WQXE News

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.

An area state park campground is on track to reopen this summer following significant repairs and renovations.

Kentucky State Parks says the Nolin Lake State Park campground is expected to reopen to primitive camping on July 1, with full reopening anticipated for July 15. Visitors to the primitive camping sites will have access to bathhouse facilities, potable water, and the RV sewer dump station. Electrical service to individual campsites and the full set of campground offerings will return with the full re-opening.

Kentucky State Parks says the campground suffered major infrastructure damage following historic rainfall and flooding in 2025 which put much of the park underwater for several weeks. Significant repairs were required for the campground water system, bathhouse, wastewater treatment plant, and lift stations. Refurbishments were required for the beach, playground areas, and other public-use amenities. The Kentucky Department of Engineering and Contract Administration is performing tree removal and other mitigation work. 

Kentucky State Parks Interim Commissioner Mark Kellen said in a release: “The Kentucky State Parks team is working hard to complete these repairs and renovations as quickly as possible, and we appreciate the community’s patience,” said Kentucky State Parks Interim Commissioner Mark Kellen. “Guest safety remains our top priority, and we look forward to welcoming campers back as soon as it is safe.” 

In addition to the necessary repairs, some of the work at Nolin Lake is part of $40 million in campground improvements approved by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2023. Visit parks.ky.gov for project updates and more information.

Baptist Health Hardin President Rob Ramey says the upcoming facility on Centennial Avenue in Radcliff is an innovative medical solution for residents on the northern end of Hardin County.

“You can come in and remove a little bit of the uncertainty of ‘should I be going to an emergency room or should I be going to an urgent care center?’” Ramey said. “We’re going to help you to understand how sick you are and then we’re going to put you into the appropriate path for care when you’re at this location.”

Ramey was the speaker at the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s Business at Breakfast event last week. He said the project is on pace with the original construction estimate, with the freestanding emergency room and urgent care facility set to open in mid-September and the primary care office opening later in the fall. Ramey said Baptist Health is anticipating 60 to 70 new employees will work at the facility.

Ramey said the operations of the Radcliff ER will be of the same level of care as the hospital ER.

“It is a department of the hospital,” Ramey said. “It will have CT. It will have ultrasound. It will have the technologies, many of the technologies, that we have at our hospital emergency department.”

Ramey said the facility is the product of Baptist Health Hardin’s evaluations of what the growing community needs.

“Do I think we’re gonna go from 75,000 patients at our hospital emergency department down to 60?” Ramey said. “No, I think we’re going to continue to be incredibly busy at the emergency department, but as I see the growth within our community, this is critical to continue to meet the changing needs and the continuing escalation of needs of our community.”

An additional ambulance and ambulance crew will be stationed at the Radcliff facility in the event that a patient needs care available at the hospital.