“Planning for Our Future” to Facilitate
Economic Growth and Development:

The primary role of government in economic development is helping create an attractive environment to entice and assist new business opportunity to flourish.

The key ingredients to creating this environment are a well-prepared workforce, adequate infrastructure, low taxes, and competitive cost of living (the cost of doing business).

To ensure these ingredients are effectively leveraged for economic development, government must partner with the community it serves to plan, market for, and meet the needs of current and future employers within our region.

As County Judge/Executive I am intimately involved in a variety of ways to plan for, and bring to fruition, economic growth and development within Hardin County. Listed below are a few of the key ongoing strategic planning initiatives underway. Combined, these plans serve as our county’s roadmap to prosperity for the next twenty plus years. They will provide the necessary guideposts to ensure Hardin County is well prepared to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities presented through 2020 and beyond.

• Our local Metropolitan Planning Organization, for which I serve as Chairman, is responsible for short and long term planning of our areas transportation needs. In April of 2005 we issued the organization’s first ever Urbanized Area Transportation Plan to outline our priorities for the next twenty years. This plan, routinely updated, provides state transportation officials and our legislators with agreed upon rank ordered transportation needs as funding becomes available. This document provided justification necessary to place the Wilson Road widening project on the current funding plan for the State Transportation Cabinet, an essential step in meeting the increasing employment opportunities coming to Fort Knox. Numerous other projects prioritized by the plan include extension of Ring Road to the Western Kentucky Parkway, extending Joe Prather Highway to U.S. 60 in Meade County, widening North Miles to Ring Road, and providing improved Interstate 65 access to the Glendale Industrial Site.

• As Vice-Chairman for the “One Knox Policy Council” I’m busy assisting in the planning and preparations for 5,000 additional full-time employment opportunities to our region as a result of the 2006 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision impacting Fort Knox. I was also recently named to the Governor’s BRAC Task Force where I will serve as its Transportation Sub-Committee Chair. The purpose of the Governor’s Task Force is to help coordinate state efforts for assisting with the economic expansion of our area due to BRAC. The BRAC decision to keep Fort Knox open and increase its utilization was not automatic. This decision took intense work by our Federal Legislative delegation in Washington. I was proud to be among those working here in Kentucky to provide the information and support necessary to leverage the influence of our Federal Delegation through the BRAC process.

• As a member of the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation I have first-hand knowledge of the excellent work this organization is doing to attract new employers to our county. Every day the foundation aggressively works with Kentucky’s Economic Development Cabinet to entice industry to Hardin County. Many improvements are underway to ready existing industrial property for development, thereby making them increasingly attractive to potential developers. In addition to working toward hitting the “home run” of landing a mega industrial prospect, the foundation is also growing and maintaining our existing manufacturing base. Even with the recent loss of some manufacturing jobs, the county’s overall industrial employment is up by almost 250 employees over the last three plus years resulting in a 3.5% increase in our industrial employment base.

• The Lincoln Trail Area Development District (I serve on the Board of Directors), through its Workforce Investment Board, has developed and continues updating plans for meeting the educational and training needs of our region’s workforce. In partnership with Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, preparations are underway to help professionally prepare us for the employment opportunities on both the near and far horizons. A major step in this endeavor was recently achieved through the state funding $20 million for construction of Phase II of the Postsecondary Education Center. This complex will be the centerpiece for providing educational opportunities necessary to meet our future employment needs.

There are many other ways county government is working to enhance economic development in our area. A fiscally sound local government, first-rate medical services, timely and professional emergency services, adequate and expanding infrastructure, and forward thinking local leadership are all paramount to enticing new business opportunities. Within the pages of this web site you will learn more detail on some of the efforts underway to create and maintain an environment conducive for positive economic growth.