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E-Town council approves roundabout bid, statewide mutual aid agreement

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for a special meeting Monday.

The council approved a bid from Summit Civil LLC of Elizabethtown for the Veterans Way/Towne Drive roundabout project. The bid was accepted at $981,700. City Administrator Ed Poppe noted additional language was included in the bid to account for safety measures as Veterans Way has a higher speed limit than other city streets where roundabouts have been added.

“For our first city-funded roundabout, this is one of the better places that we do need to put it in, and I think there’s a lot more support for this one than there has been for others,” said City Council Member Julia Springsteen. “Hopefully that keeps up, because it will be safer and more efficient.”

The council also approved a resolution entering the city into a statewide emergency management mutual aid and assistance agreement.

“If you take for example when they had the tornadoes in Mayfield and Dawson Springs and some of the natural disasters that we had a few years ago in the Commonwealth, and multiple cities send all kinds of resources, whether it be manpower or equipment or supplies to those locations, this is no different than what we did then,” said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory. “This just kind of formalizes it a little bit.”

Elizabethtown Director of Finance Jeff Hawkins gave the council an update as his department prepares for what he called an “ambitious” budget. Hawkins said the city’s finances are strong, noting that at about $35.5 million in March the General Fund is down about $2 million from the same point the year before due to recent purchases the city made for ongoing projects. Hawkins said city revenues are coming in close to budgeted estimates.

“The occupational tax, that’s the 1.95 percent on the working wages in the city, and the property tax, both of those you can see are very strong,” Hawkins said. “We continue to maintain a strong, healthy employee base. With the restaurant tax and hotel tax, it’s the same story we’ve had in the last couple years as both of those are down. I think the budget was a little aggressive on that.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet April 20.

KYTC reminds residents to keep signs out of state right of way areas, alerts E-Town drivers to newly-instituted Public Square roundabout

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With the primary election in Kentucky just over a month away, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is reminding residents of regulations in place to keep state right of way areas free of signs and other items.

“We find out a lot of times when people call to ask about putting signs up that they simply don’t know the rules or regulations with regard to what is and what isn’t allowed on right away, and it’s simply nothing is allowed on right of way unless it’s done by permit through the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District Four office here in Hardin County,” said KYTC District Four Public Information Officer Chris Jessie.

The KYTC says non-permitted signs can create additional hazards by blocking sight lines and distracting drivers. It is also illegal to attach signs or items such as flyers, posters, balloons, or streamers to stop signs, highway markers, other road signs, and utility poles.

“If you’re going to put up a yard sale sign or a political sign, it must be beyond the right-of-way onto the personal property side of that line,” Jessie said. “If you have a specific location in mind and you’re unsure, you are welcome to call our office and you can ask for our Permits and Right-of-Way Section at 270-766-5066.”

KYTC District Four has received requests to clear non-permitted signs across the district. Removed items will be taken to each county’s KYTC maintenance facility and held for a short period of time before being trashed or recycled.

Meanwhile, KYTC District Four is also alerting drivers heading through downtown Elizabethtown of a new traffic pattern related to permitted work being implemented by the developers of the former Hardin County Courthouse. The KYTC says the intersection around the Public Square is now functioning as a roundabout, therefore all drivers entering the roundabout must now look and yield to the left. The change is particularly significant for the southbound U.S. 31W approach. Drivers should also pay close attention for pedestrians navigating the intersection.

January unemployment in Kentucky sees decline

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January unemployment in Kentucky is down slightly from the previous month and year.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the state unemployment average for January was 4.3 percent. That is down from the 4.5 percent average reported in December, and down .5 percent from the January 2025 average of 4.8 percent.

Kentucky’s unemployment average for January came in tied with the national unemployment rate, which the U.S. Department of Labor says at 4.3 percent is up from the 4 percent rate reported in January 2025.

The Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet says the state’s civilian labor force, which includes people currently employed and people actively searching for work, saw a decrease of 5,476 people from December to January, bringing the total civilian labor force to 2,114,515 people.

The Trade, Transportation and Utilities, Educational and Health Services, Manufacturing, Professional and Business Services, Financial Activities, Government, and Other Services sectors made gains from December into January. The Information Services, Mining and Logging, Construction, and Leisure and Hospitality sectors saw decreases.

Visit the Kentucky Center for Statistics website, kystats.ky.gov, for more about unemployment figures and labor market information.

Celebrate the beauty of the planet with Bernheim Forest Saturday

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Earth Day is April 22, but Bernheim Forest invites the community to celebrate the beauty of the planet this Saturday with Restore: Healthy Planet, Healthy Us, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 18.

“We’re going to have a tree giveaway and plant sales,” said Bernheim Forest Director of Marketing and Communications Lynette Cox. “You can come and pick up a free native tree sapling from a horticulture team, and we’re going to be selling a variety of herbs and vegetables to get your garden ready for the season. We’ve got some fun hands-on activities for kids, including the STEAM chemist Jerald Smith. He’ll be delighting the crowd with science experiments.”

In addition to activities and play areas for kids and families, the event will include information on area plants and wildlife along with representatives from community partners.

Activities celebrating self-care for all will also be featured.

“You can take a spin on an electric bike from Pedego Electric Bikes,” Cox said. “They’re going to be on site and they’ll have their bikes here that people can ride around on. We’ll also have some drop-in yoga sessions as well, and we’re also going to honor our new Climate Heroes on that day.”

For the first time, this year’s Restore event will also feature electronics recycling. 

“From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., people can bring their old stereos, old phones, VCRs, things of that nature, and get those recycled and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way,” Cox said.

All are welcome to attend this free community event. Visit www.bernheim.org or the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest Facebook page for more information.

Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland celebrates volunteers

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Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland celebrated the volunteers who make the organization’s mission possible with their annual volunteer luncheon Friday, held at the Central Kentucky Community Foundation in Elizabethtown.

“This is one of my favorite days of the year,” said FAKH Executive Director Charles Dennis. “At Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland, we have a saying that ‘Food is all we do, and community is all we are,” and when I look out at this crowd, I see community, and I see different groups, and I see those that come periodically, that come weekly, and to me, that’s what community means.”

According to the organization, volunteers in 2025 packed 96,438 Commodity Supplemental Food Program boxes in support of area seniors and 117,074 Backpack Program bags to ensure students have meals on the weekends. Nearly 13,500 volunteer hours were logged at the organization’s volunteer center in Elizabethtown in 2025.

The luncheon included the presentation of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring individuals and entities that have shown exceptional dedication to support FAKH’s mission. This year’s honorees are Parkway Baptist Church, Bani Purcell, and Tony and Gayle Shafer.

“My favorite part is the camaraderie of the other volunteers,” said Gayle Shafer. “We are a family, and if we miss a day, we have to check in. Otherwise, we get texts to say ‘Where you at? Everybody okay?’ It is a loving group and we just enjoy the volunteers and the employees.”

Learn more about Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland’s mission and opportunities to get involved at www.feedingamericaky.org.