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The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday afternoon.

Bryan Skinner of RSA Advisors presented to the council on bonding options for the outdoor music venue. Skinner reviewed the city’s current obligations and legal debt limit, and said the city has options.

“You guys are, I’ll just go ahead and say it, in great financial shape,” Skinner said. “One of the best cities, best rated cities out there. Good bond rating.”

The current estimate for the required bond is $45 million. RSA will set up a bond sale for the city after it is instructed to do so via ordinance.

Elizabethtown Stormwater Director Rita Davis presented an update on her department’s activities. Davis recounted projects completed in 2024 and upcoming projects, including working with FEMA on remapping the floodplain. Davis said the city is considering introducing a stormwater utility fee to help offset some costs.

“This is something we’ve been working with with Strand consultants to kind of look at how much money we can generate with the stormwater utility fee, so hopefully it sounded like we do a lot with what I’ve been discussing here, and that should help pay for some of these things,” Davis said.

Also meeting for a work session Monday was the Radcliff City Council. After the council took no official action during a called meeting, Radcliff Mayor JJ Duvall said one bid was submitted for city street resurfacing. Duvall said he will likely be requesting the council approve additional funding for resurfacing in order to cover additional side streets. The council discussed a resolution opposing the centralized collection of taxes. City Attorney Mike Pike said the resolution opposes proposed legislation that takes occupational tax and license fee collection away from municipalities and turns it over to the state, which Pike said the Kentucky League of Cities is “vehemently against.”

“I think it’s a bad idea if they adopt this,” Pike said. “Cities are going to get the short end of the stick. You know, we have very little means of raising revenue anyway, you guys already know that.”

The Elizabethtown City Council and the Radcliff City Council will both next meet on February 18.

The Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office continues to perform maintenance to remove deceased voters from the rolls, but voter registration in the state continues to grow. 

The Secretary of State’s Office says 5,253  new voters got registered in the month of January.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, Republican registration increased in January by 2,004 voters and independent or other registration increased by 1,406, while Democratic registration decreased by 1,202 voters. Republican registration makes up about 47 percent of the state electorate, Democratic registration makes up about 42 percent, and independent or other makes up about 11 percent.

The Secretary of State’s Office says 3,045 voters were removed from the rolls in January. That includes 2,100 deceased voters, 413 felony convicts, and 388 voters who moved out of state. Secretary of State Michael Adams says more than 440,000 voters, including more than 250,000 deceased voters, have been removed from the rolls since he took office in 2020.

Visit govote.ky.gov or contact your county clerk’s office to get registered to vote or to check your registration status.

Multiple agencies assisted with a fire in Sonora Thursday evening.

According to a Facebook post from Upton Fire and Rescue, shortly before 11 p.m. on February 6 firefighters were dispatched to a residence on Ford Road in Sonora to assist the Sonora Fire Department with a reported structure fire. The Glendale Fire Department was also dispatched to the scene for mutual aid.

Upton crews arrived 12 minutes after dispatch and found the structure had heavy smoke and visible flames coming from the kitchen. Crews began an interior attack on the kitchen, and were then alerted to an extension of the fire in the back of the residence spreading upstairs.

Command requested the Elizabethtown Fire Department respond as they have the only mobile cascade system in the area, which was used to fill breathing apparatuses while crews still fought to gain control of the fire. The Valley Creek Fire Department responded as well with a tanker and additional manpower.

The fire was called under control a little after 12:30 a.m. after crews chased the fire through multiple void spots. Units cleared the scene at 2:31 a.m. “with a fully intact structure still remaining.”

Upton Fire and Rescue says they made the post to dispel rumors and false information spreading on social media regarding the fire and response, and thanked each of the responding crews for their efforts and teamwork.