Government

With roughly a month left until primary election day, U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin was hitting the La Grange pavement hard last week in search of votes.

Bevin, a Republican running against current U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell for the Republican nomination in May, held several events in the city last Friday.

But he also spent a lot of time shaking hands and talking to voters up and down Main Street in downtown La Grange, mostly in front of Karen’s Book Barn.

State highway officials are encouraging drivers in Oldham County to slow down and be safer on the roads while two main infrastructure projects progress.

Construction crews have started work on an overpass to connect New Moody Lane and Commerce Parkway in La Grange, as well as to build a pedestrian crossing at Exit 17 in Buckner.

The projects coincide with the state’s Work Zone Safety Week, which is April 15 – 19 this year.

For the first time in eight years, La Grange Mayor Bill Lammlein said the city has been presented a budget that does not put the city in further into debt.

Lammlein presented the budget at the monthly meeting of the La Grange City Council Monday night. It is now up to the council to tweak, amend or pass the budget as presented before the new fiscal year starts July 1.

The balanced budget is thanks largely to two new revenue streams, Lammlein said, the recently passed occupational tax and revenue from the tax on licenses allowing the sale of alcohol.

At the end of a long winter full of snow and ice, the Oldham County Fiscal Court would like someone to pass the road salt.

The court has advertised to buy 4,500 tons of road salt, after this past winter depleted its resources, Judge-Executive David Voegele said.

“We’re pretty well all used up,” he said.

According to county Road Superintendent Lance Lashley, road crews have plowed or salted 16 times this winter and used more than 3,000 tons of salt to clear county roads.