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Vine Grove mayor says city is moving forward ‘in a smart, responsible way’

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Vine Grove Mayor Pam Ogden says in 2025 the city focused on moving Vine Grove forward in a smart, responsible way by “investing in infrastructure, supporting public safety, and working with regional and state partners” to position the city for future growth.

“We invested $5 million in our wastewater treatment plant,” Ogden said. “We are still in the process of that. We purchased a new ladder truck for our fire department. We also ordered a new fire truck to replace the one that burned up in our fire that happened this year.”

Ogden spoke during the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s January Membership Luncheon Wednesday. Ogden said the city installed 16 Flock cameras, hired two full-time firefighters for the first time, and supported a fully-staffed police department with 12 officers.

The city received several grants aimed at infrastructure and beautification efforts, and city staff worked hard to improve the city’s service offerings.

“We had 15 out of 31 employees either attend training or they were certified in their position, so to me, that’s amazing,” Ogden said. “We have eight active subdivisions, 159 single and multi-family units. I’m especially proud of our city staff, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to serve our residents and businesses.”

Ogden said the goal for 2026 is to support local business, encourage thoughtful growth, and preserve quality of life.

“Some of my goals this year include a farmers market upgrade, finishing our wastewater treatment plant which should be finished this year, revitalizing our downtown and supporting the businesses that are moving there, sidewalk improvements, and hopefully we will have an ambulance stored in Vine Grove,” Ogden said.

Follow the Vine Grove City Hall Facebook page for city updates.

Area students invited to free scholarship and college prep event at North Hardin Saturday

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Students and their parents are invited to learn about scholarship opportunities and other college resources at Get Your Money Right 2026, to be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, January 17 at North Hardin High School.

“The goal of the event is to put the high school students in the same room with these local scholarship opportunities and get them to fill out as many applications as they possibly can,” said event organizer Selena Hudson. “If they bring their Chromebooks that day, or in the future this month, they can fill out the application and get awarded that money, and not leave any money on the table.”

In addition to scholarship opportunities, the event will feature workshops, panel discussions, and guest speakers focusing on a range of financial literacy topics.

“We have Budgeting 101 through Abound Credit Union and AI for Teens with Lucas Solutions, and we also have our former garrison commander coming back in and he’s going to be our motivational speaker to kick off the day, to talk to the students about ‘don’t talk about it, be about it,’” Hudson said.

All students are welcome to attend this free event, but seniors are encouraged to register ahead of time in order to qualify for door prizes and scholarship giveaways.

“It’s going to be a great day for the college students,” Hudson said. “We’ve had businesses donate gift cards and gift all the things, and we will have about 20 local vendors that are offering scholarships and local organizations that are offering scholarships will be there.”

Find the link to register and more information on the Get Your Money Right Inc. Facebook group.

Mobile ID now available for Kentuckians

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Kentucky is looking to help prevent identity theft and deliver modern licensing services.

Kentuckians can now download a Kentucky Mobile ID, a secure digital version of a standard or Real ID driver’s license or ID card. The Mobile ID can be used for air travel at more than 250 airports.

According to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the Mobile ID is stored on the user’s smartphone as a valid form of ID locked behind a mobile phone’s unique pin, touch ID, or face ID. Kentuckians with a state license, permit, or ID card can request a digital version through the app. The mobile ID does not replace your physical ID, so continue to carry a hard copy.

To get your Mobile ID, download the Kentucky Mobile ID Verify app from the App Store or Google Play, register the phone number of your device, take a picture of the front and back of your physical ID using your device’s camera, and take a live selfie. 

The Transportation Cabinet says the Mobile ID is the state’s first step before launching driver licensing digital wallet options. More modernization efforts for Kentucky driver licensing will take place this summer. Visit drive.ky.gov/mobile-id for more information.

Hardin County Fiscal Court approves new solid waste provider and again votes down GIS position

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The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the year Tuesday.

Hardin County Jailer Josh Lindblom provided an update on medical billing for inmates at the Hardin County Detention Center. Lindblom said as part of the sale of Hardin Memorial Hospital $150,000 annually is supposed to go towards medical bills for the jail. Bills were not being adjusted to the Medicaid rate for inmates in the hospital for more than 24 hours, and Lindblom said after discussions the hospital acknowledged the county is right.

“The good thing about it is going forward now every bill we have for the hospital worth $150,000 will be repriced, so what that means is over the next 15 years that we have it left there will be about $750,000 in savings at least,” Lindblom said.

Lindblom presented a check for $50,383.53 from an audit of 2025 billing, and said audits will be conducted for the other four years after the sale.

The court approved resolutions assigning the county’s solid waste franchise agreement to Unified Disposal Partners Holdings LLC. Judge/Executive Keith Taul said UDP plans to buy the Kentucky and Tennessee assets of Platform Waste, the current solid waste provider for the county. The court also approved a resolution assigning the county’s intergovernmental support agreement to UDP, which covers solid waste service to Fort Knox. The county says curbside pickups and scheduled routes will continue uninterrupted, and residents should continue to use their orange cans.

The court held a second vote on a resolution approving the hiring of a full-time GIS coordinator. County Attorney Jenny Oldham said under Kentucky law if the vote on a resolution for the hiring of personnel remains tied for 15 days, the judge/executive has authority to make the hiring decision. E.G. Thompson, who abstained from the original vote, said given the existing contract with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District he was not ready to move ahead with the resolution.

“We have looked at cost savings and I’ve not heard that it’s inadequate,” Thompson said. “I do believe it’ll be a cost savings and in my mind it’s worth giving a good close look at to see if we can operate this way, and then if we can’t we need to go back and look at it again.”

Taul said he believed the more fiscally responsible choice was to hire a staffer rather than contract out the work. He also expressed frustration with the magistrates intervening in the hiring process.

“We do not know of any time in the last 20 years that the fiscal court has ever denied hiring an employee in an approved budgeted position,” Taul said. “I’ll say this: this negatively affected the morale of employees whenever this happened last month.”

The resolution was voted down 5 to 4.

In other meeting news, Hardin County Planning and Development Director Adam King said in 2025, 94 plats and 189 lots were recorded, 480 total building permits were issued, and 91 new single-family dwellings were approved. Hardin County Public Works Director Stephanie Givens said 937 bags were collected from 866 visitors during the county’s free shredding days in 2025, and 302 tons of products were collected from the county’s recycling trailers.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet January 27. The next Hardin County town hall forum will be held in the fiscal courtroom on January 26.

Scams targeting social media users and victims of scams reported

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Kentucky residents are being warned of several ongoing scam attempts.

If you were a recent victim of a scam, Team Kentucky Stop Scams warns you may be targeted again.

According to a Stop Scams alert, scammers often target their victims again with refund and recovery scams. The scammers will pose as organizations such as a law firm or a government agency and falsely promise to help recover money that was lost for an upfront fee. The Stop Scams team reminds Kentuckians to never pay fees or share personal information with unverified sources.

Meanwhile, the Better Business Bureau Serving Greater Kentucky and South Central Indiana is warning consumers of a phishing scam involving users of X, formerly known as Twitter. Users, typically of accounts with larger numbers of followers, receive a direct message with a link to click, after which they are locked out of their account and their account is used to promote cryptocurrency or other products. 

The BBB says you should familiarize yourself with the policies of the social media platform you are using, as most do not send emails with attachments. Be wary of unsolicited messages that ask you to click a link or open an attachment. Look for signs of scams including poor spelling, bad grammar, pressure to act now or demands for payment. 

Learn more about scams and sign up for alerts at stopscams.ky.gov. If you have not done so already, set up two-factor authentication for your social media accounts.