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Community visioning

July 29, 2013 By admin

Hardin County (KY) Community Visioning Project

HardinCountyGovernment Logo

Introduction

In 2009, Hardin County, KY (located in the Elizabethtown – Fort Knox Metropolitan Statistical Area) found itself in the middle of a major expansion of Fort Knox – one of the United States Army’s largest posts – with growth in jobs (approximately 12,000 net new direct and indirect jobs), along with an expected increase in population of between 12,000 and 15,000 people.  Base realignment (commonly referred to as BRAC) at Fort Knox resulted in the largest economic development project in Kentucky’s history (larger than the initial investments by Toyota in Georgetown and UPS at Louisville International Airport).  The impact on Hardin County has been enormous.

Fort Knox Entrance SignIn order to capitalize on this once in a lifetime opportunity, under the leadership of Hardin County Judge/Executive Harry L. Berry, Hardin County Government commissioned a visioning project for the purpose of building upon the positive momentum created by BRAC.  The project was designed to build upon Hardin County’s strengths and current growth opportunities, identify weaknesses, maximize efficiencies and establish strategic community goals.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC was retained to conduct the project on behalf of Hardin County Government and in partnership with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District and the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment.

Project Scope 

The project’s methodology included a community strategic assessment (which included analysis of previously conducted studies and interviews with key groups and organizations).  Also included in the community assessment was a 30 page confidential key stakeholder survey which was sent to over 100 community leaders representing the agriculture, business, education, government, health care, industrial, military and tourism sectors, and, two community leadership forums.

The project also analyzed benchmark (or peer) counties through research, site visits and meetings with leaders in each community that align with Hardin County demographically in order to determine how these counties approach various issues, such as community and economic development.  The benchmark counties included:

  • Daviess County, Kentucky (Owensboro area)
  • Lee County, Mississippi (Tupelo area)
  • Lowndes County, Mississippi (Columbus area)
  • Montgomery County, Tennessee (Clarksville area)
  • Warren County, Kentucky (Bowling Green area)

The key stakeholder surveys generated a 73% response rate which provided an accurate snapshot of attitudes and opinions on various key issues.  The survey covered the following areas:

  • HMH PhotoMedia
  • Education
  • Arts/Cultural Issues
  • Quality of Life/Quality of Place
  • Downtown Elizabethtown
  • Economic Development
  • Community Competitiveness with Other Communities
  • Fort Knox
  • Conference/Convention Facilities
  • Health Care
  • Transportation
  • Community Position (Standing/Stature in Frankfort and Washington, D.C.)
  • Government/The Big Picture

Community leaders participating in the vision process and through the key stakeholder surveys in Hardin County easily reached consensus on a number of broad areas, including:

  • Strong support for education at all levels
  • A desire to unify the community in order to leverage its size to improve the efficiency of the delivery of services
  • A desire to speak with one community voice in order to improve the community’s standing and stature in Frankfort and Washington, D.C., as has been successfully done with One Knox
  • A desire to eliminate duplication when and where possible by combining groups and organizations in order to improve efficiency and more efficiently market and promote the community
  • A desire to improve the existing quality of place/quality of life by improving the visual appearance in urban areas, develop new retail opportunities, and change existing alcoholic beverage laws in order to foster the development of new restaurants, pubs and other new dining experiences
  • A desire to re-develop Downtown Elizabethtown to include new retail, entertainment and residential opportunities which will be unique to the County and will serve as a magnet for young professionals

 

Project Findings

Based upon the research which was conducted, along with the site visits and discussion from two robust community leadership planning sessions, project participants agreed upon 24 strategic goals, grouped in the following categories for Hardin County:

  • Education
  • Community Unification
  • Community Development
  • Quality of Place/Quality of Life
  • Downtown Elizabethtown
  • Health Care

Media Reports

The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise reported extensively on the Hardin County Vision Project.  Many of these articles can be viewed by visiting the Latest News section of this web site.

Path Forward/Hardin County United

The process resulted in the establishment of 24 strategic goals for the next 15 years which touch upon government, education, community development and quality of life.  Following the completion of the project, a new organization, Hardin County United, was formed by many of the vision project participants for the purpose of examining each of the 24 strategic goals and developing an implementation strategy.

The first official action taken as follow-up to the Hardin County Vision Project was the development of Hardin County United (HCU).

HCU logo_3

HCU is an ad-hoc group which was established to formally examine the goals which were established during the Vision Project.  HCU started with a Steering Committee comprised of 58 community leaders (including elected officials, business and industry leaders, school superintendents, etc.) and with three subcommittees: Community Development, Education and Governance.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC President Luke Schmidt provides management and consulting services to Hardin County United.

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Filed Under: 2013, Community Visioning Projects, Projects Tagged With: Community visioning, Economic development, luke schmidt

April 2, 2010 By admin

Three vision goals call for unification The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise

Consolidation and unification serve as a recurring theme in ideas posed by a vision research project designed to focus Hardin County’s growth.

Article originally posted by The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise directed to:http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/three-vision-goals-call-unification

 

Three vision goals call for unification

2010 Hardin County Vision Project

By Ben Sheroan

Friday, April 2, 2010 at 7:00 pm

Look for the following related articles:

§  Comprehensive list of Vision ideas

§  About the process

§  A look at the benchmark counties

§  Work already under way on some Vision objectives

§  Editorial: Public input will shape Vision

By BEN SHEROAN

bsheroan@thenewsenterprise.com

Consolidation and unification serve as a recurring theme in ideas posed by a vision research project designed to focus Hardin County’s growth.

The analysis released last week recommends a community dialog and consideration of merged school districts, a single countywide government, and creation of an umbrella organization to direct industrial recruitment, retail growth, tourism and all related development issues.

Judge-Executive Harry Berry, who joined consultant Luke Schmidt in media presentations of the research results, said a degree of “friction” can be anticipated for any proposed change.

“If we had 100 percent agreement on any of these things, they would have been done already,” Berry said.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Reaction to the federally funded research preceded its formal release Thursday. Gary French, superintendent of Elizabethtown Independent Schools, called to register an objection to the public school merger recommendation before the summary of strategic goals was issued.

French said he applauded the visioning process in which he participated with 69 other community leaders and “stakeholders,” but he objected to the recommendation about creating a single public school district.

“That does not represent the voice of our school district, the direction of our school board or our district,” he said.

Under state law, an independent district must trigger any pursuit of merger consideration. French said the district is financially sound and meeting its educational goals.

A cooperative agreement between the Elizabethtown and Hardin County districts prevents county Superintendent Nannette Johnston from discussing consolidation, she said. But developing cooperative relationships and dialog could produce mutual benefits and better service to students, she said.

“The bottom line is we need to do what’s best for kids,” Johnston said.

She mentioned the Vision project’s goal of an area technology center and its career development emphasis as one place where cooperation could enhance offerings of both districts.

Establishment of such a technology center could introduce local students to career experience and college credit while still in high school, said Al Rider, president of the North Central Education Foundation.

The nonprofit organization, which helped develop legislation that led to Kentucky’s community college system a half-century ago, works with public and private colleges and area school districts and is associated with One Knox and Wired65 on missions related to education and training needs.

Rider calls for “continued collaboration and partnership” among EIS, Hardin County Schools and the West Point district as a more critical outcome than a full merger, which could be snagged by politics, tradition or regulatory issues.

“I’m more interested in working together to help each other out and complement each other,” Rider said.

The regional representative of the Kentucky Education Association said there have been no discussions of the project’s proposal by local teachers’ groups. Linda Lynch, who formerly taught for HCS, said local associations comprised of teachers from the districts would develop any stance that might be taken.   GOVERNMENT

Radcliff Mayor Sheila Enyart said potential savings and efficiencies of a consolidated county government require significant research. As an example, she cited projected benefits of the merger of Louisville and Jefferson County that have not been realized.

“It sounds like a really good idea on the surface but a lot more needs to be looked at,” she said.

Charlie Bryant, who has served 25 years as Elizabethtown city government’s executive assistant, said  development is bringing cooperation and a move toward unified service.

“As the area grows and becomes more of a larger community there are individual boundaries … that become more formalities than practicalities,” he said. “I think it’s just natural that it will go that way.”

Bryant mentioned cooperative bonds between police and fire departments and interconnection of public water systems over the past 15 years that are signals of what he considers a natural progression.

Enyart said results of the 70 surveys of community leaders and follow-up discussions developed strategic goals but a sense of equity, fairness and trust must be built as the process progresses.

“It’s easy to say yes to an idea but not so easy when delivering the product,” she said.

Steering committees to develop action plans and research the goals are being formed. Jo Emary, executive director of the Radcliff-Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, was quick to volunteer at one of the private brainstorming sessions held for survey participants.

“We have to guard against boundaries and guard against paranoia as this process moves forward,” she said.

Public officials and community leaders must “risk a bit of ourselves” in seeking better solutions for all of Hardin County, said Emary, who is one of three candidates for the Radcliff mayor’s office.   DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

Cooperation between Hardin County’s four chambers of commerce has been mentioned as a possible forerunner of the Vision project’s recommendation of a “powerhouse entity” to drive all aspects of community development. The Heartland Chambers Alliance is a confederation of the chambers pulling together on projects, including welcome home events for Vietnam-era veterans this fall.

Those efforts were mentioned by some in the visioning process as a forerunner for the recommended “powerhouse entity” to direct all business, retail, industrial and tourism recruitment ideas.

Brad Richardson, executive director of the North Hardin Economic Development Authority, has first-hand experience with a united approach to problem solving across the region. He also heads One Knox.

“I think it works better than a fragmented approach,” Richardson said.

One Knox was developed by local governmental leaders to prepare for growth opportunities and related stresses coming to the area thanks to the Army’s realignment plan. The cooperative relationships developed with post leadership and effectiveness in achieving funding requested from the governor and General Assembly were cited as examples of community-focused problem solving.

“Through the good work of One Knox, people have seen the value of speaking with one voice,” consultant Schmidt said.

Richardson mentioned personal experience with Louisville’s various development efforts and an improvement seen with creation of Greater Louisville Inc., which now serves as an umbrella organization for various business and job development objectives. He cited similar successes seen in Bowling Green, Paducah, Owensboro and northern Kentucky.

“Several models exist,” Richardson said. “This is not something new.”

As proposed, tourism promotion would be vested in the overall development authority’s responsibilities. Directors of the tourism bureaus based in Radcliff and Elizabethtown declined to comment on the concept Friday pending review of the idea with their respective board members.

Ben Sheroan can be reached at (270) 505-1764

Filed Under: 2010, Community Visioning News, Latest News Tagged With: Community Developmen t, Community visioning, Education, Hardin County, Unification

April 2, 2010 By admin

Five county comparison The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise

In addition to collecting and compiling the input of local leaders, the Hardin County vision project includes information about ideas and projects from five similar-sized counties. In his summary, consultant Luke Schmidt referred to the areas as “benchmark counties” and mentions examples of downtown redevelopment and unified strategies for growth.

 

Article originally posted by The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise directed to: http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/five-county-comparison

 

 

Five county comparison

By The Staff

 

Friday, April 2, 2010 at 7:00 pm

In addition to collecting and compiling the input of local leaders, the Hardin County vision project includes information about ideas and projects from five similar-sized counties.
In his summary, consultant Luke Schmidt referred to the areas as “benchmark counties” and mentions examples of downtown redevelopment and unified strategies for growth.

§  In Daviess County, the focus recently has been on downtown Owensboro. The Executive Inn Riverfront has been torn down and a new hotel and events center are planned along with housing and retail opportunities. The downtown, which houses a performing arts center, two museums as well as city and county government, also will be home to a new park being developed. The community received a $40 million grant to rebuild the riverfront and reduce erosion.

 

§  Warren County also is concentrating downtown. Bowling Green welcomed minor league baseball last year in a new 4,500-seat stadium just blocks from Fountain Square Park. The community intends to create a new corridor of activity from the stadium through downtown toward Western Kentucky University. The plans include a hotel, parking garage and loft-style housing as well as retail spots. By 2014, organizers expect private investment in the project to total $150 million.

 

 

§  Just south of the Kentucky line along Interstate 24 is Montgomery County, Tenn. Like Hardin County, the Army influence is apparent there thanks to neighboring Fort Campbell but the mission there more frequently one of deploying forces to world hotspots. To balance the economy and provide employment for military spouses, the community began a concentration on developing industry and focusing on advantages available through Austin Peay State University, a four-year college. It’s industrial megsite has attract 900 technology jobs with a semiconductor plant with more jobs expected from an upcoming expansion and suppliers.

 

§  The economy of Lowndes County, Miss., also benefits from military dollars thanks to its proximity to Columbus Air Force Base. The county merged its chamber of commerce and economic development forces to greate Columbus Lowndes Development LINK. Since 2006, LINK has been involved in the establishment of 4,000 new jobs and a $3.4 billion industrial and retail development. Also it created a 3,000-acre development megasite alongside the regional airport.

 

 

§  Lee County, Miss., gets a tourism boost because Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Guided by its Community Development Foundation, which has collected $2.6 million in private donations, the area attracted a planned Toyota manufacturing plant and converted an outdated mall into a 9,000-seat arena and convention center plus a conference center which led to development of a Hilton Garden Inn. Lee County also is home to a 650-bed private hospital which operates a 24-county health care network.

Filed Under: 2010, Community Visioning News, Latest News Tagged With: Community Developmen t, Community visioning, Economic development, Hardin County, Unification

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