City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon everyone. I'd like to call Elizabethtown City Council work session for April 22nd, 2026 to order and ask Council Member Micah Tyler if she'd lead us in the invocation. Please

please bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we come before you today with grateful hearts, seeking your wisdom and guidance as we carry out the work entrusted to us on behalf of this community. Lord, bless this council with clarity of thought, fairness, and judgment, and compassion in decision-making. Help us to always seek the common good guided by truth and justice. We lift up in prayer all those who served and protect our brave first responders and the men and women of the military at home and abroad. May you grant them strength, safety, and peace. Shield them from harm, and let their sacrifices be honored with deep gratitude. We ask your blessing on our dedicated city employees. Those daily efforts keep our community running smoothly and safely. May they be encouraged in their work and valued for their service. Bless the people of our city, especially those who are struggling with illness, grief, or hardship. May they feel your presence and be uplifted by kindness of neighbors and the care of this community.

And if you join me in the pledge, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mrs. Graham, if you'd please call roll. Yes, sir. Council member Bishop, present. Vulkerson, present. Isaacs, here. Jones, here. Springsteen here. Tyler, here. Mayor, you have a quorum.

Thank you, ma'am. At this time, I would like to recognize and call on Elizabeth Town Police Chief Jeremy Thompson to make an introduction for a promotion that we are about to do. Just making sure that's on a really quiet speaker. You'll have to apologize my shyness when I get up here. So, uh, thank you all for allowing us to be before you tonight for a special occasion. oftentimes when we do our promotions in the past, we would do those privately. So, I appreciate the mayor and the council allowing us to do that publicly now because this is not just a celebration for us internally at the police department, but it's a testament to the growth of our city, a testament to the growth of the department, and I think more importantly, the trust that the mayor, Ed, and the council have put uh in the leadership at the department to make sure that we get the plan in place to protect our city. And part of that plan has been growth and expansion. And tonight is a another example of that in this promotion. So, Lieutenant to be Michael Merch, if you want to come up here, please, sir, until he's sworn in officially here by the mayor. Just a second. Uh, Sergeant Merch has been leading our newly created flex platoon, which has been a specialty unit as part of that growth we talked about. Has done a phenomenal job in the seven years that I've been here. Michael's worked patrol. He's worked our narcotic session uh section undercover. He's worked a variety of positions as a sergeant. And now we're excited because he's going to join Lieutenant Austin Smith as the second patrol lieutenant. And then Lieutenant Klinsky is going to move over to another unit that we'll talk about later. But tonight is uh a testament to the hard work that he put into this promotion process. So we're excited for him to take on a new role as the patrol lieutenant. So, mayor, if you want to get sworn in work, if you don't care, just to stand on the other side of the podium.

Okay. Raise your right hand. Know ye that this day came, Michael Mertz, who was by me duly sworn to the oath of office of lieutenant for the city of Elizabeth Town by being administered the oath of office, section 228 of the Constitution of Kentucky, in words as follows. I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and be faithful and true to the Commonwealth of Kentucky so long as I continue as citizen thereof and that I will faithfully execute to the best of my ability the office for said according to law and I do further solemnly swear that since the adoption of the present constitution, I being a citizen of this state have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within nor aided or assisted any person thus offending. So help me God. I do.

Congratulations. Thank you, sir. Do me a favor. So Mrs. Graham doesn't get on me when I bring this back up here. I need you to sign these two pieces of paper. And then this one you keep.

You are now a lieutenant. Thank you, sir. And I know you've got family here and some other police officers. If you all would like, if you don't mind for John's sake, if everybody will come up and we'll

Yeah, we'll grab we'll grab a picture. All right. Anyone from the flex squad? as well.

I'm going to do the family first and I'll get you guys in there. All right. And as always, Chief, I know your team is pretty busy, so they don't have to stay around for the rest of this if you want to cut them loose. Up next, we will have a presentation from Dara Bryant, who's a representative of Mission Hope for Kids, and she's going to tell you a little bit about what's going on with their organization and what they've been up to.

Thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. Nelly sends her regrets. She's just a little under the weather and couldn't make it today. I know you guys would prefer to see her cute little face up here, but you get me instead today. Um, and in a world where there's not a lot of good news going on, I have good news for you guys today. So, um, Hope Academy, as you might know, was registered as a 501c3 in 2012, and it was known then as Mission Hope for Kids, which we all still call it that, right? So, um, since that time, um, we've had several graduates. As you might know, our motto says, "Nurtured kids make better communities." And if you didn't know it, it's right here on my shirt. Um, and I'm here today with some proof that that's exactly what we're doing. Uh, in the years since we've been in business as a 5013 or C3, we've had no less than 15 high school graduates uh, from within our student body. All those students began attending our program in elementary school and continued with us until they had successfully completed their high school years. The high schools from which these students have graduated span across Harden County. We've had students from EHS, Central North, John Harden, and even homeschool graduates have proudly completed their journey as part of our Hope Academy family. Six of these 15 have gone on to attend college and obtain bachelor's degrees with one pursuing a post-graduate military career. The universities they've included include Campbellville, Western, and UK. There are five former students now attending college at ECTC, Morehead State, and Western. So that's nearly three quarters of our graduates that have gone on to attend college over the years. As for our 2026 graduating class, we have four students currently that are enrolled and will be graduating. One is already gainfully employed after completing his homeschool

curriculum. Uh, one will be enrolling in ECTC. One's heading to cosmetology school and our remaining graduate has been part of the ROC program in her high school and she'll be enlisting in the US Army. Uh, Hope Academy students are not only graduating high school, they're pursuing higher education and completing degrees. They're entering the workforce prepared and confident, and they're developing consistency, discipline, and leadership. I'm going to read a testimonial that was written by one of our graduates. We asked her to be here today uh to do this in person, but she's prioritizing her work and schooling over coming to meet with you good people. So, uh, I'll read this on her behalf. My name is Arianis. I'm a 2025 Elizabeth Town High School graduate and currently on track to get my associates degree at ECTC. Prior to graduating, I attended Hope Academy for 11 years. And it all started when I stepped foot into the gymnasium of Von Reno Stark's Community Center as a second grader who knew absolutely no English. in the midst of my parents' divorce, but I was still accepted into this amazing second family. Hope Academy grew into so much more than an afterchool program. It became the most exciting part of my week from when I was little all the way through my last year. The volunteers who were there became my role models, people I could turn to for advice or even just to have a simple conversation. And when I reached middle school, I went through a little bit of a rebellious phase. Nothing too wild, but I really thought I ruled the world when I was in sixth grade. During those years, I was given the chance to step up as a leader, someone that the other students could look to. And that opportunity taught me that I had a choice. I could set a good example or I could waste the trust that had been placed in me. I've finished or I've seen firsthand how much time, care, and

effort that our volunteers pour into students like me. And none of it would be possible without the generosity of of of supporters. Donors allow people to show up for us, to guide us, and to help us grow into confident young leaders. Through my high school years, Hope Academy took the time and effort to prepare me for life after high school. Before graduating, they poured into me the tools I needed to continue my education at a higher level. My mentors helped me with tutoring, submitting my FASA, college scholarships, and even took time outside of Hope Academy to go to college visits with me. I thought it would have been easier than what people said it was. I was completely wrong. I've officially turned 18 and adulting is anything but easy, but I'll be forever grateful for the help, time, efforts, and overall just the love that Hope Academy gave me. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate that. We also appreciate Hope Academy. And I think whenever I think of that organization, the word that comes to my mind immediately is success. And success looks different in in a lot of different ways. And you all seem to really inspire the kids that you interact with and find a way and a pathway for them to be successful. And so we appreciate that. And I will say that the council every year is very u enthusiastic about finding ways to be able to find resources for you all and pitch in and help out. So we're glad to support Hope Academy and we thank the work that you do and that Nelly does and that Shelley does and everybody that's involved with that. So thank you all very much. Up next is the north downtown neighborhood plan and our good friend Amy Williams from Taylor Seafer Williams is here to present that to you all. or talk to you about it.

Um, well, I'm excited to talk about the north downtown master plan. Um, it's been a big uh it's been a fun effort over the last number of months and it dovetailed into the downtown plan that you guys heard about just I think two weeks ago, right? Um, so I'm going to run through kind of a presentation, not trying to take too much of your time, but if you have questions, by all means, stop me and we can go through anything. I'm going to run through a little bit of just the process and then the plan document. Um I'm also going to run through just a high level of all of the improvements and projects that are in the north downtown plan and then the next steps as well. Um so this is uh similar to the idea of Haycraft, right? So it's it's it was created originally to say our CDBG funds, how do we focus those on the next round or the next area? Um, and I think one great thing that was done within this, so I'll give your staff credit on that, is um, Heycraft really focused on those those just CDBG projects. And the challenge or the charge with this was to definitely focus on those. But if there are other things, initiatives, programs that also the neighborhood wants, let's make sure we get those integrated and included. Um, even if they're not CDBG funded or even if they're neighborhoodled events or ideas. So, um, we did go through a process and looked at the backgrounds. Um, we assessed the goals for the neighborhood. We looked at various improvements and projects and then vetted that through an action plan and the final plans. So, we started in September and wrapped up in March. Um, as we went through that, the document does have three different big sections. The setting the stage, which is your existing conditions. Um, starting on page 29 is the improvements that has all of your improvements and then the projects that go with those improvements. And then 70, starting on page 73 starts to talk about those um the actual action plan in terms of implementation. Um, we did have engagement and that's documented in the um the plan as well.

We had two community workshops. um those were pretty well attended and the neighbors were excited to be there and tell us their thoughts and ideas and what they wanted for the neighborhood. Um so we did get some great feedback there. We also did kind of our own analysis. We went through and looked at what are the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, threats were um and then we also looked at a lot of the existing conditions. So each of those topics in the plan have a narrative description of those various, you know, pieces and parts of the neighborhood and if those could be mapped, we went ahead and mapped those existing conditions, too. um we did come up with five different kind of broad uh topics that all of our improvements and projects fall under. So looking at those that infrastructure that is out there that's our kind of our base need right um but also looking at walkable making sure again that was something definitely we heard about. So the second topic is really about those walkable connections um identity and design and again extending that kind of urban and downtown idea and in design characteristics um and transitioning that to more of the neighborhood scale there. Balanced development and again this does include Malbury. So that's a different kind of development than maybe you know what's on Main Street or Williams or something of that nature. Um and then really the idea of that neighborhood pride and this is where it comes to that neighborhood initiatives. people were really proud of being from this area. They wanted to have even have more identity amongst themselves. Um and so what can we start to do to uh empower them in a good way for yard of the month or whatever it may be. Um each of the improvements as you go through the plan has a big title at the top of what improvement number it is. It also has um it relates back to those goals so we know which goals support which improvement projects. also has a narrative of those. And then if it could be mapped, we put those on a map to make it easier. Um or graphics, it might be cross-sections, it might be something, illustrations of some sort. And then that last section goes through

the timeline. Um so trying to start to program out some of the CDBG funds and identify where other funds may be needed and a lot of those other funds are pushed further in the future knowing that you guys have some big projects coming up, some great things that are going to build momentum otherw elsewhere. And so we really focus on those CDBG funds first and then um you know any other bigger projects would come further down the road. We also have a cost range on those. Again, you can do things a lot of different ways, right? You redo a a sidewalk with concrete versus brick pavers. Those are different costs there. So they do have some, you know, again, just a a range of those so that you can start to anticipate that as you go through budgeting. And then there is in that section again and you have a a version of that kind of modified in 11 by7 for you guys too those capital projects um that do take again more of the the capital dollars here kind of programmed out and I'll explain a little bit of that as we go through this here too but it identifies it over the the range of fiscal years. So, starting in 26 and moving on, which your fiscal year will start here soon. Um, spoiler alert, we didn't program really a lot of funds other than CDBG the first couple of years again. So, um, and then again, that just kind of walks through here. So, I'm going to run really quickly through those different improvement projects just so that you guys would will at least be aware of what's in this plan. Um, but we did hear a lot of great input. Um some things that kind of stuck out stuck out though is you know in terms of uh road infrastructure about 3/4ers of the people talked about speeding um along Maine. So that was definitely a hot topic. Um we also talked about lighting which was an interesting once we mapped those existing conditions. 80 something% thought that they needed more lighting. We mapped it and we're like there's a lot of lights though. Um so there's some pockets of lights, right? So, there's some areas maybe, but it's not an overall neighborhood issue, but we've got some targeted areas where we can do

some filling in of gaps right along there. Um, and then connectivity was a big thing. People want to be able to walk to downtown easily and safely. So, there were 14 different improvements in the plan. Each had maybe one or three or four projects underneath it. Main Street was the biggest one. It's the first one. Um, and there are three projects under that. So, the first one is looking at intersections, especially the one at Maine and Crutcher and Maine and Williams, those two intersections. Um, the second project in there is to narrow those lanes because they ask you to drive a little faster um being so wide. So, there are a couple of options in there. You could do it with some striping or you can do it with physical, you know, median. There's options in there. Um, obviously cost implications and there's a few things to be talked through on there, but the idea is we need to narrow those travel lanes so we don't have a 14 foot, you know, travel lane that you can kind of speed down. And that final pro uh project really builds off of your safe street, safe streets for all that you guys already completed and really doing that neighborhood traffic management plan. Second project is alleys. Um, Vega and Quint were definitely identified as again just starting to go through those and clean them up. You guys do a great job with keeping that trash and debris out. Um, but really trying to make those a little bit more uh friendly. That was something else we heard from the neighbors. Possibly Mle McLean Place. Um, there's debate on if it's an alley or not. Um, and then the second one was just more of a clean and clear initiative. Again, you guys do a good job of keeping those clean and clear, but that can also fall back on the neighbors to help to help a neighborhoodwide initiative. That third project was about sidewalks and trails. So, we did identify um a priority and kind of different timelines of those, but Crutcher Street was the higher priority for the new sidewalks there. Um William followed by Williams, Brown, and Warfield. Those were ones that really just need some connections or don't have them. Um and then there's

a few little bitty pieces here and there, but those were the main streets. And then also crosswalks. Um there were a couple different places we identified as again just whether it's an ADA transition ramp or you know a truncated domes or or whatever it may be but to improve some of those crosswalks um at a couple of intersections that were identified. Um the last two on there then it also involves getting across the railroad which we know is always a challenge um no matter what community you're in it's always a challenge to cross a railroad. So these were maybe bigger ideas, long-term ideas. Um but it was the idea of improving um a a cross a railroad crossing at Crutcher. So right there to kind of get back down to Haycraft, right? But then the big dream of maybe there could be a new crossing one day at William Street. Um we know it can't be at grade because that's just not going to be realistic. That's a big a big idea, a big dream. Um but we also know the reality of it's happening now. Um, and as more great things get built on the other side of that railroad, more people are going to want to just cross the railroad track. So, um, the fourth one was about bike racks and installing those in a key a couple key places, not everywhere. Um, the fifth was about coordinating our water and wastewater upgrades. Again, if we're going to tear something up for that, we might as well put the new road or sidewalk in while we're doing it. The sixth one was about gateway and placemaking. So, um, Eton has an existing wayfinding plan. So, it's maybe taking a few of those items and um again helping with that community pride uh into identifying giving the the neighborhood a little bit more identity with either a sign or a banner. Um seven was about dilapidated buildings and maintenance. Um it's a little bit different from Haycraft where there were more individual lots that maybe needed to be um rehabilitated or or redone. There's a lot less of those here, but

the city is already doing, I know, the pre-approved building plans. I love that. That helps to streamline the the process and get the smaller um builders to be able to do those things. Um but also looking at a home repair pro program, a property improvement program, and a maintenance program as well that could be integrated into that. And then the eighth one is a design guideline. So, while you have design guidelines for the core of downtown, we don't always look at or we haven't really looked at those around um you know, the neighborhood areas. And so, these actually could be applied to the multiple neighborhood areas around um downtown. But we looked at um a number of different guidelines within that. Everything from kind of character, architectural style, um parking, lighting, um porches, that's a big thing. Um, and so really again, if if anybody's going to utilize funding from CDBG, we want to try to encourage these characteristics. We want to have the front porches and encourage that socialization, right? Um, and that sort of thing. So, we have outlined that's probably a dozen pages at least and actually outlined all the guidelines as well. Um, oh, there's an example page of those. So, each one of those is outlined on kind of what that guideline should be. Um commercial transitions was another topic or an improvement here. Um there's not a lot of action that needs to be done on it, but uh there's definitely a desire of those businesses along Malbury to be part of the neighborhood. We can't dictate if it's a small business or a national chain. Um but just encouraging those local businesses so that it is something that the neighborhood can walk to and enjoy and they can patronize. Um the 10th one was about a pocket park. So there was a desire to have a pocket park, nothing big. Uh people kind of reference the idea of haycraft or you know something smaller just for the neighborhood to gather in um but having some sort of play area, some open area um that the neighborhood can really kind of enjoy. And we also Lean was looking at the

community garden that's there. Again, this not a city um project or anything, but it could be a partnership. Um folks really wanted to look at maybe expanding it or improving it in ways too. So that could be a partnership that's maybe not taken on by the city but others in the neighborhood. And then 12 was looking at a liaison group. This was something we kind of went back and forth on but um giving those residents the ability to hopefully take some of those uh things like property improvement or you know I mentioned guard of the month. Let them lead that right those things that the city doesn't need to lead. Um but then they also can just they can attend those meetings when we have public meetings for whatever project it may be. So giving them a conduit. Um 13 was about public art and murals. And so helping again this is something else that liazison group could lead is how do we start to look at more local art uh within the neighborhood. And folks really like that idea whether it is a crosswalk or it's it's something of that nature. It could be even painting. A lot of communities will paint the uh you know the traffic signal cabinets or put wraps on them. And then the last one was those communityled events. So um things that the community wanted of it could be a seasonal decorations. Um they wanted to extend those from downtown. Um but knowing that you can't put a lot on you can't put anything on the on the um the le or the street light poles currently. Um and there's probably a lot of effort. So it might be a neighborhoodled effort if they want those decorations to extend into the neighborhood. Um a tree program and again the yard of the month program is something that brought up just to help promote that community pride. So what is next? Um a lot of great things are next in the next couple years. So we'll finalize anything to this master plan and um really that next step organizing and programing that future funding. So that's the biggest one. So, uh, you're looking they're looking at the 2026 funds which would go

into 2027. Um, those to really look in doing a drainage plan that was something that came up with the department heads. So, we met with all department heads about a month and a half ago maybe. Um, and they had said, "Okay, we had to do a small drainage plan for the sidewalk pro program uh project over here and then something else." And I was like, "We should just look at the whole neighborhood. It makes more sense to do it once, right? And to do it do it right." So looking at a drainage plan um with this next fiscal year and then some environmental planning that's just required for those grants and the remaining funds for the west uh railroad sidewalk. Um in addition to that looking at the 2026 is that project 1B. So it's the narrowing of lanes. So the idea is in 2026 you just need to decide what options you want, right? Are you going to stripe it? Are you actually going to put something physical in there like a median? So there's not really any funding that's needed in 26 for that, but it's a deciding process. Then in the 27 to 28 fiscal year, that's where we're looking at um you would start design on that main street and the two intersections because they go together and they could be bid together then starting maybe in 28 possibly. Um so those main street really was the first project out of here we had identified in addition to there's some setting the stage with that drainage plan the miscellaneous environmental um documentation you have to do with these grants and finishing up that west railroad sidewalk. So those are the next immediate items. Um and then again it was followed by prioritizing some of those alleyways and sidewalks. Um, and then those future funds pushed out to, you know, 2032 maybe that don't requ that that require outside funds outside of CDBG. Um, so that you guys have enough time to program and get all the other great things you're doing wrapped up possibly before then. So is I can go through anything in detail, but I know you had a an agenda there and

didn't want to take up too much time. See you get out on time. Not to put you on the spot, and I know you didn't cover it, but talk a little bit about the discussion you all had along the creek front. Which Wait, which one? Go back behind the courthouse. Did did

Oh, for the downtown plan. Yes. Yes. So, this does kind of dovetail into the downtown plan, which Bronte was here two weeks ago to kind of talk about. Um, and what the mayor's referencing is there was a lot of suggestions to the point I was like, Aaron, did you like did you tell everybody because it is not a project I thought of in every focus group. Everybody said it the idea of extending the trail along behind the the creek behind the, you know, the court building um all the way down and it would connect eventually to like s future city hall area. So the idea that this is kind of it's not just a trail, it's a it's a little bit more, right? So it's we we've called it a boardwalk or prominade or you know it's not just couple feet of asphalt here. The idea though is we can engage with the creek and we know that area floods. So there's a lot of uh initial coordination that's going to be needed. Um, but the idea is there's a lot of properties that back up to that that we hope to um really be able to engage and to those properties can really become part of a core of downtown as city hall complex kind of happens and you've got the downtown, you've got the square, the new hotel and that connection along the road, but also the creek. So those those properties can really front the creek development with dining and fun things of that nature and then also front you know the actual street as well. So the idea is extending again from basically I'll call it Dixie but we would want to get under the bridge somehow um all the way over towards the new city hall complex and then there is I think a soft surface trail in the uh trails master plan that could connect out into the county as well.

Thank you. And back to the north downtown plan. You mentioned a little bit about another railroad crossing at Crutcher Street. I hope you all have a good plan and talking the railroad into allowing us to have another. We talked about that and we said, you know what, we're going to put it in the plan knowing it's a big dream that, you know, probably won't necessarily happen. But I think it's the idea that people are crossing it now. I mean, you guys go out there, you're going to you'll see people now that Buffalo Lake Trails come online and then when the amphitheater comes online, it's just going to perpetuate it. So, I agree with you 100%, mayor. Um,

no, it makes a lot of sense and I think it would be great. It's just usually what the feedback that we get from the railroad is is how can we get rid of crossings as opposed to adding they do not want new ones. And we talked internally that again it's probably maybe not even an AT grade. It could be, you know what I mean? It might have to be uh above their

Well, Terry behind you there. He's a he's a big believer in tunnels. I tunnel the other one. Tunnels get a little scarier too sometimes from a safety perspective. But yeah, you're you're probably not going to walk across the tracks is my guess because they're not going to unless you close five others. They're not going to let you do that unfortunately. But I think it was just the idea of a lot of that's happening now and acknowledging that it's probably going to increase. But that's why it's pushed out into 2033 plus. Um that's going to take a decade of coordination just to get them to talk about it probably. Anybody else have questions for Amy? Okay.

As always, thank you. And we value our friendship with Taylor Williams. Great job on all of the amazing things y'all are doing. So, I think it's impressive. So, thank you, ma'am. Up next, Cory's already standing up with his cane. update on the wastewater treatment plant expansion with uh prime AE Andrew Bolan and Jim Hagerty. Yes, I'll just introduce them the engineers we've hired for the facility plan and looking to move forward with the uh design phase of this plan, but I will let them talk about that. So, come on up, gentlemen. Thanks, Corey.

Make sure that I can use this. I can. Wonderful. Good afternoon, everybody. Uh my name is Andrew Bowen. I'm the director of water and wastewater with prime AE here today with Jim Hagerty, our discipline leader for wastewater. Uh very excited to be speaking to this council today. Um was very happy to hear in that last presentation on Envision North Downtown the word momentum used several times. I think that's a a common theme throughout this meeting. A lot of momentum, a lot of of strong growth onward and upward. Um for this discussion I really wanted to get into um what we have been doing recently. Uh Prime AE got involved in the upcoming wastewater treatment plant expansion project last year with an update to the facility plan for that treatment uh plant. This next phase will require approximately 16 months of design work. It's going to include new wastewater processes at the treatment plant. It's going to include new basins for the expansion of that treatment plant and new buildings. But importantly, it's also going to rehabilitate and improve existing structures to the extent that we can. A big part of this project, this planning project included a condition assessment of the existing treatment plant, existing treatment plant equipment and buildings and structures. So we've really tried to come up with a plan forward that makes the most of what you have uh while also expanding and improving uh those treatment processes. Uh the design work this upcoming work will be a multidiscipline effort. I really just wanted to talk a little bit about the different disciplines that will be involved including architects. We have uh civil engineers working on pipelines, structural engineers, site civil engineers, electrical and instrumentation. We're going to have construction management and inspection

professionals involved as well as building mechanical HVAC and plumbing and process mechanical people working on uh the actual treatment of waste water. Uh we'll be uh we've submitted to to add uh two separate contracts. We're going to talk about those just a little bit. um they include a contract for professional engineering services for the design of the plant expansion and separately a contract to conduct on-site pilot testing of some solid steam watering equipment. Um and Jim will get into that uh here as a followup. Uh the facility plan that we updated last year has been submitted to the Kentucky Division of Water and it's in the middle of that review process. We got some update on that on Friday. So I'll let Jim talk to that a little bit. Uh good afternoon, mayor and councilman. Uh Jim Hagerty. As as Andrew said, I'm the head of the water and wastewater group discipline leader. We submitted the draft facility plan back in December of 22 uh December 22nd of last year 25. And the per purpose of this plan is to get concurrence with the state. And it also gives you access to state revolving loans and interest and grants. And one of the grants you got part of the economic development was the $30 million. But this will also give you potential for additional grants and low interest loans through the state to help fund the project and reduce

um

Yes. Yes. Every community needs it and it's a good program. typically drops interest rate over commercial rates by it can be as much as two and a half percent which provides a sign significant value to a community. We did just last Friday receive a semi approval. They allowed us uh gave us permission to go to public hearings. A part of the facility plan is you have to inform your citizens of the plan and why you're improvement and allows us. It means they've looked at the plan and what we submitted and have basically given us a be a firststep approval to go to to the facility plans and we'll be working with Ed and Corey on scheduling that public hearing on the plan. Um this still we're probably still another six months away from final adoption by um the division of water but this is a one of the more significant steps in getting approval of the plan and to talk a little bit about the plan u we looked at several options I won't I can talk to you all night long about what each option was but there were really three options out there. One was to build a new treatment plant um and then go to the Nolan River with a discharge um with that that that plan was in the neighborhood of $1 150 to $180 million and it didn't include um it didn't really include rehab of your existing plan. The other two options we looked at was a retrofit expansion of your existing plant both biologically and chemical. And then the the the um and those are really the the three options we looked at. We ended up and the goal was to expand your plant to 18

MGD. Um that's expanding by 65 MGD your current capacity of the plant and going to a peak u hydraulic capacity of 42 million gallons a day through your plant. Um also to address some operational issues that you have at the plant. um to relocate your existing um wet weather storage basins. We're going to do that. Get them away from the existing place and make them much more functional for your operations and to deal with some operational issues that the staff identified. The final plan was to use biological treatment to treat for your expansion and also to treat for new regulatory regulatory standards that you have to meet. And the real reasons we went to that option, one was it saved you capital significant capital savings. It saved significant operational um um cost too because we were able to reduce your discharge limits or increase your discharge limits to higher standards by the way we did it and that'll reduce your capital costs. We also eliminated having to go to the Nolan River with the discharge. We were allowed to expand at the existing uh Valley Creek discharge so we could discharge right next year creek next year plan save approximately 8 to10 million in pipeline cost. We also did a full rehab uh re-evaluation of your treatment facility and looked at repurposing and reusing all the existing infrastructure to the maximum and that's also another advantage. So part of this plan is we're going to rehab your existing facilities to give it another 20-year life within it. And that's all included in the budget. Um some of the significant elements of

it um in the I don't think this has a pointer but in the top left hand we're going to provide a new operations and maintenance facility for your staff. One to improve operations but also to provide a large maintenance facility. So you all can take a lot of your all's equipment maintenance inhouse and reduce cost from going out to to outside resources. Um we're going to provide a new wet weather basin storage basin. We're going to bring that on site and make it much more usable and that'll help reduce the cost by limiting the how much flow we got to put any peak hour into the plant. And then finally, we're going to build new processes to help you all treat um the expanded flow for all the growth that's happening to your city. And we're going to do it biologically. We're going to use natural elements to do that. And that really uh reduces the amount of chemical and sludge we have to produce. So it provides you a lot of advantages to that. Um, with that you want to hand it over to Andrew to kind of go through the last parts.

Yes. So, going back to those uh two upcoming contracts, the first uh for the uh both the design and procure a contractor to construct improvements or the the next phase um the actual construction of the improvements at the treatment plant. Uh this bulleted list here, it generally outlines the scope. It's not unlike most engineering design contracts. Uh the piece the very last bullet I will speak to a little bit. Uh project delivery method review. Uh a project of this size we think it's a good idea to have a look at all the different procurement methods you might go uh you might consider for something like this. Um and that's going to be part of our scope as well. When we look at the schedule here, uh I'm showing that facility plan approval, we're anticipating that in the third quarter of 2026. Um that'll overlap a little bit with the beginning of our design services. By the end of 2026, we will have completed the evaluation of different project delivery methods. I have in parenthesis here CMR, that's construction manager at risk. That's one that we want to be we're very interested in feeling out and understanding better. uh if you're going to go with that sort of a contract delivery method, uh a procurement of a contractor would happen early in the design step so that that contractor is available to to help review the work that we're doing on the design side. Um once that design is is finished and we're able to get uh our permits in, that little green square there is the bidding process and then we're showing construction beginning in 2028 and carrying through to the middle of 2031. Um this is an estimate right now based on the work that we see here. Um but it's uh it's a big effort and uh that's how we're seeing the schedule looking here over the next couple of years. Uh the other contract is for um the uh

evaluation of dewatering processes. So this is um I included two photos here. Actually Jim provided these to me. Uh the top photo is of a belt filter press. The bottom photo is of a centrifuge system. These are two different ways you could take the sludge that you're collecting off the bottom of your tanks and get water out of it. Usually when you're disposing a landfill, you're paying by pound and the more water you can get back out, the better it is for the for your bottom line. Uh so these different dewatering methods, I really just show these images to show that they're very they're very different. They're pretty complex. They take different um building footprints. They take different considerations and it's one element of this design that you know when Jim and I were talking about it, we thought the earlier we can decide the direction to go on sledge dewatering, it's just going to set up everything else so we're not potentially doing work we might have to do again. Uh so that's the reason we're suggesting moving forward with a a project to pilot different pieces of equipment to see which works better for your plant. Each plant's different. Um, we know manufacturers of both these types of processes that can provide really good systems. It's really just a matter of finding the right one uh for your plant, for your needs. And that's all that we have today. Any questions for Jim or I get this constructed, it'll be outdated.

We try to uh we try to design for a 30-year design life. So, the hope is that we will have a few decades left with the growth of ET. I don't know, Corey. Sounds great. Appreciate all the work. We look forward to continue to watch how it evolves. Thank you all. I tell you, Marty, we always get on Chief Thompson or Chief Malone or Don Hill about the cost of their departments. I think Corey's getting ready to Cory swings for the fences. It's needed though.

He only does it every 30 years though, right? Jeremy tries to do it every year. Okay, we'll open the floor to public comments. Seeing none, we have some city council information items. The next city council meeting will be May 4th, 2026. I also want to wish a happy birthday tomorrow to Councilwoman Julia Springsteen. I have no idea what her age is and I'm not I'm not going to guess, but I know it's young. So, happy birthday to you tomorrow. I hope you have a great day. Thank you, Mayor.

Couple things that I want to address real quick if I could. Officer Denham with the Etown Police Department has been working in conjunction with Helping Hand of Hope and Hope Burke who runs Helping Hand of Hope and they have come up with a extension of Helping Hands organization called Pathway Home. And what that is is a lot of times we see people that are marooned or stuck for whatever reason in the city. And when especially our police department encounters them or anybody, any of our organizations that helps people that are down on their luck and need a hand up encounters them, uh they simply just need a way to get home. And a lot of times that's by providing a bus ticket or it may involve renting a hotel room for the night, getting them a meal, and getting them a bus ticket for the next day. And so we've seen a need for that frequently. and they have started an account through helping hand of hope that will allow people if they would like to donate to that and give us the opportunity to get these people back where they came from, where they have family, where they have services that can help take care of them. And uh so we thought that that was a really great idea and appreciate officer Denim and Hope Burke doing that. So Amy's going to post something on social media if she hasn't already here pretty soon to show people how they can contribute or help with that or volunteer however they want to uh put a hand out for everybody. And so we're excited about that. I also want to talk a little bit about American Legion Park. A lot of people if they're not familiar with it by that name is where Funtopia is and we have been doing a lot of work up there as many know in the past year from uh pavilion new pavilion and bathrooms sidewalks shade structures uh the park really looks different now and so they're actually ahead of schedule on that construction and for all intents and purposes it is done and so I'm making that announcement that the park is back open. We want

people to go up there and enjoy the pool when it opens and pickle ball and Funtopia and take a picnic up there and enjoy the new pavilion. And we do have standalone bathrooms up there now and some shade structure for people that want to watch others play pickle ball or watch their kids or grandkids or nieces or nephews or whatever it may be at Funtopia. So, it's a really nice addition and uh we're really excited to have that up there for this summer. So, I wanted to make that announcement as well. And other than that, I don't have anything else. You all,

mayor, I do want to make a note. Um, I had the opportunity the other day to do work ethic certification interviews over at Central. Uh, and it was uh I I really enjoyed watching how many representatives from the city were there to help with that process. I think it's awesome that we get to interact with our young people and uh give them some valuable experience that hopefully will bring them back to our community. um we had multiple departments represented and I um I just think it's as we've tried to teach our kids that not everybody needs college a four-year degree that there are plenty opportunities in the city uh they require advanced training maybe beyond high school but there are a ton of opportunities to be really successful right here and um I noticed even on our Facebook page some other things that different departments have been doing with our schools and I just think that's a vital connection for us.

Well, as we always say, and I appreciate you pointing that out, and we're always proud of our city folks that go and participate in that, but talent retention is in as important or more important than talent recruitment a lot of times. And so all the things that we do, this council does, this staff does for the city of Elizabeth Town has those things in mind. So when people say, "Heck, why why are they putting that in or why are they doing this at that park or why are they putting that amenity in?" Well, a lot of times it's it leads to talent retention. We're keeping our good people here and they want nice things and they want nice things to do and it just makes our city better. So, I appreciate you bringing that up. Central Harden does a great job or the Harden County schools do a great job of of having that program available to seniors when they're going out into the workforce or going to college. Either one.

Did you intimidate any of them being former principal? Uh that was that was one of the great things about that is I had no responsibility for discipline there at all. Anybody else? Okay. Well, the good news is we are not going close session today. So to conclude the meeting, I just need a motion and a second to adjurnn. Make a motion. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Seeing none, motion carries. We are journ. Thank you all very much for coming today.