The Leadership Hardin County 2017 class started out the Economic Development Day with the Knox Regional Development Alliance (KRDA) Kickoff Breakfast at Grace Heartland Church. In attendance were several local and state political leaders, representatives from U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office, retired generals from Fort Knox and many other community leaders.
As many know, the location of Fort Knox has been and continues to be the largest economic driver for Hardin County, as well as the surrounding adjoining counties. Fort Knox touches each and every major industry segment from Health Care to Entertainment. The KRDA is a private-public regional alliance focused on protecting and promoting Fort Knox to increase its economic impact. KRDA is a merger of the CORE Committee, Inc. and Hardin County Chamber of Commerce One Knox Council.
During the breakfast we heard from the co-chairs of the KRDA Campaign, Dennis Johnson (Hardin Memorial Health), and Ray Springsteen (Fort Knox Federal Credit Union), as well as Major General (Ret.) Bill Barron.
Barron spoke in detail about the mission of the former CORE Committee and the current mission of KRDA. The KRDA is being proactive, instead of reactive, to a possible BRAC in 2019-2020. The KRDA has developed a three-priority Initiative to showcase and protect Fort Knox. These three priorities will be focused around the following: Advocating to retain existing and attract/recruit new Department of Defense missions, Implement defense-related a new business attraction and existing business retention program, and lastly, develop more public-public and public-private partnerships.
The expectation is that if KRDA does its jobs to retain current contracts and businesses, and to bring in new contracts and businesses, this could mean approximately 1,600 new jobs and over $20 million economic impact for our area.
The current goal of KRDA is to campaign to raise $2.5 million over the next 5 years. This will supply the annual budget to help KRDA meet its priorities to help ensure Fort Knox continues to be the economic driver for Hardin County. The co-chairs made the announcement that since they have started the campaign they have already raised over $1.5 million.
After the breakfast meeting, we travelled to the Hardin County Industrial Foundation. We had the privilege of hearing from different guest speakers. Our speakers included Matt Adams, Rick Games, Mo Miller, Patricia Krausman, Sherry Murphy, Kelly Barron, and Brad Richardson. Some of the topics the speakers presented about were agriculture, small business, tourism and the industrial foundation all for Hardin County. This session really showed that Hardin County as a whole is strong, and that when we are successful no one cares who gets credit.
After our guest speakers were finished we ate lunch, and then it was time for Group A’s assignment presentation on “Primal Leadership.” The group discussed the six styles of leadership, and then demonstrated the styles by allowing us to view a clip from the movie, “Remember the Titans.” They then had everyone take a self-assessment test to figure out our “true colors.” This brought on Anthony Conder’s version of “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper, which was quickly followed by the actual song by Cyndi Lauper. After the test the end results showed that the majority of the class had the color yellow, which meant that they were people-oriented. This was a shock to most.
The afternoon was time to get out and tour two local facilities. The first stop was the Elizabethtown Sports Park. Opened in 2012, ESP has become one of the top sports parks in the United States and creates an economic impact for our community in excess of $13 million dollars a year. The park operates tournaments and local league activities between March 1 and Nov. 30. When our group arrived at ESP, we gathered in the conference room of the main office. Seth Breitner and Seth Flener gave a presentation on the role that the Park serves for the community as well as an overview of operations. The group had many question about the park and gained a better understanding of how the park serves as an economic driver in the community. Once the presentation was over, the group was given the choice to tour either the baseball side or the Championship fields side of the park. Seth Flener led the baseball tour and Seth Breitner led the Championship tour.
The second stop was AGC Automotive Elizabethtown plant. Upon arrival, the group was escorted into a conference room where Plant Manager Scott Gunther led a presentation on the history and organizational structure of AGC as well as the manufacturing process of automotive glass. AGC is a Japanese owned company with its headquarters in Tokyo. AGC, previously known as AP Technoglass, started operations in Kentucky in 1989. Today the plant employs over 700 individuals and manufactures automotive glass for various car manufacturers and technology. After the presentation, our group was broken up into several smaller groups and led on a tour of the entire facility. It was amazing to see the focus on safety, quality and cleanliness throughout the entire plant. The plant operates seven days a week 24 hours a day.
Overall, the entire class really enjoyed Economic Development Day. It was fascinating to see firsthand how local Hardin County businesses play major roles with the growth of our community how well positioned Hardin County is for continued growth and development.
Laura Smith, Customer Representative II
Kentucky Utilities Company
242 West Dixie Ave., Elizabethtown, KY 42701
270-765-4102
Katie Kurtz, Director of Development and Communications
United Way of Central Kentucky
604 N. Main Street, Elizabethtown, KY 42701
Office: (270) 737-6608
Megan Clan, Assistant Mortgage Manager
Fort Knox Federal Credit Union
3939 S. Dixie Blvd., Radcliff, KY 40160
Phone: 800.285.5669 x 6229
Nathan R. Highbaugh, Assistant Vice President
Magnolia Bank
794 Old Elizabethtown Rd., Hodgenville, KY 42748
Office: (270)358-3111
Seth Breitner, Director of Parks and Recreation
City of Elizabethtown
200 West Dixie Ave., Elizabethtown, Ky. 42701
270-765-5551
