OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Elizabeth Town City Council Work Session January 12, 2026

City Council Meetings — Monday, January 12, 2026
BodyElizabethtown, Kentucky
SessionCity Council Meetings
DateMonday, January 12, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 43:46

Transcript — Verbatim
5:44

Good afternoon, everyone.

5:45

We'll call the meeting to order and welcome everyone to Elizabeth Town City Council work session for January 12th, 2026.

5:52

And I'd like to ask Councilmember Tony Bishop if he'd lead us in the invitation, please.

6:28

And if you would join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

6:36

And to the Republic for which it says one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

6:49

Madam Clerk, if you would please call roll.

6:53

Yes, sir.

6:54

Councilmember Bishop.

6:56

Here.

6:57

Walkerson.

6:59

Here.

7:00

Isaac's here.

7:02

Springsteen.

7:04

Here.

7:05

Tyler.

7:07

Here.

7:07

We have a quorum mayor.

7:09

Thank you, ma'am.

7:10

And Councilmember Jones is out of town today, so he sends his regrets.

7:15

And so we will start our meeting with a wastewater department update.

7:19

Corey Bond is our director, and Corey, you get the pleasure of being the first person to present in our new chambers.

7:25

Yes, this is very exciting.

7:26

It is an honor to be the first one in the new chamber.

7:29

It's very nice.

7:31

Hopefully everything goes well.

7:33

All right, so just a little introduction.

7:35

We've done this each year, but just a little bit more about me.

7:38

Um I'm a University of Louisville graduate from the engineering program there, bachelor's and masters from chemical engineering.

7:45

Uh started with the city in 2016, so this will be my tenth year with the city.

7:49

Looking forward to at least 10 more.

7:57

Last year I reported that we were uh at eleven and we had one vacancy for chief operator, and we promoted from within, Jesse Arnold.

8:04

He uh passed his class four wastewater certification license last year and has moved up into that role and has been doing great for the past year.

8:11

We also hired two new employees last year with some people moving out of the department, and they started roughly in March.

8:19

And then also uh more of a happy note to report also.

8:23

We have now passed ten years of the wastewater plant with no lost time accidents.

8:28

So we're today marks day 3,715.

8:32

So knock on wood, hopefully there's ten more of those as well.

8:37

Um little bit of an operational update on the department.

8:40

Uh we treated uh 2.9 billion gallons of water last year, up from the previous year.

8:46

Our average is around 8 million gallons a day this past year, whereas the previous year it was seven.

8:52

We are at 62% of our capacity.

8:55

Um some of that can be attributed to the amount of rain we had last year.

8:59

We had very large amounts.

9:01

I think we were at 62 inches roughly, whereas the previous year we're around 50.

9:07

Um let's see, we're currently rated at 13 million gallons a day with our peak capacity at 29, and as I mentioned with those storms, uh, we also stayed at for three full days last year at our peak capacity.

9:20

We were maxed out during those April storms, and also during that storm we had a uh incident where our berm was uh broken.

9:28

We had a hole in the berm where the creek was flooding into the plant, and luckily with the help of public works and some other departments, we were able to stop that, and we are looking to repair that hopefully in the coming months.

9:38

Uh one of the things I have for you in looking forward in our department.

9:42

Uh, here in the next few weeks to a month, we will hopefully have an ad municipal order before you to do those repairs.

9:49

It wasn't particularly budgeted because I was right during the time we were doing the budget and that incident happened, so it wasn't prepared for, but we will hopefully be able to have room and it would potentially carry over into next time, but hopefully we have it fixed before then.

10:04

Uh much larger note, the expansion.

10:08

As you all know, we have uh been contracted with JTL to do our facility plan, and we had that completed late last year in November, and we have submitted that to the state for their review, hoping to have that review in the next few months and approved.

10:21

We look to go into the design phase here in the next few months again with JTL to start looking to see how we can go about our design.

10:28

The current anticipation is to expand from 13 to roughly 19, so a six million gallon per day expansion.

10:36

I know with a lot of the uh uncertainty and things we've heard from the community, not sure how much we really need to do, but the goal and plan is to do this in phases.

10:46

So the first phase of the expansion will be a new admin building and a few new equipment that we need in order to meet new regulations that are put forth by the state, and then we can also phase in later on the actual expansion of capacity.

11:04

So where we know we have to do some things now, we can start on that and hold off to know if we need to expand more or potentially less, depending on what happens with the industries in our area and our continued growth.

11:18

And as I mentioned, uh burn repair, we're hoping to start that here in the next few weeks, or at least the bidding of it.

11:25

And only other thing really to mention that I could think of is the uh new rates.

11:30

Of course, as you know, in 2024, we did a rate study with HDR, and we implemented that, and it was put out July 1st of last year, and the new rates have been in effect.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Airport Management██████████████████████████████30%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████████████████28%
Water And Wastewater Management████████████████16%
Public Works████████████████16%
Procedural████████8%
Public Safety██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Elizabeth Town City Council Work Session January 12, 2026

The Elizabeth Town City Council convened a work session to review departmental updates, including progress on the wastewater plant expansion and a summary of active construction projects. The City Administrator presented a comprehensive overview of infrastructure initiatives, citing specific cost estimates and timelines. The Airport Board requested municipal bridge funding to complete the Tea Hangar project. The session concluded with public testimony regarding neighborhood stormwater analysis and a closed session regarding real property acquisition and economic development.

Consent Calendar

  • No items listed on the consent calendar; no routine unanimous actions recorded in this transcript.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Judy Elliott (Harvard Drive) expressed concern that she has not received a requested progress report regarding stormwater infrastructure filling her neighborhood since October. She sought a timeline for the analysis initiated in June. She did not explicitly state a position of opposition but requested accountability for the delay.

  • Council Response: Councilmember confirmed that an engineering analysis is currently underway to determine the best path for relief. The council agreed to have the department contact the resident the following day to provide specific dates, rather than leaving the inquiry unresolved.

Discussion Items

  • Wastewater Department Update (Corey Bond):

    • Operational Statistics: The department treated 2.9 billion gallons last year, with an average of 8 million gallons per day (up from 7 million). The facility operates at 62% capacity. The department reported 3,715 days without lost-time accidents.
    • Safety Incident: A berm was breached during April storms due to 62 inches of rainfall, allowing creek floodwaters to enter the plant. Repairs are anticipated within the coming months via an upcoming municipal order.
    • Expansion Plans: The current capacity is 13 million gallons per day (MGD), with a plan to expand to roughly 19 MGD (a 6 MGD increase).
      • Cost Estimation: While the initial estimate of $15 million per MGD resulted in a $90 million total, the City Administrator and Mr. Swope noted the current realistic estimate is approximately $120 million due to rising prices.
      • Phasing: The expansion will be phased, starting with a new admin building and equipment to meet state regulations, followed by potential future capacity expansion based on industry growth.
    • Rates: New rates implemented July 1st are functioning well, though Water District 2 reports receiving inquiry calls.

  • City Administrator Project Updates (Ed Pope):

    • Commerce Drive / Music Venue: The contract for upgrades (Executive Drive to Springfield Road) was awarded to Dirtworks. A three-lane cross-section with a center turn lane is planned. Waterline upgrades were approved by the Division of Water. No Lynn will lead street light installation and maintenance.
    • Topography Challenges: The outdoor music venue and police station construction encountered unexpected sinkholes and bad soils due to karst topography. Remediation is complete at the venue, though costs exceeded initial contingency expectations. The police station has resumed steel erection and roofing.
    • Grant Projects: The Litchfield Road and South Ring Road sewer upgrades are complete, with final grant drawdowns requested. University Drive parking and Freeman Lake park projects are under construction, funded entirely by state grants ($1 million) with no city funds spent thus far.
    • Safety Streets Grants: Funding was secured for the College Street project, but the East Dixie project remains pending due to a delayed federal grant agreement. Once signed, the project has a five-year completion window.

  • Airport Board Update (Carl Swope):

    • Project Status: A privately funded corporate hangar is nearly complete. The new terminal building is on track for a late spring ribbon-cutting.
    • Tea Hangar Project: This 2.5 million dollar project faces a funding shortfall. The city's required local match is 6.9%, significantly higher than the standard 5%.
      • Funding Gap: Due to early completion of construction and site mitigation costs ($200,000 unanticipated), the board is behind on the timeline for additional federal grant awards.
      • Proposal: The board requested $600,000 in bridge funding for 18 months to complete the project, with plans to repay via expected federal grants in the spring.
    • Council Position: The Mayor expressed no objection to the loan, provided a formal agreement is drafted. The interest rate was clarified to be low (approximately 2% or less, not the 20% jokingly suggested). The council directed staff (Ken) to finalize the agreement between the city and the airport board.

Key Outcomes

  • Bridge Funding Approval: The council verbally approved the provision of $600,000 in bridge funding to the Airport Board for the Tea Hangar project to cover a temporary funding gap until federal grants are awarded.
  • Agreement Directive: Staff has been instructed to draft a formal agreement outlining the terms of the bridge loan between the city and the airport board.
  • Public Inquiry Action: The City Administrator committed to having the relevant department contact resident Judy Elliott within 24 hours regarding the timeline for the stormwater infrastructure study.
  • Closed Session: The meeting adjourned to a closed session pursuant to KRS 61.810 to deliberate on the future acquisition or sale of real property and specific economic development proposals. No public votes were recorded during the closed session.
  • Next Meeting: The next City Council meeting is scheduled for January 20th, 2026, at 4:30 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. We'll call the meeting to order and welcome everyone to Elizabeth Town City Council work session for January 12th, 2026. And I'd like to ask Councilmember Tony Bishop if he'd lead us in the invitation, please. And if you would join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it says one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Madam Clerk, if you would please call roll. Yes, sir. Councilmember Bishop. Here. Walkerson. Here. Isaac's here. Springsteen. Here. Tyler. Here. We have a quorum mayor. Thank you, ma'am. And Councilmember Jones is out of town today, so he sends his regrets. And so we will start our meeting with a wastewater department update. Corey Bond is our director, and Corey, you get the pleasure of being the first person to present in our new chambers. Yes, this is very exciting. It is an honor to be the first one in the new chamber. It's very nice. Hopefully everything goes well. All right, so just a little introduction. We've done this each year, but just a little bit more about me. Um I'm a University of Louisville graduate from the engineering program there, bachelor's and masters from chemical engineering. Uh started with the city in 2016, so this will be my tenth year with the city. Looking forward to at least 10 more. Last year I reported that we were uh at eleven and we had one vacancy for chief operator, and we promoted from within, Jesse Arnold. He uh passed his class four wastewater certification license last year and has moved up into that role and has been doing great for the past year. We also hired two new employees last year with some people moving out of the department, and they started roughly in March. And then also uh more of a happy note to report also. We have now passed ten years of the wastewater plant with no lost time accidents. So we're today marks day 3,715. So knock on wood, hopefully there's ten more of those as well. Um little bit of an operational update on the department. Uh we treated uh 2.9 billion gallons of water last year, up from the previous year. Our average is around 8 million gallons a day this past year, whereas the previous year it was seven. We are at 62% of our capacity. Um some of that can be attributed to the amount of rain we had last year. We had very large amounts. I think we were at 62 inches roughly, whereas the previous year we're around 50. Um let's see, we're currently rated at 13 million gallons a day with our peak capacity at 29, and as I mentioned with those storms, uh, we also stayed at for three full days last year at our peak capacity. We were maxed out during those April storms, and also during that storm we had a uh incident where our berm was uh broken. We had a hole in the berm where the creek was flooding into the plant, and luckily with the help of public works and some other departments, we were able to stop that, and we are looking to repair that hopefully in the coming months. Uh one of the things I have for you in looking forward in our department. Uh, here in the next few weeks to a month, we will hopefully have an ad municipal order before you to do those repairs. It wasn't particularly budgeted because I was right during the time we were doing the budget and that incident happened, so it wasn't prepared for, but we will hopefully be able to have room and it would potentially carry over into next time, but hopefully we have it fixed before then.

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