WQXE NEWS

The Elizabethtown City Council met for a special meeting Monday.

The council approved a municipal order which accepted a $1,846,000 bid from Dirt Works Unlimited for the Diecks Drive Improvement Phase One Project. Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory noted that this phase of the project is actually for work on Village Drive.

“We budgeted $2 million for this project and it came in about $150,000 under budget, which is always a good thing, and it’s going to be new road, new sidewalks, stormwater projects, and we’re going to clean that up and make it really nice down through there, so we’re excited about this project, especially since it came in under budget,” Gregory said.

The council also approved four municipal orders approving bids for paint (Pennington Properties – $19,750), audio/visual equipment (Stilwell Sound LLC – $73,179.58), carpet (Corvin’s Floor and Cabinets – $16,901.28), and a wall partition (Hub City Glass and Mirror – $17,500) at the new city council chambers, which will be quasi-temporarily located at 212 West Dixie Avenue.

“We intend to be there for probably five to six years while we work on our new City Hall campus downtown, where E-Town Laundry is right now,” Gregory said. “It’s gonna be the start of what we’re going to start building down there eventually, but we want to have nice chambers and one that’s accommodating to the public, and that’s why we’re working on the old Basketball Hall of Fame building.”

A municipal order approving easements and right-of-ways for the Commerce Drive Roadway Project was also approved.

The first reading was held on an ordinance that corrects the city ordinance concerning signage on scenic parkways to replace Miles Street with Saint John Road. The first reading was also held on an ordinance amending the city’s natural gas ordinance, including new rates.

“For section 51.20, the general rate will be $10,” said City Attorney Ken Howard, reading from the ordinance. “The base rate will be $3.44 per MCF. Section 51.21, the heat rate, the facility charge will be $10. The base rate will be $4.47 per MCF.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet October 20.

October is Fire Prevention Month, and fire officials are reminding residents to make sure their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are in working order.

“Those are two very important devices in your home,” said Radcliff Deputy Fire Marshal Tommy Crane. “Basically, they smell the smoke and detect the carbon monoxide even when we can’t or when we’re asleep.”

Press that button and make sure the batteries in your smoke alarm are good to go.

“The best thing we tell people is preferably, if you can, just check them once a month,” Crane said. “Make sure they’re working operational at a minimum once a year. Check them, and if they have a replaceable battery, replace it when you do your time change, when we ‘fall back.’”

Make sure you check the date on a smoke alarm, as they should be replaced after 10 years.

Crane says homes that use natural gas, propane, or a wood stove for heating and/or have an attached garage need to have a properly-functioning carbon monoxide detector.

“Even if they’re a plug-in type, they still have a replaceable backup battery, a lot of them do, so make sure you’re checking that and then just check that date,” Crane said. “A lot of your newer smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, they have the end of life alarm, but you’ll still want to just check the date and make sure that they’re still functioning properly, and they’re still in that time frame that they’re supposed to be used.”

Learn more about Fire Prevention Month by visiting the National Fire Protection Association’s website.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College has received grant funding to expand services at two satellite campuses.

According to a release from ECTC, the college recently was awarded a $1.3 million TRIO Student Support Services grant from the U.S. Department of Education which will be used to expand services at the ECTC Leitchfield and Springfield campuses.

ECTC says the grant will enable the college to hire a program director who will have a presence at both campuses. The grant will also cover hiring a tutor and an administrative assistant for both campuses. The college says the grant allows them to expand their reach to connect more students to services.

The goal of TRIO Student Support Services is to increase retention and graduation rates among participants. The release states: “TRIO SSS serves first-generation, low-income students. It provides individualized services such as one-on-one tutoring, guidance through the educational process, academic counseling, transfer assistance, visits to four-year universities, and more.”

Learn more about other available student services at ECTC by visiting their website.