Eastern Kentucky judge-executive resigns after 12 years, citing declining health
A longtime Eastern Kentucky judge-executive is resigning eight months before his term is set to expire, citing ongoing health problems.
Jackson County Judge-Executive Shane Gabbard said he has been hospitalized twice this month due to high blood pressure and heart issues, and he has also been struggling with severe depression. Gabbard, a Republican, alerted the governor’s office Thursday that he intends to vacate his office Friday afternoon.
The fiscal court will appoint an interim judge-executive to serve for 30 days, but it is up to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to appoint someone to serve for the remainder of the year.
In November, Gabbard opted not to seek reelection after 12 years. Since then, he has been swatting away rumors in the local press that he intended to resign. The fiscal court has come under fire recently for what critics allege are predetermined votes, and Gabbard’s administration was criticized for a tightened fiscal year 2027 budget that allocated additional general fund dollars to the county jail.
But Gabbard, who also pastors Letterbox Baptist Church in McKee, said his health has been top of mind.
“We’re talking about the highest elected office in the county, and it needs somebody in it that can function,” he told the Herald-Leader Friday. “For the sake of my family and myself, I felt like it was best to go ahead and let somebody else finish this term out.”
Gabbard, who was serving his third term as judge-executive, has focused the last three years on economic development in the deeply rural county southeast of Lexington. He helped secure $4 million from the Kentucky General Assembly during a previous budget cycle to construct a new fairground and park.
He said the Jackson County Fair has served as a centerpiece in the county’s long-term tourism strategy, attracting visitors from Daniel Boone National Forest, which encompasses more than a quarter of the county’s total footprint.
But the area continues to struggle attracting employers, and the population continues to slide — a story all too familiar in Eastern Kentucky. A devastating fire that shut down a circuit board assembly and plastic injection molding plant in 2005 eliminated 700 positions virtually overnight. The county has been struggling to catch up ever since, Gabbard said.
“The truth is, we’ve never really turned around from that,” he said. “We’ve got a build-ready site where that factory used to sit, but, you know, there’s just not a lot of tax incentives and not a lot of people to fill a big employers’ positions. That’s been our biggest challenge.”
Gabbard, who is married with five children, said he intends to remain pastor of his church, but he is taking a step back from public life to “take his health more seriously.”
“I just don’t feel like I can fulfill what needs to be fulfilled here,” he said.
Clark County Judge-Executive Les Yates resigned suddenly early last month because he is running to reclaim his seat in Kentucky House of Representatives. The sudden departure stunned the fiscal court, which he didn’t inform in advance.
Late last year, Magoffin County Judge-Executive Matt Wireman retired and vacated his office to avoid voiding his pension. Wireman is running to serve as jude-executive again.
