A horse appears in a photograph shot for Glasgow-Barren County Tourism sometime last year. This horse is one of a many housed currently at the Barren River Lake State Park.
(GLASGOW-BARREN COUNTY TOURISM)
Story by Angela Briggs, special to WCLU News
GLASGOW — Arguments about horses owned by Barren County Government may finally be put out to pasture.
Barren County magistrates were present and accounted for as a special called meeting of the Barren County Fiscal Court was gavelled into session Monday evening. Judge/ Executive Micheal Hale again gave a brief history of how the county came to be in possession of nine horses. Several community members were present.
The judge/executive said about $6200 in county tax dollars has been spent on the horses as of the meeting. The remainder of the expenses were reimbursed to the county through CARES Act funding.
During their last meeting, the Court voted to sell nine horses by a closed bidding process. Specifics surrounding the sale were not included in that motion, however. Magistrates met Monday to clarify the specifics of the sale, according to an ageneda published before the meeting.
Magistrate Tim Coomer, who chairs the county’s Building & Property Committee, said they were just there to set the time and date of the sale. Barren County Attorney Kathryn Thomas said additions and deletions could be made should the court be inclined to do so, however.
And they were.
Coomer made a motion to sell the horses individually by closed bidding, which is a process where bidders send concealed bids to the county and then they are later opened in a special meeting. The magistrates went on to describe his wish to advertise the bidding invitation in the local paper by May 6. The information is scheduled to appear in the Barren County Progress by May 12.
Bids will be opened May 19, and the winning biddes will have 72 hours to pick up those horses. Magistrates agreed to enforce the pick-ups between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., which are most county officials’ business hours.
An amendment was added to the motion by Hale and seconded by Magistrate Trent Riddle. The amendment included verbiage to not allow the prospective bidders and eventual owners to send the horses to slaughterhouses or previous owners.
Thomas clarified it was legal to place restrictions on the sale of the horses in this situation.
Lisa Hale, a community member, asked the Court if they would support two non-profits who wanted to buy the horses. She also asked if they would allow BRAWA to handle the adoption process.
Riddle speculated if several non-profits worked together and raised enough money, no other bids would likely be higher, and the situation would be a win for the animal advocates and county government.
Riddle and Carl Dickerson, another magistrate, pledged their own money to a non-profit in support of the horses, they said.
Margie Patton, a Barren River Animal Welfare Association board member, told the court they would help with the adoption process. Although the court seemed to support the idea of non-profits working together to bid on the horses, no official action was taken to add this to the eventual motion.
County officials will post images of the horses online with specific bidding information attached to their halters. Bidding opens May 6 and final bids will be opened May 19. The Court reserves the right to refuse any bid.
