try to get the rules in place and make sure that if they come, that they’re taking care of our community.”
Both candidates agreed that flooding is an ongoing issue, and Castlen noted that Daviess County is “essentially a bowl,” and Panther Creek, one of the main drainage routes, drains parts of five counties, which can cause flooding in Daviess County when one of those other counties experience flooding. Fiscal court re-established a Daviess County Drainage Commission this year to better focus on the issue.
“One of the things that I think we need to look closely at is we have 9,300 acres that are where farmers have built levees, that are displaced in water, creating a flooding problem for their neighbors,” Castlen said. “One of the things we need to look at, particularly in the season when there are no crops in the fields, is those levees need to have something to where the water can naturally flood those fields.”
Kuegel said the cleanout of Panther Creek needs to be addressed.
“This drainage of Panther Creek, that drains 210,000 acres, is critically important to Daviess County,” Kuegel said. “It’s gone in front of a fiscal court several times, voted down twice to spend any money on it. And now we’ve established a drainage commission. We have a really good drainage commission. Our challenge is to clean out Panther Creek. We have six or seven big blockages, and an inch-and-a-half rain causes flooding in the Browns Valley area. Probably 10,000 (crop) acres was lost this fall.
“We have to go beyond just clearing (Panther Creek) out. We have to look for some help from Washington. We need some retention basins. Retention basins would have saved probably 5,000 acres of crop, and that’s substantial. You’re talking about $3 million.”
Kuegel closed his comments by telling the audience change is needed.
“As I talk to individuals, I’m continually reminded that we’re a pivotal crossroads,” Kuegel said. “The choices here are not about personalities, or our political parties. It’s about our people, and the opportunities we leave and provide for our next generation. We can continue down the road we’ve been on for the past 10 years, and we can continue to expect the same results. Or we could choose a new direction.
“I just couldn’t sit this one out. I don’t pretend to have every answer, but I’m a listener. I promise that I will listen, and that no one will outwork me for Daviess County.”
Castlen said he wants to be judged on his accomplishments and his track record of conservative leadership.
“You know me, you know my conservative credentials; you know me as an honest, faithful and thoughtful servant,” Castlen said. “I believe my Democratic opponent has tried to make you believe he’s a super conservative candidate, maybe even a Republican that simply forgot to change his registration. Let me offer this. I believe he remains a Democrat because at his core, he supports the leftist policies of the Democratic Party. If I’m wrong, I invite him to use the next 33 days to very publicly reject the Democratic Party’s leftist agenda and be specific in what parts he rejects.
“The choice is clear. If you want a proven conservative leader for your community, vote for Charlie Castlen on Nov. 3.”
By Scott Hagerman Messanger-Inquirer