• planning for our future
  • growth and development
  • BRAC
  • infrastructure expansion

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 directly involved in a variety of ways in the planning for and bringing 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 provide the necessary guideposts to ensure Hardin County is well prepared to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities presented through 2020 and beyond.

  • As Vice-Chairman for the "One Knox Policy Council" I'm intimately involved in the preparations to accommodate 7,000 additional full-time employment opportunities to our region as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision impacting Fort Knox.

    The One Knox Policy Council is comprised of our local mayors and the Judge/Executives of Meade and Hardin Counties. Our purpose is to coordinate the efforts from state and local agencies, business entities and associations, as well as other community organizations to prepare our region for the significant influx of employees and rapid growth within our region. I served as a member of the initial "Governor's BRAC Task Force" and concurrently served a term as the Transportation Sub-Committee Co-Chair.

    The BRAC decision to keep Fort Knox open and increase its utilization was not automatic. This decision took intense work by the members of Kentucky's congressional 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 Executive Committee 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. While the nation's struggling economy has brought some recent loss to some manufacturing jobs, the county has been blessed with some new industrial partners as well as some job growth with other existing manufactures and industries.

    In addition to working toward hitting the "home run" of landing a mega industrial prospect, the foundation is also striving to grow and maintain our existing manufacturing base. 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.

    Although unemployment is not at the level we would like; Hardin County has consistently, month after month, seen lower unemployment rates than all of our neighboring counties, and routinely remains below the state's average unemployment rate. Hardin County routinely maintains unemployment rates comparable to the national average.

  • In addition to the growth resulting from BRAC and Fort Knox, Hardin County remains poised for a huge economic development project resulting in potentially 3,000 additional employment opportunities for our region at our 1,500+ acre industrial site at Glendale. The Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation is diligently working with the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet to market this site to all potential prospects.

    In 2002 this site was a finalist in the competition for Hyundai's new manufacturing plant (our Glendale location came in second place – Alabama won). Since then, many business entities have expressed interest over the last several years. Several have seriously considered the site with some actually developing conceptual plans and proposals. One potential prospect recently obtained national visibility for their proposed use of the property. This past year the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries (NAATBatt), a consortium of over 50 U.S. companies, selected our site for their nationwide operations to develop and manufacture lithium-ion batteries to power the automobiles of the future. Unfortunately the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the grants available for this initiative to projects located in others states.

    While these economic times provide challenges to attracting viable prospects, the Industrial Foundation and local government continue to improve the marketability of the site while working with the Economic Development Cabinet to increase the site's exposure to likely industry. Earlier this year one of the Nation's most prominent site selection consultants, McCallum Sweeney Consulting (MSC), certified our Glendale industrial site as a "Mega-Site" pre-qualified for immediate development, thereby greatly improving our opportunities for attracting potential clients. The prestige associated with being one of less than 15 sites nationally receiving MSC's Mega-Site certification identifies our location as being relatively risk free for those projects that may be on a compressed time schedule for development and construction – it essentially validates that we are shovel ready!

    Over the last eight years many tasks have been completed or are underway to improve the Glendale site and its marketability to attract major industrial development. Some of these preparations include:

    • Extension of a 16" water line to provide ample water supply for any manufacturing operation
    • Engineering for the replacement of the I-65 interchange serving the Glendale area and future industrial development (a priority in the state's 6 Year Road Plan)
    • Necessary archeological surveys
    • Wetland delineations with the Corps of Engineers
    • Geotechnical site work
    • NEPA required environmental studies to include threatened and endangered species
    • Required zoning changes, old road closings and platting, and razing old structures from the site
    • Construction of a temporary working entrance to the site
    • Certification as a "Large Industrial Mega-Site" by CSX Transportation; a leading national program for site certification

  • 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 the Governor and our state's transportation officials the agreed upon rank ordered transportation needs for our region for funding as resources become available. For example, this document provided justification necessary to rapidly add and provide top priority to the Wilson Road widening project as an essential first step in meeting the traffic needs of increasing employment opportunities coming to Fort Knox. Our MPO's Area Transportation Plan is the primary document used by the Kentucky Department of Transportation and Kentucky General Assembly for indentifying and funding our needs in the state's official Six Year Road Plan.

    As a result of the work done by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, in coordination with the One Knox Policy Council and the Lincoln Trail Area Development District, our region has been successful in acquiring $162 million of State funding for numerous highway projects in preparation for the growth resulting from the Fort Knox BRAC. These projects include:

    • The Elizabethtown/Radcliff Connector Road - a new high speed, limited access highway through western Hardin County connecting the E-town By-Pass to KY 313 near Woodland Elementary.
    • The extension of KY 313 from Vine Grove to U.S. 60 and eventually on to Brandenburg
    • A By-Pass around the west side of Radcliff to connect KY 313 with the Fort Knox main gate at the Bullion Depository
    • Access management improvements along the 31W corridor to streamline traffic flow and reduce accidents and delays.

    Other non-BRAC related projects prioritized highly by the plan include extension of Ring Road to the Western Kentucky Parkway, eventual extension of Ring Road from the Western Kentucky Parkway to Interstate 65, widening North Miles to Ring Road and eventually on to Highway 313, and providing improved Interstate 65 access to the Glendale Industrial Site.

  • The Lincoln Trail Area Development District (I serve on the Board of Directors as well as the Executive Committee), 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's funding $20 million for construction of Phase II of the Postsecondary Education Center which opened this spring. This complex is the region's 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. Throughout this website you will learn more detail on some of the efforts underway to create and maintain an environment conducive for positive economic growth.