Daviess County Commissioner Chris Castlen has announced his bid for re-election to represent the County’s western district, saying his background in public service and problem-solving drives his continued commitment to the community.
“I am running again because I love our community and am very grateful to the voters of Daviess County for electing me to represent them,” Castlen said. “This position is a way to continue to serve our citizens. From being a Marine to being a police officer, my life has been about service and solving problems.”
Castlen was first elected in 2022 after a long career in law enforcement and public service. A 2017 retiree from the Owensboro Police Department, where he served more than 20 years and rose to the rank of lieutenant, he said the transition to county government has allowed him to continue helping people — just in a different capacity.
“In my short time in office, I’ve developed many important relationships with other entities, organizations, and citizens that are key to understanding our community needs,” he said. “This knowledge is applied to actions and decisions made as a commissioner.”
Castlen said he believes in handling contentious issues by focusing on facts, evidence, and collaboration.
“Using these facts, personal lessons learned, along with advice from trusted connections, I make decisions regarding what is determined to be best for our community,” he said. “Sometimes the final decision may be divisive, but I stick with what I have determined to be best for our community.”
Castlen said he’s proud of the current Fiscal Court’s work to improve public safety and strengthen essential services while lowering property taxes.
“From the beginning of us taking office, we’ve put a lot of effort into increasing our community’s public safety,” he said. “We’ve increased pay to emergency services — jail deputies, the sheriff’s department, and the fire department. This has led to the Daviess County Detention Center being fully staffed for the first time in a few years.”
He said the pay increases have also improved recruitment and retention for both the fire and sheriff’s departments, ultimately helping make the community safer.
“Even with these increases, our court has been able to do this while cutting property taxes from 12.9 cents to 12.2 cents per $100 of assessed value,” he said.
Castlen also pointed to changes that eliminated volunteer fire department dues, replacing them with a 1.1% insurance license fee that provides more consistent funding for fire protection across the county. The change helped the Daviess County Fire Department achieve a Class 4 ISO rating — a distinction that can help lower insurance premiums for residents.
He said the court has also made infrastructure a priority, with significant updates to the County’s Transfer Station expected to be completed in early 2026. The project will allow contractors to once again bring construction and demolition debris to the transfer site instead of driving to the landfill.
With the increase in trash and traffic along landfill routes, Fiscal Court also expanded cleanup efforts and plans to reassess those needs once the transfer station is operational again.
Castlen said drainage and flooding concerns have been another major focus, particularly in western parts of the county. He said Fiscal Court has made “significant progress” in building partnerships and finding long-term solutions.
“We have enlisted the assistance of the Kentucky Division of Water, the Army Corps of Engineers, and GRADD to help look at available programs and processes to move forward toward flood mitigation,” he said. “We are also preparing to bring back the Drainage Committee. We are picking up momentum, and it’s something we expect to make visible progress on soon.”
If re-elected, Castlen said he plans to continue building on recent progress while encouraging greater public participation in County government.
“In addition to building on current accomplishments, we could use more choices of community members being considered for board appointments,” he said. “I would love to see a community well represented by citizens willing and able, across all platforms where we appoint citizens to boards.”
Castlen remains active in several service organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Assistance Program, and the Marine Corps League. He also serves on his church board and other nonprofit boards.
Are you a candidate? Here’s how to be featured.
If you’re planning to run for office in 2026, we want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] to set up an interview.
There’s no cost to be included. We believe voters deserve equal access to candidate information, and that begins with giving you space to share your vision.
