WQXE NEWS

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams says the state ended 2023 with another strong round of voter registrations, with 6,562 voters registering in December.

The Secretary of State’s Office also says in December 3,459 voters were removed from the voter rolls including about 2,500 deceased voters and about 500 felony convicts.

The office says about 1.6 million Kentucky voters are registered as Republicans, about 1.52 million are registered as Democrats, and about 358,000 are registered as independent or other.

Adams says voter interest is expected to be strong in 2024 with it being a presidential election year, so his office is preparing for early voting and election day operations as more than 2 million Kentuckians are expected to cast ballots in November.

You can check your registration status or find election information on the state’s voter information portal at govote.ky.gov.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is celebrating what the college says will be a new opportunity to get area students into advanced careers.

“We received a $1.9 million grant from the Department of Education to build our manufacturing pipeline across the region and create local teams that bring education together in K-12, employers, the college, all of these stakeholders who want to see more people in manufacturing careers and provide the coordination and support needed to help make that happen,” Stith said.

That’s ECTC Chief Advancement Officer Megan Stith. ECTC is one of four institutions in Kentucky and 22 nationally to receive the grant, which will run through 2027.

Stith says the new program will be a collaborative effort.

“This is a really exciting opportunity to stand up a team approach to filling these advanced manufacturing skills gaps in our rural parts of ECTC’s service area, and with four years to bring this project to life,” Stith said. “We’re just really excited to see the potential that our region will have now to work together and help put more, especially, middle and high schoolers into these high-wage, high-demand skills.” 

Stith says ECTC is excited that the grant will provide for a long-term mission rather than a short-term boost, and they are already looking for the personnel that will lead that mission

“This funding has created four full-time positions, three that will be posted in the coming weeks, and one is currently active right now: the director for the program,” Stith said. “We would love a wonderful pool to draw from with that opportunity, so folks are encouraged to apply.”

You can find more information on the program, and view that job opening, on ECTC’s website.

The city’s wastewater treatment plant was the main topic of conversation during the Elizabethtown City Council’s work session Monday.

City Wastewater Treatment Director Corey Bond gave the council a recap of the wastewater treatment plant’s operations in 2023, during which time 2.3 billion gallons of water was treated and no violations were reported to the state. Bond said the plant is operating at just under 50 percent capacity, which with anticipated growth coming to the area has the department looking at expansion.

“Right now the goal is to build a second plant that will treat mostly industrial waste, so that allows us to basically break off what’s coming from the industrial park and treating it separately and treating it differently than when we treat commercial and residential waste due to the other chemicals that would be in the water that we could remove more efficiently in a separate plant,” Bond said.

Representatives from HDR engineering presented the preliminary results of the city’s wastewater treatment plant rate study. The proposed rate increases would see the base cost for the average customer using 4,000 gallons a month go from the current rate of $18.80 to $22.09 in 2025, increasing in increments to $28.20 in 2029. 

HDR said rate revenue adjustments are necessary in order to fully fund operations, maintenance expenses, and capital improvements. HDR Municipal Client Adviser Ashley Willoughby said the increases still land Elizabethtown lower than similar-sized operations like Bardstown and Hodgenville, but are necessary to maintain baseline growth.

“Those costs that we’re experiencing from the pandemic and just general inflation are now sort of catching up to you, so we’re probably looking at having to maybe recover those costs on the front end, and then look at making sure you that are maintaining that revenue rate to cover those inflationary costs down the line,” Willoughby said.

The proposed rate increases do not account for possible expansion, which HDR said the firm is looking at alternative funding sources for but would be primarily addressed in a future rate study. City Administrator Ed Poppe said the plan is to get a rate ordinance before council in March in order to have it on the books by July.

In other meeting news, coaches and team members from the Hardin-E-Town Stampede mountain biking team came before the council to discuss the positive impact the team has had on its members and the positive impact mountain biking can have on community health. The team is planning to help with improvements to the trails at Buffalo Lake, where they will be hosting an event this August, and are asking for the city’s assistance in building a pump track or bike playground at the site.

The city will be hosting a Safe Streets for All public meeting on January 30 at 4 p.m. at the Pritchard Community Center. The meeting will be an open house format and give the community the chance to give their input on the use of funds from the grant program.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet February 5.