President's Report–Rick Games
Summertime is upon us. There are lots of good things happening in our community. A few of these are:
- Eurotrol, a major supplier of testing products to the medical industry, has hired a contractor and is beginning construction of their state-of-the-art distribution facility on North Black Branch Road.
- Fischbach’s expansion is nearing completion and should be completed this fall.
- The new Holiday Inn Express located just off of US 62 and I-65 is well underway. They are beginning to move dirt for the building pads for Starbucks and Culvers both locating to the same area.
- Loves Truck Stop has purchased land at the end of Ring Road where it joins the Western Kentucky Parkway and has begun moving dirt for their project.
- Hardin Memorial Hospital has just completed construction of their new emergency department and is in the process of remodeling the old emergency department area to provide additional room.
- Work continues on Impellizzeri Pizza in downtown Elizabethtown with an expected opening late this year. There are also several other new business that have opened in the downtown district.
- A ribbon cutting was held at the KY High School Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, July 21. Look for the official opening soon. http://www.khsbhf.com/
EHCIF has contract with Phillips Brothers Construction for the completion of Pritchard Parkway–a road that will contact North Black Branch Road to US 62 West. This street will hopefully alleviate some of the traffic back up on North Black Branch Road at shift change. We hope to have this project completed by late fall.
At the Annual Meeting held in April, EHCIF added three additional members to its Board of Directors. Dr. Juston Pate, Heidi Patterson, and Dan Robbins. Dr. Pate is the current president of the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, Hartlage is Director of Administration for Hartlage Management, LLC and Robbins is the principal of the Early College and Career Center.
I recently attended the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington, D.C. As a member of Kentucky United, I was part of the contingent that worked the Kentucky Booth. Our role was to market the Commonwealth to foreign investors that were wanting to locate in the US.
I would like to acknowledge that both the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College and Western Kentucky University have new presidents this year. Dr. Juston Pate is the new president of ECTC. He came to Elizabethtown from Maysville Community and Technical College where he served as the provost. Dr. Timothy Caboni is the new president of WKU. Dr. Caboni, a 1994 graduate of WKU was most recently the vice chancellor for Public Affairs at the University of Kansas. I have meet with both to continue our partnership going forward.
EHCIF was presented the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce 2017 Hall of Fame Award for their dedication to the mission of creating jobs in the community.
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about two very important organizations. The Elizabethtown/Hardin County Industrial Foundation Training Consortium (https://eifky.org/workforce/) and the Hardin County Facility Managers Association. Both of these organizations play a very important role in our community. For additional information on how to become a member, please contact me at 270-737-0300.