By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
A brief conversation about the economic state of the United States and county unemployment was the topic of the day for the Barren County Economic Authority board members.
The conversation occurred immediately before adjournment. Board member Terry Bunnell mentioned that the county’s unemployment rate keeps increasing well above the state and national averages. Kentucky’s Center for Statistics reported that the preliminary unemployment rate for Barren County was 6.2 percent in February 2025 with a statewide average of 5.5 percent and a national average of 4.5 percent.
“Unemployment rate in Barren County continues to rise…more people are looking for work but are industries not hiring?” Bunnell asked.
President and Chief Executive Officer Maureen Carpenter said the Authority was “working to bring new jobs in” but that the “economy was terrible,” pointing to the president’s tariffs as a “significant concern” for businesses in the area.
“We’ve had quite a few downsizing in the last two years,” Carpenter said. “Just with the economy…a lot of the customers are using existing inventory, so they’ve reduce the number they need from our suppliers. Honestly, there’s only one company I know of that’s been continuously hiring, everybody else has either been stable or have downsized significantly. The expectation last quarter of last year was that by second quarter this year things would start to come back, but now we have the tariffs so that’s going to have a significant impact.”
“[The tariffs] are significantly impacting our companies,” Carpenter said earlier in the meeting. “We have one company currently paying 156 percent tariff on materials waiting to get into the U.S. This is something that will impact our businesses, especially those that get things [from overseas], but this can also be a good thing because this can lead to investments here.”
A tariff is a tax imposed by a government on imported goods, which increases the cost of imported goods and potentially harms U.S. production, according to the Tax Foundation.
In response to Bunnell’s question, Board Chair David Peterson commented the tourism season was about to begin which should “make a correction some” on the base unemployment.
Carpenter also said the automotive industry had been “flipped on its head,” which could also be contributing to the unemployment percentage.
“We still have quite a bit of automotive [in Barren County],” Carpenter said. “Nemak was doing the new components for [electric vehicles and] that came to a standstill. So, they had hired a bunch of people for this line [and] now that line is not working.”
The Authority also went into closed session to discuss “proposed or pending litigation” and ” specific proposals,” after which the motion was made to approve a change order of Vincent Excavating for roughly $170,000 with a stipulation that the work was to be done within 30 working days.
Board Attorney Rich Alexander said it was to move approximately 19,000 cubic yards of dirt at Chapatcha Park in Cave City. He added this approval was not an “admission of responsibility” on the Authority’s part and they “reserve all [the Authority’s] defenses and claims.”
“There was an additional change order that they requested and they approved it today,” Alexander said.
The next Barren County Economic Authority meeting is scheduled for May 9 at 8:15 a.m.
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