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McNutt credits Animal Achievement Award to team and community supporting Hardin County Animal Shelter

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When Hardin County Animal Care and Control Director Mike McNutt was presented with the 2023 Achievement for Animals Award at the Kentucky Animal Welfare Summit in Frankfort Friday, he said the award was just as much a testament to his team at the Hardin County Animal Shelter and the people who call Hardin County home.

“The community’s got to be on board, and there’s a few naysayers out there who, quite frankly, just are uneducated about the problems and are listening to the wrong people, but for the most part this community is the big reason for the success of this shelter, not to mention the support we get from Hardin County Government,” McNutt said.

McNutt has been involved in animal care for more than 35 years, serving in his current position since 2016. Humane Society of the United States Kentucky State Director Todd Blevins said during the summit that McNutt and the shelter’s efforts are evident beyond Hardin County.

“In that time, Mike has made Hardin County one of the premier shelters in the state,” Blevins said. “In the truest sense of the word, they are one of our leaders in this state, and that’s thanks to his leadership, but he hasn’t stopped there. He’s branched out to surrounding counties in his area, and I believe some of those individuals are here today, too, which I think is a testament to Mike’s leadership in the entire region and indeed in the entire state.

McNutt said the shelter has a multi-year streak of achieving No-Kill status going, and the experience of the staff has allowed the shelter to focus on fixing problems animal shelters have faced in the past.

“Now we know where we’ve always been doing it wrong, that making a place that accepts animals 24/7 made the animals disposable, like trash,” McNutt said. “That is not acceptable today. We pick up animals when we do, the timeframe that we do, because it’s all part of a plan to fix the problem, to fix what’s broken.”

McNutt said support for the shelter was evidenced by Elizabethtown City Council Member Julia Springsteen and Hardin County Judge-Executive Keith Taul attending the summit.

Find the Hardin County Animal Shelter on Facebook for more information and to follow along with the shelter’s activities.

(Photo Credit: Mike McNutt)

E-Town Planning Department still collecting survey responses for Safe Streets for All action plan

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The City of Elizabethtown is still collecting community input on the city’s “Vision Zero” Transportation Safety Action Plan.

City Director of Planning and Development Joe Reverman said public input is part of the creation of the action plan laid out by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets for All Program.

“The action plan is a public plan, it’s a plan for the public to use public funds and things like that, so we need to know what the public has to say about the safety plans and what roadways need improvements, and include that information as part of the action plan,” Reverman said.

The city received a $200,000 grant through the program to conduct engineering work related to developing the plan, and the plan will help the city as they try to secure additional funding through the program for road safety improvement projects.

“It’s a process where we’re gathering data, getting input from the public, and the goal is by summer to have this action plan developed so that by the fall of next year we can apply for future grants,” Reverman said.

The impact of recent efforts to improve safety can be seen in the data collected for the plan so far.

“Since 2022, the R-cuts on Dixie Highway and the roundabouts, they’ve already seen a reduction in accidents and likely lives that have been saved from those improvements,” Reverman said.

The public can view that data and provide their input on the safety action plan by looking for the Safe Streets for All link on the Planning and Development page of the city’s website.

Fishing and hunting permits and licenses for 2024-2025 now available

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The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says residents can now get registered to take advantage of the state’s finest outdoor offerings for 2024-2025.

Licenses and permits to fish, hunt, and trap in the state are on sale now. The 2024-2025 license period runs from March 1, 2024, to February 28, 2025.

Licenses cover basic hunting and fishing for most species, with additional state permits available for species such as trout, migratory birds, wild turkeys, and bears. New this year is the Senior Lifetime Sportsman’s License, which is available to residents 65 and older and streamlines the licensing process.

The sale of licenses, along with the excise tax collected from the sale of recreational firearms and ammunition, archery gear, and fishing equipment, is the primary funding source for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Visit fw.ky.gov to learn more and to order.

Hardin County Attorney says treatment coordinator already showing value

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During Tuesday’s Hardin County Fiscal Court meeting, Hardin County Attorney Jenny Oldham introduced Katie Bennett, who began working as the treatment coordinator in the county attorney’s office on January 9.

Oldham said support from the fiscal court allowed the county attorney’s office to achieve a milestone.

“Thanks to the fiscal court, who appropriated phase one of our opioid settlement funds (at least Hardin County’s portion) to the county attorney’s office, we’ve been able to hire what I believe is the first ever treatment coordinator in a county attorney’s office for drug treatment,” Oldham said.

Oldham said Bennett, an Elizabethtown native, has been integrating herself into the criminal court system, and one of the main focuses of the job will be ensuring court-ordered treatment is handled effectively.

“She’s assessing local treatment, and when I say local, regional treatment providers, again to ensure the integrity of that treatment,” Oldham said. “We want to make sure that anytime we’re referring, and when I say referring it’s through a court order, we’re not just suggesting, but when we’re court ordering drug treatment, we want to make sure that that program is sound.”

Bennett is also tasked with facilitating non-violent and not-trafficking offenders to determine if the appropriate course of action is to get that person into a treatment program rather than jail.

Oldham said her office appreciates the potential impact the treatment coordinator position can bring.

“I know as a community we put a lot of resources toward treatment, and it would be nice to be able to measure that we’ve moved the needle, that we see lives that are improving for the person who’s dealing with the addiction, and we know that also includes their family, their community, so we’re excited that this could do great things,” Oldham said.

Hardin County has several programs and initiatives aimed at drug treatment and prevention, as evidenced recently by the county receiving Recovery Ready Community certification from the state.

Baptist Health Hardin president says hospital has eyes on the future as 70 anniversary arrives

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Baptist Health Hardin President Rob Ramey was the featured speaker during the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s February luncheon Wednesday.

Ramey said as the hospital celebrates its 70th anniversary and Baptist Health celebrates its centennial, the hospital knows it has to look outside the hospital’s campus to continue impacting area healthcare.

“We’re constantly looking at how we evaluate the disparities in healthcare, where those underserved areas of our community are, how we’re going to more effectively collaborate with other healthcare organizations and other community partners to be able to reach those people, that population, and make sure that they’re getting access to healthcare as well,” Ramey said.

Later this year, the hospital will open its new Baptist Health Hardin Medical Pavilion. Ramey said the 282,000 square-foot expansion represents a $225 million investment, and with the expansion comes improvements to technology that Ramey said will make Baptist Health Hardin a leader regionally and beyond.

“We’re actually looking at trying to be not just nationally but internationally on the forefront of looking at 4-D types of technologies,” Ramey said. “Think about that. We want Hardin County to have access to those things before all those others around the country, so we’re continually looking at how we can provide the best care that we can and the best resources that we can for you all.”

Ramey says with a completion date in sight, the hospital now has its sights set on its next project.

“We’re building the pavilion, we open that later this year, but what that means is next year we get to start renovating the hospital and improving the things in the aging facility in the hospital,” Ramey said. “One of those things we’re going to be announcing is how we can enhance the services to our expectant and newly-delivered moms as well as to our youngest and most fragile patients as well, so we’re excited.”

Ramey said the expansion and renovations will help to reduce the strain on the hospital’s emergency department, which ranks as the third-largest in the state, and improve a neonatal intensive care unit that serves one of the top ten birthing hospitals in Kentucky.