Meeting Report: Elizabethtown City Council, August 3, 2026

This is a plain report of the Elizabethtown City Council regular meeting held Monday, August 3, 2026. Everything below comes from the City of Elizabethtown's own public video of the meeting. We downloaded the recording, transcribed it, and checked names against city records. The full unedited video is embedded at the bottom of this article, and every section notes where in the video it happens so you can watch any part yourself.

Who was there

Mayor Jeff Gregory chaired the meeting. Council Members Tony Bishop, Marty Fulkerson, Tim Isaacs, Lamar Jones, and Mika Tyler answered the roll call. Council Member Julia Springsteen was not present at roll call. City Attorney Ken Howard read the ordinance and municipal orders into the record.

Councilman Fulkerson gave the invocation and the mayor recognized the Etown Hardin County Stampede bike group and Hardin County Magistrate Patsy Whitehead in the audience. (Video: 7:13)

Two new police sergeants sworn in

Police Chief Jeremy Thompson presented two promotions to sergeant: Eric Ryman and Jared Hatfield. Both originally joined the department as lateral hires, Ryman from the Hardin County Sheriff's Office and Hatfield from North Carolina. Thompson said the promotions follow recent retirements and an added lieutenant position, and that the promotion process produced six candidates.

"We had a very competitive list this year," Thompson said.

Mayor Gregory administered the oath and family members pinned on the new badges. (Video: 9:14)

Recognition

The mayor recognized Maurice Young for his service on the Planning Commission from June 2022 to June 2026, calling him "top quality, first class." (Video: 14:55)

Votes taken

All motions passed by voice vote with no opposition heard.

• Minutes of the July 13, 2026 meeting were approved. (Video: 16:24)
• SEED Program. The council approved the South End Elizabethtown Economic Development Program, referred to as the SEED Program. No details were discussed at the meeting. (Video: 16:36)
• Ordinance 13-2026, first reading only. Zoning text amendments for data centers. This was a reading, not an adoption vote. Full details in the next section. (Video: 16:54)
• Municipal Order 57-2026. Accepted the bid from Knight Sign for signage at Steelgrove Amphitheater, in an amount not to exceed $253,965, with change orders capped at an aggregate $38,094.75. Bids were publicly opened June 10. A council member asked whether this covers more than one sign, and was told it does. (Video: 23:38)
• Municipal Order 58-2026. Approved a lease agreement for the city-owned property at 1117 Woodland Drive with Mission Hope for Kids, Inc., a local nonprofit. (Video: 25:32)
• Municipal Order 59-2026. Approved a contract with CMW, Inc. for professional design services on a master plan for Trooper Lake, not to exceed $25,000. The order cites the Envision Elizabethtown 2040 comprehensive plan and funding the city received from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund to purchase property near the lake for a public park. The plan is to include access roads, park facilities, amenities, and multi-use trails. (Video: 27:08)
• Municipal Order 60-2026. Approved a contract with Lochmueller Group, Inc. for engineering services related to the Trooper Lake master plan, not to exceed $60,000. The order notes the firm prepared engineering design plans for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's reconstruction of US 62, North Mulberry Street. A council member told the Stampede bike group, "We're really excited about this park," and noted Parks and Recreation Director Seth Breitner has been in meetings on it. (Video: 28:52)

Data center rules got their first reading

City Attorney Ken Howard gave a first reading by summary of Ordinance 13-2026, which amends the zoning code's rules for data centers, covering definitions, zoning district restrictions, square footage limits, and design and operational standards, and allowing data centers as accessory uses only.

A first reading is a procedural step. The council did not vote to adopt the ordinance at this meeting. Mayor Gregory said the adoption vote would come in two weeks. The council's next scheduled meeting is August 10.

Mayor Gregory spoke at length about the ordinance, saying "everybody that's sitting up here is against hyperscale data centers," and explaining why the city chose regulations over a ban or a moratorium. We cover the full discussion, with quotes and video timestamps, in Part 3 of our data center series: Data Center Rules Reach City Council. (Video: 16:54 to 23:36)

Public comment

One resident spoke: Jose Torres of Elizabethtown, for roughly 20 minutes including back-and-forth with the mayor. (Video: 31:02)

Torres asked the city to give speakers an alternative to stating their home address out loud on camera, calling it a safety issue. Mayor Gregory said the topic is already planned for next week's council work session. Torres also noted that people who attend but do not speak are not required to sign in, which the mayor confirmed.

Torres's main comments concerned whether residents feel heard by their elected officials. He cited the VA clinic project, where the council overrode a Planning Commission denial, said he believes the Envision Elizabethtown 2040 comprehensive plan is "bad for Elizabethtown," and said the city's building projects are not serving people who make under $100,000 a year, mentioning food access and transportation. He proposed that some decisions be put to a public vote.

Mayor Gregory responded on the VA clinic: he said the VA picked its own site three to four years ago from five or six locations the city showed them, that the city considered the chosen site "probably one of the worst locations," and that the council's override was based on its reading of the comprehensive plan. He said the city routed both entrances to Ring Road with no access from Pear Orchard Road in response to resident concerns about traffic. He also said the council has overridden the Planning Commission about two times out of roughly 300 items in his almost eight years as mayor.

The exchange ended with a personal disagreement about whether the mayor had ignored Torres's greetings in public, which the mayor disputed, and an invitation from the mayor to meet by appointment.

Announcements

• The next city council meeting is Monday, August 10, 2026. (Video: 51:05)
• The Saturday portion of Cruisin' the Heartland was canceled Friday because forecasts showed an 80 percent chance of rain with possible storms. The Friday night car show at the lake went ahead. The mayor said the event will return next year.
• The Elizabethtown city pool's last day of the season is Sunday, August 9. The mayor said the pool closes because the lifeguards go back to school.
• Family Scholar House, in partnership with Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, has opened 48 apartments in Elizabethtown serving mostly single parents who are continuing their education at ECTC. The mayor said the first 7 families moved in Saturday, and that he and Councilman Fulkerson helped assemble bunk beds for one family.

Closed session

The council voted to enter closed session under KRS 61.810(1) to discuss the future acquisition or sale of real property. The mayor stated no action would be taken afterward. The public portion of the meeting ended there, 54 minutes into the video. (Video: 53:50)

Watch the full meeting

The complete, unedited video of the meeting:

How we built this report

We want to be straight with you about how this article was made.

Hardin Local built this story using our own custom AI stack. We downloaded the City of Elizabethtown's public video of the August 3 City Council meeting, transcribed all fifty four minutes of it on our own hardware, ran the transcript through a local corrections database for Hardin County names and places, and used AI to index and analyze the full record so that nothing said in that room got overlooked.

Then a person checked the work. Every quote in this article was verified by ear against the actual meeting audio. Every speaker was confirmed before their name was attached to anything they said, and the council members' names were checked against the City of Elizabethtown's official roster. Nothing was published on the strength of a machine transcript alone, and a human editor reviewed this article before it went live.

That process is not perfect, and we would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise. Where speakers introduce themselves only out loud, those name spellings come from audio and may not be exact until the city posts its official minutes.

If you spot an inaccuracy, please tell us. Email [email protected]. We will check it against the recording and correct the record publicly. We would much rather be corrected than be wrong.

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