Daviess County Fiscal Court has approved several significant upgrades to local parks, including new lights at Stanley, a new restroom facility at Yellow Creek, and the replacement of one shelter each at Yellow Creek and Panther Creek.
At Stanley Park, the County is moving forward with replacing all lighting after storm damage in 2023 destroyed several poles. Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen said then-County Engineer Mark Brasher inspected the remaining poles, which were deemed unstable and were removed.
“I said, ‘We’re going to put new ones up,’ and that’s when this grant process started,” Castlen said. “I’ll be elated when it’s finally approved and finished. Stanley is my little hometown — that’s the part of the county I grew up in.”
In May 2023, Daviess County applied for a Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant to install lighting at Stanley Park’s ball field and pickleball court. The total estimated cost is $291,616, with the LWCF grant covering 50%, leaving the county responsible for $145,808. Although still pending at the state and federal levels, officials expect the grant to be awarded.
To help offset the County’s share, the project also qualified for additional funding through the GRANT Program, established by Kentucky House Bill 723. In August 2024, the County’s application to the program was approved, with up to $138,865 allocated to cover the local match. That reduces the County’s final contribution to just $6,943.
In addition to the Stanley Park upgrades, the Court awarded multiple bids to Musarra & West Construction, LLC for new facilities at Yellow Creek and Panther Creek parks.
At Yellow Creek Park, the company will construct a new restroom facility for $392,500. The current structure, original to the park, will remain open during construction. County staff will later demolish the old building.
“If you’ve ever been out to Yellow Creek, you know it’s in pretty bad shape,” Castlen said. “The new one will be located closer to the pickleball court. The current facility is parallel to the road, but the new one will be perpendicular.”
New picnic shelters will be built at Yellow Creek and Panther Creek parks, with each project totaling $152,500. At Yellow Creek, the County will replace Shelter No. 1, the first ever built at the park. At Panther Creek, the Whispering Winds shelter — constructed in the mid-1990s—will be replaced.
The decision to upgrade park restrooms and shelters stems from inspections that revealed extensive wear and temporary fixes made over the years.
“Some of those shelter structures had posts rotting at the bottom, and they’d been patched with metal bars as a temporary fix,” Castlen said. “Mark [Brasher] and I had talked even before I took office about replacing one shelter a year, and that’s the path we’re on.”
Castlen also noted the rising cost of public facilities due to frequent vandalism.
“In the old days, you could just put in a cheap toilet and sink and they’d last,” he said. “But now, with the vandalism we see, you almost have to go with something indestructible, and that drives up the cost.”
All projects were approved unanimously by the Fiscal Court.
