ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — Hardin County Judge-Executive Keith Taul just took office at the start of this year.

The long-time Hardin County resident said he was encouraged by people in the community to run for the position, even though he didn’t have experience in politics.

His background is in mechanical engineering, and that might just be what makes him uniquely qualified for the job, as the BlueOval SK EV battery plants are getting closer to completion.

“I knew it was big… Just go out there and look at it,” Taul said of the BlueOval SK site in Glendale, Ky. “You start to dig into all the things that are required for a manufacturing plant of that size and all of the development that’s going to come into the county.”

Taul explained it will take a lot of time and money to get the county to where it needs to be to support the twin battery plants. However, he said that’s not stopping how quickly they’re being built.

“It’s different than what I’ve seen before, and I’ve been in manufacturing most of my life,” Taul said. “I haven’t seen this kind of approach just to come in and hit it full blast.”

The first plant is scheduled to begin production in 2025, bringing in 2,500 new employees.

However, Ford Motor Company recently announced the second plant’s production start date would be postponed, due to demands in the EV market not meeting the company’s projections.

“They put a pause on the second plant, and I’m like, ‘Thank you,”’ Taul said. “I know they didn’t do it because we needed extra time, but something like that may help us a little bit on just trying to continue to pull this all together as fast as we possibly can.”

Taul said the county will need more emergency services in Glendale, Ky., and may eventually need a new county road.

One of the county’s biggest challenges, however, revolves around water, Taul said.

Taul said some developers have already showed an interest in building up the area around the plants ahead of their openings, but they can’t, because there’s not enough water pressure or infrastructure in the rural area.

“There’s not been a lot of planning to get the, you know, you have to have a sewer system. You can’t have septic systems for all of that, so sewer system and the appropriate water mains and things in that surrounding area — we’re really not ready for that,” Taul said.

Taul said Hardin County’s Water District Number Two has been working hard to expand operations in the area. The water district has already worked out an agreement to pull more water from Louisville, just so the plants can operate.

However, Taul said another sewer treatment plant might be needed, especially with the influx of workers and their families expected to move to the area.

Taul said all that work will take millions of dollars the county doesn’t have.

“Blue Oval, to bring them here to this mega site that was ready for them, there were incentives, and some of those incentives were they don’t have to pay any occupational tax or any property tax or any net income tax. All of those are deferred for 10 to 15 years, maybe even longer,” Taul said. “So, that’s fine. I mean, that’s what you have to do to get them here, but in the meantime, how do you? That money isn’t available to help the county, in this case, improve and expand the resources that we need.”

Taul said he and his fellow county leaders plan to ask the state legislature for millions of dollars in help during the upcoming legislative session.

“Whenever I’ve had opportunity to talk to the governor, I’ve probably bugged him a little bit about it, you know, ‘Hardin County… you know we need some help,’” Taul said. “And he’s been positive whenever I’ve talked to him about it. ‘Oh yeah, we know. We’re going to help.”’

Taul said that’s keeping him optimistic.

Along with some challenges, the major manufacturing site will also bring a lot of opportunity to the area.

“If you’re in Hardin County — or the surrounding area of counties — and you want to stay here, you’re going to have an abundance of opportunity here,” Taul said. “So, you can stay in this area if you want to, and I suggest that. It’s going to be a wonderful place to stay and to raise your family.”

Taul said ahead of the 2024 legislative session’s start, Hardin County is currently doing a watershed study. The study aims to help the water district plan for even more work that needs to be done.

Taul said that study likely won’t wrap until next fall. Then, the county would move into the planning phase for some time.

Eventually, Taul said, the county could then add more fire resources to the area, along with the potential for more EMS and/or law enforcement resources. The county is also in the process of hiring a consultant to determine how leaders should go about adding more emergency services.

Taul said although Blue Oval SK is working at an unprecedented pace on the project, he and other local leaders don’t expect to see the full influx of people moving to the rural Glendale area right away.

Taul said he and other leaders in the area studied what growth was like when Toyota built its Georgetown Assembly Plant in the 1980s. He said the area didn’t boom all at once, or immediately, when that plant opened.

Taul said he expects a lot of people will commute at first or wait to move their families as the plants ramp up. That would allow for the growth in Glendale, Ky., to be a little more gradual.