The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday evening.
Central Kentucky Community Foundation Executive Director Davette Swiney came before the council to discuss the progress that has been made on Hardin County’s participation in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, which sends a free book each month to registered children ages birth to five. Swiney said a $20,000 commitment from the city last year allowed the program to hit the ground running.
“I can get people to sign their kid up,” Swiney said. “It takes about 20 seconds online. It is your mailing address and your name to get a free book, but we knew it would take us time to grow the dollars to support that, and by getting your support early on to help us be able to know we could enroll as many kids as we could get and not worry about having to have all of the dollars to support them for five years was huge.”
Enrollment in the program jumped from 17 percent to 44 percent after the city’s gift, and Swiney says there is more work to be done.
“If we could get to 65 percent, that would be an amazing accomplishment in our community, and that would cost us $50,000 to $55,000 a year to maintain,” Swiney said.
Learn more about the program on the Community Foundation’s website.
Elizabethtown resident Jim Becker presented to the council on a proposed native landscaping ordinance, which would allow property owners to plant native species beneficial to area wildlife in a controlled manner. Becker says more than just butterflies and bees benefit from such landscaping.
“Native species use 30 to 60 percent less water than turf grass,” Becker said. “They require zero fertilizer or pesticides once they’re established. They attract three times the pollinators that conventional turf lawns attract or support.”
Becker said such an ordinance would also benefit city stormwater infrastructure.
City Administrator Ed Poppe presented on development on the south end of Elizabethtown. Poppe said the recent groundbreaking of a hotel on the south end has highlighted city efforts to bring more projects to the area.
“The staff has also had discussions about offering other incentive programs to support the south end or to help spur additional development in that area,” Poppe said. “We have a couple programs that the city already operates.”
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet July 6.
