Leaders in Hardin County and Elizabethtown will decide in coming weeks whether to pursue merger talks. Ordinances establishing a unification review commission must pass Hardin County Fiscal Court and the Elizabethtown City Council.

“By law, the minimum legal requirement is that we have approval to form the commission by the county court and the largest city in the county, which in this case, would be Elizabethtown, says consultant Luke Schmidt.

If approved by those two bodies, ordinances would eventually go before each of the five remaining incorporated cities in Hardin county, which include Radcliff, Sonora, Upton, Vine Grove, and West Point.

Voters will ultimately decide if city and county governments merge when the question is put on the 2014 ballot.  In the meantime, the unification review commission will develop a plan for merged government that will deal with issues such as tax rates and the makeup of a metro council.  The commission will consist of 20 to 40 citizens appointed by the participating governments.