Owen County 20/20

ACTION What do we need to start doing now to achieve our vision?

Develop and implement a plan for the future

Vision planning to include members from all facets of community, including youth and children
What vision?
We need to establish a set of goals for our county after getting input such as this from a large percentage of the population. The vision cannot be a product of a small number of people and be successfully implemented. The input should be more than simple written or spoken statements, it should take the form of discussion. I have found over the years that several people can make a statement which they all will agree with only to discover later that what they actually meant, although the same words were used, was drastically different, for instance the term "control growth" can mean "limit" growth to one while another it might mean "direct it to one or more areas".
Make plans, a people without a vision will fall.
I think there needs to be a plan of action and things need to be done, not just discussed
Brainstorm and plan.
Most importantly, we need to start thinking of our families first! What we do now and decisions we make, will affect our children and grandchildren

Start planning for the future
Planning for the future
Central planning - city/county with accountability
Planning
Planning and getting the community excited and involved in the process
Start planning for the future, have an idea of what we are going to start before we actually get started
A plan for the future
We need a planning committee to develop a realistic plan
Have a plan, work the plan
Establish 20, 50 and 100 year plans for Owen County
Plan
Planning a strategy
Plan ahead
This survey, study other county plans and develop a progressive, proactive plan and implement it.
Start gathering people who are positive (such as this group - Owen 20/20 - thinks to plot a plan
Organize a project
Write a strategic plan and assure implementation
Make better long range plans - what a waste cutting down trees in town
Think things through and make smarter plans. Look further than just tomorrow at the effects changes will make
Hire a trained person to design (with a lot of help) the "new Owen County" to build a model of future city and attractions in the county so people could visualize what the goal would be. This person would lead and pace the people through the design stage and then the actions part of making the dream come reality. All of this would not be easy but it is a proven fact that i we do not change we die – It can be done, others have
Start from the ground up. Plan, organize, delegate, research – hire the right people, keep our eyes on the ball. We must first decide what is wanted and desirable, functional and affordable and then focus. We need to get buy-in from the general population. It must be a shared vision. From the little acorn the mighty oak was born
Write articles on how to plan for the things they want

Set goals
Long term goals
The people who run this town and county need to sit down and take inventory on what needs to be put on the "priority list."
Make this a priority and start working toward it
Prioritize ideas
Start at the bottom and work up – water, drugs, better education for the whole community
Work toward our goals
Prioritize projects that involve the county, list by county funded, county/state, county Fed. ID project when to start and finish; Money involved, make info easily accessible and understandable i.e., newspaper posting in public places, etc.


Keep on with this effort

Keep this momentum going
We need to act on our concerns by going to public meetings
Keep on what they’re doing
Share survey results – good or bad
What we are doing right now
Keep doing things like this and follow through
Collect these results. See what ideas are a priority with most people and proceed!
Keep up the good works – more the same things we have now
Keep working on the places and projects now in place
We need to focus on being thankful for what we have and preserving all that we feel is important
We need to start visioning, saving and planning for what the public’s inputs are about. Stop and listen and they will tell you!!
Make sure Owen 20/20 is completed and successful
We need to start working over county, trying to better it.
Try to make it better.
Keep doing the same thing, keep it at a slow pace.
Come together as a community
Get the ball rolling. Stop waiting
Get ideas and start to it.
Keep up doing the same
keep things simple
I wish I knew. I think that you are doing a good job with this survey
Get the ball rolling. Make rules and regulations and keep to them rather than worrying about who might not like them
Get restrictions in place.

There is not much I can do, it would have to be everybody together to achieve this vision.
get involved with local counties and events

Work on it
Start working on it
Start working
Work harder (2)
Work hard
Take action
Start acting on things – quit talking in circles
Act now!!!!
Just do it!
Board meeting
Vote on changes
Have a team meeting
Don’t stop doing what you are now, it seems to be working out.
Whatever you feel is necessary
Help out with stuff and make stuff better
Work slow, or at your own pace to do things
do what you say you’re going to do

We need to get attention and put the picture in other minds
Just quit complaining about Owenton and start helping Monterey and Gratz. I’ve always heard love your neighbor as your self so let’s start doing this.


Be willing to change

Be willing to change
Be willing to take a challenge
Change does not come easy for many people and makes for closed attitudes many times. I believe it is important to not waver in the endeavor to accomplish the goals set out. Change can be a good thing
Have an open mind
We need to convince ourselves that it is possible to make the vision a reality
Forget the old saying "grandpa did it this way." Look at what will work for this day
Accepting change, every town around us is growing because they have allowed change
Try to convince the older generation that some change isn’t always a bad thing
We need to think big - "think of the possibilities" - rather than worrying about what we can’t do
Be open to new ideas and change
Today, people are afraid of change, but we have to have change to keep the area the same
We need to be open to changes that would improve our community
Now we need to at least start opening up to the idea of new and DIFFERENT businesses coming to the county
Be willing to change
Be open minded
Stop trying to make us an industrialization area and work toward beautifying and improving these things that make people want to live here.
Change the "mind attitude" that we have to go to Lexington - Louisville - Florence to find something to do
Adjust attitudes toward industry and business and expansion of population as bringing crime to the area and destroying values
Open your minds to the possibilities. Open your hearts to welcome those who may not rub you in the right way...I have often discovered that those I have been most uncomfortable with initially often turn out to be the ones I come to love the most and benefit from the most, once I admit I don’t know it all, and give it an honest chance. But if we are too quick to county someone unworthy we may be closing ourselves off from a blessing. As someone who has in the past committed this faux pas myself, there were those who I wasn’t drawn to because they were grouchy or temperamental...When in fact there were things I didn’t know about...I have several very special friendships and life experiences resulting from making an adjustment to my thinking that I will be eternally grateful for...I feel that all the necessary ingredients exist here to accomplish much...My wish is that more energy be spent in that ursuit and less sidetracking to personality issues and we could all contribute more...I apologize here and now if I offend anyone...this is not meant as a criticism of any specific person or organization...Just a newcomer’s opinion
We have to bite the bullet and stand on our own. We could have done some thing at pennies to the dollar at what is going to cost now all the good years we had to do something. Nothing
Accept that the world is changing and adapt
Be open to new ideas
Accept newcomers
The first step is to convince more than a few people to be open-minded
Getting people to like change and adapt to it
I think people in Owen County are afraid of change and that’s the change that needs to be made.
Setting high goals and trying to achieve them.
Come together.
People to work together



Do research to determine what needs to happen

Get serious and research and make contacts with knowledgeable people who can help us get started on accomplishing our goals. We need to get busy and get the job done!
Research what opportunities can be presented to young adults in other rural, small communities
Neighboring county actions
Survey what other rural areas in the country have done to preserve their rural environment
Our community needs to think of families, the families it currently has and the families it could attract. Maybe it would be helpful to survey surrounding counties to see what their image of our community is. If we know what others think, what would drawn them into our community, then that would definitely be a start in the right direction
Take advice from other counties that have gone through the same visioning process
Benchmark adjoining county’s best practices
What are other counties doing that have positive or negative growth
Comparative studies with other counties
Get out there and see what is available; Put our judge to work.
Help make Owen Co. better place to raise and educate kids and to live
Start coming up with ideas
Gather other county information and experiences
Start looking into these possibilities, and see how to make them reality.
Think about kids future and how things need to be for their age group in 15 to 20 years, not how a 40 to 60 old person thinks it should be. It won’t be there dealing with the society then.


Promote the community and educate the community

Promote our community
Have the newspaper help in changing our image with positive reflections of all the good in Owen Co. And have them proof read the paper before printing for accuracy. Many times there have been misspelled words in the paper
Forming a steering committee to prioritize problems, pursue avenues of funding, proposing studies and actions to be taken to solve the problems we face in the immediate future as well as the long-term. This committee needs to figure a way to promote pride in this "community" through a successful public relations campaign to get "buy in" from the established families of this county as well as the newly arrived
Keep people informed on what is going on in our county. Maybe some kind of radio announcements some time each day
Advertisements, plan events to draw people in county, get political leaders and business people involved.
Advertise in trade magazines for more industry.
Radio station – time to address issues of Owen
Need better information sources
Automatic dialers for emergencies
Promote our community in what wonderful things we have make it desirable to live and visit here
Need to do a better job of promoting community.. Need to develop PRIDE in community.
Be creative with the Owenton website (Chamber of Commerce).
A positive outlook on our community
Radio stations - buy 10 minute spot twice a week to make Owen Co news announcements in addition to emergency announcements
Advertise in neighboring newspapers
More publicizing events like the car show on the square
Market Owen County as a good place to live with good schools, places of employment

Education of community
Public education that raises awareness of the unique attributes of this county and opportunities to experience and appreciate them
Educate the public, nothing will change until thinking is changed
This survey is a great start to inform people and get people talking about the vision.
Discuss needs with lot of people so more will be aware of what is needed.
Realize that Owen Co. no longer exists in the confines of our topographical map. We must extend, welcome and support Owen Countains by birth, by relation, by business and by spirit
Nurture a sense of caring about our community so all Owen Countians will take pride in our county and will strive to move forward

Go to someone with more power, and higher up.
Talk to governor, state and county representatives


Provide opportunities for public input

Public input
Continue the communal hearings where the rural members can share their views
Somewhere in the process, please let people know who do move in that we older residents who have been in the rural communities are lovers of the soil and the country way of life
Improve communication
Listen to the community
Focus groups to get input from Owen Co. residents; They should be the ones who decide what they want.
Communication is important
Continue asking for a community input.
We the people of Owen County, whether you are a higher class person or hold an office in Owen county, we need to involve people like myself (middle class person) also include your lower class people too. Don’t rule out anyone! Let everyone in Owen Co express their own opinion and be heard. Involved people with their own minds can make a big difference in life overall. Let all ages be a part of discussions to be made to influence people like you and I. We the people of Owen County need a change and should express ourselves in a manner that is comfortable in saying what we feel in our own hearts. Don’t let anyone rule us or tell us what to do. Go for the vision and change
Listen to average citizen vs big interest
We need to quit letting people with money influence what is right for the county. Some people in the county with money don’t want to see others make money because they don’t have any involvement in that money making idea. For example, the winery
Talk about it.
It seems there is a certain group of people who has the final say on issues effecting the county. I think all should vote on it. Why should 1 percent vote on an issue that effects the whole county.
Getting the community involved, listening to the people and get an understanding of what is needed and what is best for Owen Co.

Listen to average and majority citizens
Listen to the people who it truly affects instead of the big wheels who think they know what their talking about. Listen to the people of Owen County they will tell you what they need
Listen to the community and take action (2)
Keep politics feuds out and work together for everyone in county, not just persons of influence. Citizen Committees to help officials
Need to listen to the average citizens and not the big wheels who are only out to make money
Listen to the community and take action
Open minded - listen to the average residents of the county instead of the big wheels
Listen to the small people the same as the big wheels
Listen to avg citizen in Owenton
Listen to local residents not government
Make sure the avg citizen has their opinion heard and not just the big money guys
Include people like myself for opinions and decisions. Let this be a community that involves the everyday people. Let us have a say and let us express ourselves in a fashion that everyone participates and understands what is going on in the county


Listen to, get young people involved

Get more young people involved in future plans
We need to get young people involved in developing these ideas
We continue to have agriculture classes at school. We encourage the young people to protect all of the good things our county has going for it. We teach our children to listen with respect and we do likewise. We ask them to seriously consider what they will need when they’re elderly. Our generation has mistakenly thought that progress means more "things." More houses, more cars, more Wal-Marts and Krogers. More gas to use at whatever the cost. We’re wasteful with everything we touch
Get kids interested in the community to where they care about where they live
Taking some of the kids ideas to help Owenton grow. Because us kids is who runs around Owenton to try to find activities to do
The older people need to listen to what the younger people have to say more often
Keep student representatives on your committee, they are the future
Get all people possible to get involved. Every business owner to be on the so-called committee
Develop expectations of all residents and service agencies and follow-up to see that its done
Utilize what we already have – schools – churches – park – sports – and the list goes on
Give people here a chance to be involved in building this city and county
Government needs to listen to youth
start working with youth.
Caring more about the youth
Vote in younger people into offices to get stuff like that in here
Stop being afraid of change. Stop letting all the elders make choices for the community.
Get younger people that want more for their kids in offices instead of old that do not want change.
Have the youth to participate for the county and respect it as well and we as adults need to do the same.
Asking kids more often about what should be done instead of pushing them away
Listening to the kids rather than putting their thoughts for opinions down; The kids are the future like it or not
Think more about the teens as a while, not just what a small percentage wants.
think more about the youth, they are going to grow old here.
Instill in our children a sense of wonder and beauty


Get people involved

Get involved in our community
Participate and get everyone involved and understand one another’s thoughts and feelings
A lot of hard work and more people to get involved in the community
To get involved to make a better place to live
To get involved in things need to be changed
Become involved actively in county government and business
Get more people involved
Get people involved – everybody’s opinions matter
Let people know how to get involved and invite all to get involved
Keep the people aware of what is needed for them to do
Get people motivated
I personally should be attending town meetings, and trying to improve the county.
More people step up and just get things going, like the skate park. More people willing to help get things done.
Get people talking and interested in doing something they can really enjoy
Show things can be done by doing some "small projects"
Encourage buy-in from community
Encourage citizens to take ownership of county needs
More community involvement (7)
People in the county and city need to get involved
Encourage community involvement
Continue with community involvement
Get people to get going and start on it.
Getting everyone to pitch in and get things started.

Community get more involved
Work work work – no slacking or bickering
Get people involved in this idea and we will encourage everyone in Owen County that this is what we need to survive
More volunteers

Develop committees to work on the projects that are most important to the people.
Come up with a committee and start doing things that people have suggested
To start doing now to achieve our vision is to get a committee started with the stores that are in town today. Get everyone involved that have a vision of the same things.

More community participation programs
Continue community meetings
More community involvement/citizen interest groups/spokespeople
Involve the community in decisions/discussions
Talk it up at city meetings
Have more town meetings. Have more community projects at the fair grounds. Send out more flyers in the mail and pray
Open court House to 5 _ days
Continue discussion in small communities


Work together

Work together
Work together as a team
Project help groups – people to volunteer their time and resources to help with projects (well, one can dream can’t they)
Everybody agreeing on the same action and putting forth the effort to make that change
Working together to make this come true
All need to work together to achieve this goal. Committees need to be set up, not only business people, but people in the community to get comments
Collaboration between public and private partners
Let’s put Owen County first instead of us as individuals
Everyone helping to keep our county clean and productive. Everyone working at keeping the county a good place to live and raise children
Involve more people in projects that emphasize a common good for our county and its residents
Get people to work together to get it done
Get more people involved
Work together as a community
Keep working together to do the job as a community
Everyone working together to achieve a common goal.
All development for the benefit of the whole community
We need to start brainstorming together (children, parents, neighbors, all of Owen County) and start building, fund raising, making plans
Work together, use democracy to our advantage, as does reaching out to every one for their thoughts, help unify our views.
Get our community together and make our schools SAFE. Show our kids that we can work together to improve and they can carry on from generations.
Everyone work together to make this a nice safe place.
One of the things I think, is commitment to the organizations in our county. They are the ones who are the best promoters of the county and its benefits. Of course, this includes the churches too.
First you must get the local people to funnel their energy toward this project. The people must be motivated and be supportive before any project can be successful. So finding a way of getting people interested in a better quality of life would be first
More community involvement getting to know your neighbor’s activities
Stop thinking only of ourselves and spend some of that time and energy in ways that are beneficial to all in our society collectively.

Work together. I believe in God and I think God needs to be put first in anything and everything we do. If we want a better place to live and a better way of life, we need to pray
Pray and people stop talking about everything they know about everyone. And remember every time your talking about someone else’s dirty laundry, they may come back and air your’s right back. Let you Lord lead Owen Co’s vision
Churches working together
Promote cooperation of churches
Support ecumenical work
Churches start reaching out to the community more

Work more closely with Elk Lake to provide the services our community pays for such as better gov’t support in helping with blight clean up, dog catching, legal aid when requested etc. We provide a lot of money to Owen County and ask for little in return. Please help us support Ord #67 and the new "new construction/addition" dept approvals.
Enforce ordinance 67


Strengthen community leadership

Strong county wide government governing for the common good ie Indianapolis 20 years ago
Leaders to quit playing politics and agree to do what is best for everyone in Owen County
Change the mind set or replace those who guide economic development. This is 2005. I own a million dollar company and have my water hauled? It is time for change
Get some county officials who is not afraid of change
Move ahead and quit worrying about which voters we’ll offend. People can and do adapt to change
Start by getting new people into key roles who really want change. They must want what is best for the community’s future not what is best for their own pocket book. They also must look at past experiences and see where mistakes have been made and try to avoid them again.
Leadership groups to plan for change
Get younger people in our local government that want change so more industry and businesses will come in
Expand Fiscal Court to include members whose agenda is to preserve Owen County as rural community.
Governing officials who have a vision for the future and not just for today
Elect new leaders that have a vision for the future of Owen Co, not live in the past and do what the "good ole boys" want
I would like to know what is the "vision" of our elected officials. Do they have any??? What part are they taking in this 20/20 survey? Are the magistrates even participating because I see that they do little else? Isn’t it their job to go around their area and tet these responses instead of having the same old volunteers from the county go around? Get the magistrates to do the job they get paid for!
We need leadership to lead us in the future
Choose our leadership wisely
Get with the appropriate people who would be responsible for making things happen in these areas
Different leadership

We need new direction and leadership in our Fiscal Court and our schools
Elect leaders who will listen to our individual needs and see that those needs are assessed
Elect responsible people
Good honest politicians
County Judge needs to get his act together
Make politicians legally responsible for their campaign promises and actions
Since the judge promised all these things would be done it sees that he hasn’t done nothing but draw a payroll check
Get our elected officials active in community efforts. Billy O and Milkweed are active – where is everyone else? Besides the magistrates – where are the courthouse workers in this survey?
New magistrates

Elect new magistrates to move our county forward
Get someone in office to keep jobs in our county
Put people in the leadership positions to get that started
Get some new people on the city council.
Get better Council
More rotation and accountability with committees
Vote our leaders in we approve of and agree with
Speaking, working, voting for the proper legislators
We don’t have anything in Owen Co to start with. The first thing is to replace everyone in office and start fresh. Elect people that are sincere, up-to-date and has feelings.
Find out what officials in the county are standing for liberal issues and replace them with conservative

Christian leaders
Christian people start running for offices


Raise money to accomplish goals

Find ways to increase monies – tax base, etc to fund these needs

We need to start saving money
Saving money (3)
Save money (2)
Save money to add on to the town
Start saving money.
Save money to make town bigger
Save money for things to build

Fund raisers
Do some fund raisers
Start taking up money for donations, let the community help too
Fund raising so you can get money to get these things built.
Finding ways to make Owen County more money
Find some way to get more money to get all of these things.
Getting the funds together
Start a fund raiser to get some money for the project to build things for kids to do.
Have fund raisers
Making plans for it now even raise money if needed
raise money for these suggestions
Start with getting more revenue in the county
It’s pretty simple to me, raise money, it’s not that much.
Budget money properly. Plan activity to bring money into the county
Find another way to fund our county...Manage our money better, if this doesn’t happen, this county will die
Pulling together as a community to raise the money to do it.
Spend money wisely and if you have to ask for grant funding.
Begin seeking investors to fund changes
Stop wasting money on frivolous things and concentrate on improving our way of living.
Increase the tax base
Sell shares in the city like a stock market
Go the extra mile it takes to make Owen County more efficient
We have to find more money for the schools. The tax base will not come up without good schools
Money (2)
New ideas and money
More funds
Money talks – improve economy = more tax money to create recreation

Make money somehow.
Start funds or saving money
Money (2)
Getting money somehow to add things to Owen County.
More scholarships
Need money

More grants (2)
Bring more revenue into the county
Apply for grants
Seek funding sources (such as grants)
Make sure grant money goes to where it is supposed to go
Grant money
Seek grants
Seek contracts
How to write a grant and places that accept grants
Applying for grants to fund projects
Apply for more grants or something, more revenue
Apply for grants to help restore small community, and build new businesses
Be proactive in seeking grants to assist in community project (after school program).
Getting government grants as well as business grants to help get our roads widen and blacktopped
Retain qualified grant writers to seek funds for a Main Street project
More people in the county getting involved and finding more grants and resources
Need a grant writer for the county to acquire available funding opportunities
We should be aware of and apply for any type of grant which might be beneficial to our county.
We should take advantage of any resources available from our universities and local, state or federal agencies
Research development grants – Owen County has problems that can be viewed as "nuisances" grants available for this
Look for grants such as the one in New Liberty, try to get people in each little community to take charge of that area
We need to hire someone who will gather information and apply for various grants that would help improve our county
Recruit a certain person to plan these things and to apply for these grants that the county really needs to grow and not be a hole in the wall for the next 20s.
With President Bush in office there are grants in every area. It would probably pay his or her salary to have a grant writer – other counties already have

I am sure tax dollars will be needed to achieve many goals
This would be unpopular with some folks, but I would like to see the city/county consider some type of occupational tax, particularly for those who don’t reside in the community. I would like to feel like I make a financial contribution to the county and its residents
Have fees for garbage dumping
Do what you can to raise money to have the better things in life. If all else fails, raise taxes
Implement fire tax so all communities can have full time fire protection 24/7
Need less outgoing costs, higher taxes
Taxes
Need local tax - city tax - this hampers/discourages businesses to locate in town
Increase taxes
Allotting a % of tax money
To help out the public safety area I feel like there should be a tax set on homes and personal tax (automobiles, boats, motorcycles)

The other thing is to get other people money involved
Find investors for needed affordable housing
Take an interest in what people want – how to spend monies
Set a budget on the city’s money aside for the roads
The county needs to stop wasting money
Invest the money to do whatever is needed to make Owen a clean and prosperous place to live

Drop the tax on payroll


Legalize alcohol sales

By changing county from dry to wet. There won’t be anymore drunk driving because they wouldn’t have to travel to get anything to drink
Listen to Owen Co population that want legal changes that will bring Owen Co into the present and quit keeping us locked in the past
Get more people to recognize we are giving money to surrounding counties. Drinking is not all evil
A winery would be a nice way to start bringing revenue into our community
Vote county wet
Make Owen County wet
What we need to do now is vote in wineries. Not the ability to sell liquor per say but at least give local grape growers - a close place to make revenue on their crops. Allow our county to be a network of grower and bottlers that feed and prosper off one another rather than penalties and segregating. A group that can work together with this would be great
Vote yes to wet
Start looking at ways to bring alcohol in but only in moderate amounts
Let people sell wine would be a good start
Make it a wet county (2)
Sell beer
let Elk Creek sell wine.
Alcohol – "moist only" no bars
Make it a wet county
Make Owen County "wet" - allow alcohol – business will follow
To allow beer in the retail
This means voting the county wet, whether the person drinks or not.
Allow alcohol sales at stores and restaurants...we all know that revenue is going to other counties because people do buy alcohol and are still decent people and safe drivers. There will always be drunk drivers no matter there the alcohol is sold. We could use the revenue


Keep Owen County dry

Keep Owen County "dry county"
Don’t allow one small community to vote on such an important issue as a winery in one area. It’s so unfair! In a short few weeks it may be too late! Some of us will be ashamed of our county and want to move away after so many years we’ve stood and supported it. It makes me sad. I feel our morals are so defeated
Stand up against the winerys coming into the county
Keep Owen dry.


Growth planning, growth management and land preservation

I want Owen County to put some kind of plan for growth in place. What are neighboring counties (such as Scott) doing for planning and zoning. I don’t think this can wait much longer
Creating a master plan
Planning (4)
Planning, planning, planning
Control growth
County wide plan for growth and development
Plan growth
Planning for property use
Better county planning
Planning
Employ a county wide planning commission to plan growth in the county
Stop trying to make us an industrialization area and work toward beautifying and improving these things that make people want to live here
Most important is development of public lands and not cluster development as in Scott County, but development as used in Woodford and Clark counties.
Have the planning commission start to think about the future of Owen County for once and its citizens instead of them sitting around deciding how much of a raise to give themselves and that goes for all politicians.
Pass a comprehensive plan for zoning
Planning and zoning
Activate planning and zoning commission
Limited zoning for older mobile homes
Hire an engineer to planning and zoning
Preserving our county.
Planning and zoning
The county should explore planning and zoning to promote growth
Form a planning board or commission to plan for growth and change. Therefore, we have control of where the growth or changes will take place.
Planning committees, even commissions that aren’t loaded with developers and their interests – organizations with cross section of citizen’s interests
Land use planning which will help preserve the beauty of the rural landscape, manage the strain growth will apply to provide utilities and other infrastructure development..I agree with Ed Morrison that growth is coming whether we want it or not. We will be sorry if we don’t prepare
Well, the obvious: have a vision. I wish we could see and study ways more densely populated areas have managed to cluster homes/businesses while shaping surrounding areas into parks. We could do better since we already have the parks. We could cluster buildings at the tops of the fingers of land stretching off from our roads, but strictly enforce maintenance of the valleys in between as forest

Planning and zoning (4)
Planning, planning, zoning, planning; Create a community guideline for and follow it
Pass planning and zoning ordinance
Planning and zoning!!!!!!!! and enforce
Planning/zoning/planning/zoning/planning/zoning
Start with planning and zoning
Some form of planning and zoning
Planning and zoning right now!!
Limited planning and zoning
Zoning that will work in our community
Enact some kind of zoning and planning
Enact reasonable planning/zoning
Planning and zoning – whether you like it or not, this county is growing
Generate planning and zoning restrictions.
Implement a planning and zoning commission
Implement planning and zoning so the county can grow in the right direction
Mandate planning and zoning – stop the insanity!
Planning and zoning committee to control growth
County and city governments need to do the same by seriously undertaking planning and zoning
Planning and yes, zoning that preserves adequate, not fractured habitat for the county’s older residents and efficient infrastructure for humans
Continue with the planning and zoning. Although I wish it were not being put off until after the election. It should not be so political but what is best for our county.
Development of comprehensive and citizen oriented planning and zoning regulations
Recognize the need for some type of community planning and zoning while keeping it limited so as not to
diminish the basic rights of individual families to address their own home and property needs

Implement zoning regulations
Zoning (3)
Begin the process for zoning now
Zoning issues
Zoning enforcement
We need at least minimal zoning for the same reason
Implement zoning – to control trailer parks and subdivisions to where certain requirements are met (ie not trash bins)
Zoning, zoning, zoning
Immediately implement zoning
Zoning (2)
Begin a zoning plan now
Enact zoning laws
Enact fair zoning for county. Allow for mixed use housing and retail - in fact encourage it
Complete county wide zoning a must!
Our leaders must plan for this growth by zoning
Look into zoning
Immediately implement zoning restrictions county-wide
County wide zoning needs to start
Zoning to control growth and promote increased tax value
Implement zoning to control growth
Zoning restrictions - keep space but leave room for growth
Create zoning program with purpose of limiting concentration of residences and buildings
Protect our country way of life by doing some kind of zoning to preserve our open space
Prevent suburban sprawl through zoning regulations

Start putting restrictions on properties
Better building codes and minimum acreage requirements
Establish minimum of 25 acres per farm to prevent suburban growth
Implement some type of building restrictions. I do not want to see our county turn into a huge trailer park
Planning and zoning needs to initiate change in order for us to abandon being a community of mobile homes and trailers.
Begin adopting rules and regulations that will support a 50% increase in housing and 100% increase in quality mobile home parks
Establish limits on new businesses in the county – Their activities should not only protect Owen Co but should be effective to the point of serving as a model for the rest of the country
Have more stringent rules for housing
Building inspection
We must develop rules to curtail residential growth in trailer homes areas - lowers tax base, septic problems
watch out for trailer parks
More restrictions on mobile homes and mobile home parks
Use space that is available; it’s not necessary to build more

Prevent it (population increase) - Owen County wouldn’t feel right if a lot more people just moved in – it would be too crowded
Proceed with J/E Obanion’s idea to discuss growth management - by discussing and planning for our growth, we can control it and direct it in a way that’s best for our county
Controlled growth and zoning to keep the county predominantly rural
Control growth and enforce laws
Don’t aim for extreme change or growth in the county or we will lost some of the factors that make it a good place to live
Working now to protect what we have and resist the urban sprawl from the larger cities
We start by not trying to become Lexington, Louisville or Cincinnati. We don’t need the pollution, the crime, the housing sprawl or any of the other side effects of what is considered progress
Develop county-wide plan for growth
Need a county wide plan for growth
Start to grow a little but not much
Control growth
Keep in mind that more factories, more restaurants, more businesses bring more traffic, more people, more problems & Owen Co won’t be the quiet peaceful place we know today
Implement a plan for growth management
School has over 68% free/reduced lunch - slow down growth of lower income families coming into community with less well kept mobile homes and low rent housing
Allow businesses but not enormous stores or businesses; if this occurs the population will increase and Owen County would lose much of its farm land, which we can’t let happen.
Let some businesses in the community to help us, but not overwhelming
small business, no Wal Mart
I don’t really want it to be built up, a couple of restaurants would be nice
Get up to date, like other towns, but don’t get so caught up in the technology that it destorys the peace and quiet.

We need the state government to buy the development rights (as they are doing in some counties) and put into agricultural conservation to save farm land from being destroyed. We may need it some time.
We need to save some land for the future instead of using up all the good land
We need to stop and think which is more important. A new subdivision popping up every year until there’s not place left to develop? A larger commute to work? Food, clean water and fresh air? Someday being a farmer will be profitable again, but by then it may be too late
Integrate farm space with business area to promote harmony and balance in a primarily rural community (include housing development in balance)
Purchasing green space
Support legislation to maintain rural farm land
No zoning but incentive to not develop agricultural land
Controls over what needs to be done over farm land that is turning into housing!!!!!
Pass laws protecting farm land
Give landowners incentives to keep farm land and not sell out to developers. Zoning would be a big step toward this
Control farms from being broke up
Save the farms and put the industry control in its place
Stop selling the land that the farmers need
Stop selling out

Make sure the town doesn’t start to build many buildings and make it more city like.
Leave it the way it is
Stay the same
Leave it like it is
Leave it the way it is.
Don’t change anything, leave it how it is
I think we should reserve the small town community
Keep new people from entering the county.
Don’t bring in the city stuff.
Start tearing down the cities
Tear down the buildings
Bring in more opportunities but keep small community, job opportunities.

Form a committee of volunteers including people with landscaping backgrounds or find/invest in a resource for landscape architectural recommendations for long term ideas. This could be simply a committee to brainstorm for a few months and then once a month hire a landscape architect to add ideas to think about, hire different landscape architect each month (just for a day) and after hearing several of them and discussing, offer 5-10 ideas/idea sets to the community. Have a "town meeting" outside downtown and vote on which ideas are highest priority (including all ideas, not just the landscaping stuff described here)

Local people need to take the initiative to do some of the things that outside people are coming in here and doing. We need to avoid big land companies and developers from gobbling up all our land
There are new things already in progress. I like the idea of the Subway but if you build up too much the community loses its small town zeal

This is the place where we flounder. How do we maintain and embrace our unique qualities yet not become stagnate? I firmly believe that there should be some very strict regulations regarding the subdivision of land in Owen County. I realize that in one sense this could harm our economy, but instead let’s look upon ourselves as a very exclusive community. If only the wealthiest, blue-blooded individual might belong to some organization or group, then only the best kindest-hearted may belong to Owen County. However, without putting an obstruction in the way of those who think only with their wallets we will soon wind up with a stoplight, strip mall and convenience store every 1/4 of a mile. Because then we will attract those who think that they must have a slushee within 30 seconds of thinking that they want one. And I can tell you from experience the kind of people that will then live in our county. The ones who will call the police and complain when a tractor gets mud on the road coming out of a field or because there are deer in their yard eating their shrubs.

Stop building things. That is hard to say, we can’t tell the farmers to stop selling off their farms because I can understand why they can’t afford them any more. We are losing the tobacco farmers because the government is doing away with smoking and finding something else for them to do is hard, if that is all they have done for 30 years or more. We need to see if there is someway to keep the farmers going so the future will still get to see trees and what farm land is and how it helps. There was a news cast on about a year or two ago about farmers, I think it was about what farmer put on there plants for bugs, this lady told the reporter, we should do away with farmers and buy the can food from the stores, if a few people are thinking that now, we are in trouble. Need to develop a committee to attract new business for employment opportunities, restaurants (not pizza places either), shopping malls (Wal Mart), this committee should be mode of people who is going to put their best effort and not worry about their personal interest or profit. We need people who is going to work

Repeal ordinance 141, place on ballot for referendum if county residents want a building inspection; if so place the position as a county employee PT or FT subject to the merit system; fees to be established by a District Court schedule; appeal rights to contest a ruling/changes for inspection; limit inspections to major or substantial construction not covered by other agencies such as electrical service, sewers, etc.


Do not limit growth, no zoning

No zoning (2)
No zoning - let us keep our freedom
Keep zoning out of the county

Grow as a whole township
Give away one acre on the outskirts of town to people who are willing to build a house in Owenton, live here and maybe work here if enough available jobs
Promote development in Owenton by giving away property in or near town to encourage people to move here and build homes and businesses
Bringing in more people
To grow to get bigger and better things happen to Owenton

Start building more homes
Build more houses
Building houses
more housing
Retain a marketing and planning firm to help develop interest within the homebuilders network
build new housing, complexes

Start building buildings.
Make more room for growth.
Start building (6)
Build, more people
Bring in the buildings
Build buildings
Start building things
Build new things
Start building them now.
Start building the freaking things.
Start construction of new stores and stuff
Building more stores.
Build new stores
start building more places to work.
Build things for us to do.
Build new stuff
Build the town.
Bring in builders.
Build
Be supportive of expansion
I think you should start building more and at Owenton as a town grows
Construction
start building the county
Allow outside things to come in and build up the community

Start building new places
Expand
Start building now
Start building new buildings
Start putting it up, the new buildings.
Start building places, like stores and restaurants.
Buy property and build for tomorrow
Start building those things
Start building!; Turn the old IGA into something
Build/remodel old buildings or build new buildings.
Quite half-building so many new #$%^&* things and finish stuff off.
Get the construction done.


More recreational and entertainment options for youth and families

Need more things for kids to do
Start building places for people of all ages to go and building some sort of attraction to bring more businesses here.
Make more places for teens to spend fun time
Start building things for young people to do and hang out at.
Putting more activities in Owen County.
More activities.
Start doing stuff with the kids
make places for kids and teens to get together
Have more things to do.
More things to do.
Put more stuff in Owen County for kids to do.
Start making more stuff to do
It doesn’t really have to start now, but just really give the kids more to do, if there’s things for kids to do, there’s less violence and things.
Open more teen spots
Bring in more stuff
Start making Owenton a better place to be a hang out.
We need to put more places where people could hang out.
Build something for teenagers to hang out
more places for young teens to hang out.
Build fun things like places to play sports.
Have a place for teens to go and just have fun, so they don’t stay in trouble all the time.
Convincing whomever you need to convince to let us have some place we can at least go so we can act like normal teens, we need some place to hang out (not everyone likes the pool hall).
Build some more buildings and put games and stuff in them
More places to play sports and have fun and hang out.
Build fun places.
Thinking of how to make Owenton a more funner place
build some more things to do.
Play more sports.
Building something for the kids.
Have something to do for younger people
continue recreational opportunities for all ages.
The start would begin with having the County Park look into ways to help our young people
have more things for our youth to do to keep them out of trouble
Start on children’s facilities, they should be our main focus, after all, they are the future of our county
Start making things for our kids to do now.
get something good for the kids.
Looking at what we can have for our children to do while not in school.
The community needs a meeting to talk about more recreations for Owen County. Kids and teenagers, they have no place to go for fun.
maybe find a place for the kids to go so they are not out destroying the town.
Plan more for the kids to keep them out of trouble.
Use some of these vacant buildings if possible and convert into recreational places
Put in places to hang out and have fun.
Help the kids so that they have things to do besides out doing drugs and get more jobs in Owen County.
More attractions.
Start working on this for the kids to have something to do.
Put new attractions
Get kids out of parking lots and give them some place to go
Put something for teens to do
Start doing these things I mentioned (entertainment).
More stuff to do
Open more places for kids to hang out.
Making more stuff for teenager and children to do.
Adding in new stuff.
Put more attractions in
Start building new attractions.
Make more things to do for teens
Start working toward stuff for teenagers to do.
Start making a plan to get more places to go in this town.
Build some attractions.
Build places for the teenagers to have fun
Start bringing in more things to do.
Start building more activities in Owen County.
Build more things for kids/people to do and go
Create child friendly places.
Start putting more friendly places for children.
Get more things for teens to do.
Add things to do
Give young people more things to do
Give our children things to do and places to socialize
Children’s activities
Recreation
Begin building things for our youth
Lease old buildings and turn them into some form of entertainment
Things for the kids to do
Things for kids to do like bowling alley’s, movie theaters, Extreme games, or sports of all sorts, better ballfields
Building more and pushing the fact there’s nothing here in Owen Co for children
Give the teenagers a place to go
Work with the state to get money and plans for expansion of parks and recreation
Get ideas and costs for expanding existing venues
More things that would interest our younger generation
Improve parks and recreation area to allow kids to have a place to go to help keep them out of trouble
Positive activities for our youth and facilities for these activities to take place
Be involved in the lives of our children instead of letting them do whatever they want
Focus more on the young community, give them more things to do so they don’t end up regnant and still in high school or end up dealing drugs or an addict by the time they’re 12 years old. Give me a reason to stay here and raise my kids instead of being sared that they’ll end up just like the majority of teens who live in Owen Co today
Plan for the kids
more recreational opportunities for the residents, especially the youth and the challenged
Make more things available.
Get a sports center for the kids
Help our younger generation, something for teenagers to do
Activities for youth in our county.
Build a place for the children to hang out. Clear our small businesses of loitering
Build things for young generation so they will stay in Owen Co. they are the life of our county as well as their children
Fix a place for kids to play
Support youth with activities for them
Get the children things to do in our own county other than a school related
Think of the kids, they have nothing to keep them out of trouble
Create fund places for teenagers to help them with their passage from childhood to adulthood - a recreation center perhaps?

More places such as bowling alleys, skating rinks, drag strips
Develop the park with more attractive sports for the young people
When build skate park, utilize the surrounding area with a public park type atmosphere
Improve recreational offerings: indoor pool would be wonderful! More sophisticated exercise facility
Use the skateboard grant for this (a huge city park) instead of building it (the skateboard park). There isn’t that many skateboarders
Instead of building a skate board park for a hand full of people, build something for everyone. To much money is being spent on things that only benefit a few
Have more for the young people (clean fun) I like the skate board idea
Instead of a winery, Owen Co should open a skating rink for the kids. Woudn’t that be nice
Establish parks/green space for future
A nice big park to keep the kids out of trouble and to keep families close. Something more for the 11-16 year old kids, not just smaller children
Raise money for the parks and support the department
The skate park is a good start. The old IGA could be turned into a recreational center with bowling and roller/ice skating
Someone could buy the empty building across from meadow View and make it into a retail store or a skating rink.
improve parks
Support the parks department.
Community pool
The walking trail and park are a good start
Open some type of entertainment (skate rink, theater, etc) in the old grocery building by DQ
The only action that I would like to see is for the county to build a park. An actual park not like the fairgrounds, but a place with shady areas, walking/running/biking paths and picnic areas. I believe that this would help with at least the family aspect of the changes I suggested
Start building a bowling alley and a swimming pool in fairgrounds
Put in bowling alleys or other places for us to go and have fun.
Put in bowling alley.
They are not getting the job done, the youth has nothing to do so they get into trouble every day.
hopefully they could build a movie theaters.
Building a place like arcade or bowling alley.
Build stuff like IGA you could turn into a bowling alley or a skating rink or a indoor soccer place
Rent out the IGA building and build a skating rink, movie theater or something fun like that.
things for people to do (bowling, skating rink).
build a roller skating place or a bowling alley, or even a movie theater
Bring in a bowling alley.
Put in a movie theater, or a bowling alley
Start building the theater
Bowling alley
Build a skate park
the skate park is a good start.
Build a water park.
Get a bowling alley, ice rink
Build a bowling alley or a movie theater.
Rolling rink, bowling alley, movie theater.

For more things for youth and families. Churches/communities to set up programs for the youth, e.g., movie night at the county park. Concerts in the park with local talent. Contests for the local talent/ Attract businesses, eg., theater, skating, bowling, arcade, etc
Build golf courses in different areas of county
We need things in this county for all ages of people to do
Look at stuff in the community that can be done right now. Clean it up. Get more activities in the area, let more businesses come in, add to the park to make it family like

Stop the skateboard park


Economic development planning, attract new businesses, needed new businesses

Some sort of incentives to encourage new businesses in Owenton such as tax exempt status to provide Owen County residents a place to come and shop
Lower taxes for new business to so they will come in to Owen County.
Offer incentives to industries to come to Owen Co
Incentives to draw small businesses
Try to get business to come by giving them incentives
Tax advantages for big business. These will bring quality housing and businesses which will provide tax revenues and businesses for local workers
Offer tax breaks to environmentally friendly developers/businesses to relocate here
Tax breaks for businesses willing to relocate to Owenton
Give business incentives for small owners to come here
Make it a business friendly community by tax incentives, etc
Help new businesses by offering tax breaks to small businesses
Offer tax breaks for industry to set up shop in Owen County. We have the empty industrial park. Surely renting/getting the facility at less than market value is better than leaving it empty.
Lower taxes so new business would come in
Recruit new business into our county not just "Owenton" in general. Tax breaks and other incentives might be a good place to start

Have a good economic development plan - what industries or businesses would be accepted?
Planning to attract some kind of industry
Planning to attract good paying industry, attractive housing and commercial growth will help create the necessary tax revenue to fund utility construction and other infrastructure and also adequately fund the school system and government services.
Start inviting more business and take it into consideration
Promote more businesses to come to Owenton
Start thinking of business promotion
Attract businesses to the area
Offer some incentives to some of the swell clothing choices to come in to some of the vacant spots
Develop a detailed plan to bring another major business into Owen County
Encourage residential and industrial development
Planning to attract industry and sustain and grow small businesses
Continue to work with industrial authority
I really believe we need a different approach to finding industry for the county - doesn’t look like what we are doing now is working
Invite business to our area to create more jobs in more income into our area. Everyone now shops elsewhere, their not spending in Owen County.
Have buyers for empty places like IGA
Devise ways to bring in employment for trained workers
Try to make Owen Co. more approachable for more stores and factories, ext.
Work together as community to bring in businesses
Looking into bringing other dining chains into town.
Seek more business opportunities to move into the county.
Building/opening small shopping centers so that businesses will want to come in
Bring in more businesses
Bring in businesses
Let more businesses come into the county. Allow more choices for people in the community. Allow more restaurants to come to the county
Start planning different businesses that could be offered to take a vote through the community of the type of businesses wanted in the future
Meet with different people in the community and start building restaurants and things/places for teenagers
Planning and searching for the right things, businesses and stores to come to suit everyone’s needs, and not have to bother the county’s natural resources to bad.
We need to develop a committee to attract new business for employment opportunities, restaurants (not pizza places either), shopping malls (Wal Mart). This committee should be made for people who is going to put their best effort and not worry about their personal interest or profit. We need people who is going to work.

We must encourage business growth within our county. Jobs, materials and services here coupled with a quiet safe community for all ages will make Owen Co a most desirable place for all – not just a bedroom community
Try to get business and industry to come to the area for economic growth
Get store and jobs to open, invite companies to look us over so our money can stay here and our economy can grow and people to move in and build
I know that we have a committee that is trying to bring industry to Owen County. I don’t want to see downtown depleted of business, but maybe more strip mall type business. Check into businesses that we all have to leave Owenton to take care of. I like the fact that we are finally getting new fast food restaurants with the Subway and maybe McDonalds coming into Owenton. Maybe we should look at more franchisee opportunities - not necessarily restaurants
Start building place such as skating rings, movie theaters and more fast food restaurants and businesses
Bring in factories, eating places, or stores where there will be more jobs and places to shop and eat
Contact some businesses, set up arrangement for them to look at possible locations for industry, finish the road work, make Owen County the most productive and smartest place to live around here

Start letting more businesses come into the county
Advertise, development opportunities
Get different companies to come in
planning on putting in more businesses
Have more companies to move into Owen County.
Getting big businesses to come into the county
Campaign for restaurants and businesses
Bringing in more business
Putting more businesses in
Start getting more businesses
More stores need to come here.
Put in a few more businesses in Owenton
Bring business in.
more stores
Start putting things in to do
Bring in more businesses
We need to start by persuading whomever we need to start building more stores and businesses, such as Wal-Mart
Promote and encourage new businesses
Develop business, there is less business in Owenton now than 25 years ago
Have more businesses
Start bringing in more big businesses
Entice business to come here
Let more things come into Owen County.
Start building new businesses here
bring in jobs so people won’t depend on government help
women’s department store
Break ground for McDonald’s and start building it.
Recruitment of businesses.
Pursue and support businesses that share a vision of our goals
Businesses that work together for a better community
Do all we can to attract new business
Figure out a way to attract more businesses
Attract more businesses
More businesses (2)
Try and find some franchises to come to Owen Co
We need to look at different types of businesses to come to Owen Co
Get more stores and jobs
Let new opportunities for businesses come into our county
Encourage more businesses to come into the area
Start development of business areas
We need a way to generate tax dollars. So many businesses have gone under in the past 5 years, it’s depressing. The only way I can see Owen County making it in the future is to entice some larger chain stores, such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc. to come to Owen County. This will produce the $ and give Owen Countians jobs
We need to encourage small business. There is very little job opportunity here. Things like the winery and vineyard and the new Subway are steps in the right direction
Getting more business in the county - People say spend your money in Owen County but there is only so much you can do that
Draw in new businesses instead of government officials discouraging it!
Encourage businesses to move in
Bring in better business
More stores
Add a mini-mall
Bring in businesses
More businesses.
Bring in more businesses
Do appealing things throughout the county to invite businesses in.
Bring businesses to the community
Start drawing more businesses to our town.
Bring in a few different types of businesses, not just pizza restaurants.
Make Owen County more open for a wider variety of businesses to open here
Make it big and make shopping centers.
Putting more places in county
More Businesses
Opening more stores
Bring in extra activity, business owners now and get them started.
Attract businesses
Make room for new buildings and for bigger business to move in

Get things such as more restaurants or bowling alley or movie theater.
Build a gas station on Sparta Road.
Internet in new stores
Build a Wal Mart (2)
Just try to get a McDonalds or a better General Store to come in to town for example.
Better food selection (something other than pizza) like taco bell; If you do those then more people can have jobs and Owen County will become a good place to live; A movie theater would be so cool it would bring life and the outside world into Owen County making it flourish.
Put in more technology related stores such as Radio Shack or EB Games.
We need to begin building a Wal Mart.
build the restaurants you said you were going to build.
Have more fast food places
Restaurants would be a good start.
think more about the youth, they are going to grow old here.
Food places
Cracker Barrel restaurant
If nothing is here to shop for, people will not come to Owenton because they don’t want to drive 30, 40 or 50 miles to shop
To find a way to get a clothing store
Look into new businesses and restaurant establishments
Well....you have already built a new restaurant.
Put in a McDonalds and Arby’s and Wal mart.
Add some new restaurants

Identification of and support for groupings of production and process that have synergies among materials and energy use - see research and findings on industrial clusters
Any industry brought in needs to be well thought out. No low paying franchises are needed. We need good paying jobs from clean industry
Research or scout out in colleges to give a challenge for one of the business classes for a credit on more ways to make Owen Co. more profitable but not change the environment
Start talking to bigger company trying to get them to build here. Not just Southern States or Subway
Meet with the people who can bring businesses to our town. Convince them this is the place to be.
Try harder to get more industry and shopping here so we can receive more tax money to make our county more up to date
Develop high tech or moderate tech incubator - at some point traditional manufacturing will be too costly to continue in Owen County
Do analysis on what would attract new businesses to the area
Job training and apprenticeships to build useful skill base of population
Finds funds in whatever way they can be found to hire people that can bring prosperous visions into Owen County for businesses
Regularly change membership in industrial council. Membership needs to be changed occasionally to bring new vision/vitality
Get a new industrial board
Since the employment opportunities have not seen any change, maybe we need a new industrial committee appointed

Protect existing businesses by building infrastructure (water, natural gas, more class A roads)
Work on the factors that are keeping those industries away – closer interstate access, gas lines, water lines, economy base to support the supply/demand
Attract industry I expect, but without water and railroad I don’t have an answer

I believe the lack of industry is the root of a lack of the other items mentioned. However, many of the citizens have to share the blame for that. When they ignorantly jumped on the band wagon against FET they hampered other industry being interested in this county
Start by welcoming new businesses instead of "vetoing" the company before any real issues are addressed.
Don’t let the high class people in Owen County keep jobs and business out. Because they have money don’t mean that the middle class people does

Do whatever it takes to bring in more jobs. Work to bring in gas or whatever else we need (better access roads) to get businesses to come into our county
Attract 1-2 industrial businesses that could hire 100 - 200 people at reasonable wages. The growth in jobs would add a tax base to improve roadways and schools
We need to look in to bringing some industry in the county to create jobs for people
New jobs (2)
Need more jobs (2)
Job growth
Get more jobs for people to work at
More opportunity
More jobs (2)
Create jobs
This county needs more jobs
We need something here for jobs
Look for good jobs
Bring in jobs
Buildings for jobs
Get more jobs, due to increase of population
More work, and growth
Bring on business for residents and keep residents working in our county
Need to start getting more jobs in the county so people will stay in the county.
have a better work place for our family’s and friends so they don’t have to travel so far to work.
Allow and develop industry
Look at more employment opportunities for everyone
Bring in more work
have more jobs for our community
Get jobs/industries in the county would be a start.
Factories would be good to start with.
Start building more business so it will be more jobs
Encourage factories, plants to locate to the county
allow a bigger company to occupy the outer parts of town.
Allow and develop industry, and business. There is less business in Owenton now than 25 years ago.
Devise ways to bring in employment for trained workers.
A change of members on the industrial board.
Meeting for more job opportunities, more factories.
Increase industrial and more job opportunities
Bring in businesses that will bring more jobs to the community
More places to work
Try to help bring in factories and places to work
A need for work places
Invite more companies to locate for more employment opportunities
Make plans and find ways for more jobs to come to the county
Attract new industry to county for future jobs
Create new jobs for our young people coming out of college so they will want to stay here in Owen County and not leave our county to make a living
Also training programs for those new jobs
Light manufacturing jobs
Get more jobs here in Owen County.
Build me jobs
make more jobs available
Get a good job
Another factory
More work!!!
Start building places and use the factory that has already been built
get new jobs for people
Start bringing more stores (jobs) in to the county
have companies built.
Nothing, building more working areas
allow for more industry; Set zoning to allow for industry
Put in a factory
Put in the factory
Industry
Building more places to work and doing more things.
Getting more things in Owenton such as a real job opportunity.
We need to start getting help for people to make new jobs and need more people to bring in better places.
I think we should build more fast food places because that would give students more job opportunities.
Accept business offers in Owen County, not many, for entertainment and to make a small job increase
Start building stores and creating job opportunities.
Make jobs available
Help students get jobs, not just certain ones
We need to bring in more things to keep our people in our community
Get more jobs in the co.
We must attract jobs, not necessarily just factory types. We are losing most of our young people to jobs away with a professional need
Trying to get jobs in the county
More jobs - industrial
I think we need to build more places to work at
Figure out what types of businesses to attract to the area and develop a plan to make it happen
Open the door to let factories come in and restaurants

We are thinking "in the box" with our Industrial Park and spec building to try and attract a business; That’s ok, but there are many industrial parks and spec buildings all over the county doing the same thing; Maybe we need to think "outside the box" and try also to attract several smaller businesses to fill existing vacant buildings and to build others; We seem to be putting all our eggs in one basket; For example, if we attract one business that employs 100 people and it ends up leaving, we have a tremendous economic impact; If we attract 5 businesses that employ 20 people each and one decides to leave, we’ve lost 20 jobs but still have 60 left; Most jobs are created by small businesses, so where’s the most potential to find jobs? Small businesses

Maybe a group like the C of C could make a concerted effort to identify people with Owen Co. roots who would really like to "come back home. Of course, more good jobs could help this but many of these people might run businesses where they are or would like to start a business that could just as easily be located or relocated here in Owen Co.Many long to come home and raise their family here; The leadership training that some have already completed in entrepreneurship might be put to practical use in giving some of these displaced Owen Countians as well as some here the push and support they need to live and run a business here; I’m sure there are C of C members who have plenty of contacts with people without Owen Co. roots who they think might like our rural and small town atmosphere who might be willing to live and run a business here

Meet with factories looking for a place to open. We already have a building
I know the leaders are doing all they can to bring industry to our county but I hate seeing that building sitting there empty
Put some of the vacant buildings to use
Get a factory or 2 please. Why do we have an industrial park?
Putting places to work in the building that have been around here with nothing in them. Like Industrial Park out on 127
The industrial park needs industry, not just one building and a lot of field
There’s that building across from Actaris. You need to concentrate on that and try to put something in there that would bring more jobs to Owen County
Somehow utilize the building that we wasted money on trying to draw industry
Make use of some of the empty building like the IGA building that would be a great place for a bowling alley. And the building out across from Meadowview would be a good place for some office space. Those buildings are already there instead of building new buildings, use the buildings that are already available
Work hard to fill our spec building with honorable jobs and not let outsiders and money make decisions that Owen Countians will regret
Try to find a "green company" to fill the empty factory building outside town
Continue to try for some kind of industry for the industrial park
The buildings in town need a face lift. Touch of Polish is a great example in taking a run down building that means something to the county and bringing it back to life

Try to attract more businesses and industries somehow
Like to see the creation of more jobs, possibly through light manufacturing
Make Owen County more appealing to manufacturers and retailers
Try to attract small businesses and industry
Find ways to draw business and industry to the county
Help with new industry
Attract industries that will offer skilled labor force
Bring in a new company so that we can get the jobs that we need so badly
Need industry have someone to get industry here
Cultivate industry
Recruit more industry
Pushing for more industry
Invite industries
Get more industry with a gas line, tax incentives, (whatever it takes)
Bring industry to our county that would bring jobs and people to our county
Promote and encourage industries to locate in Owen Co
Need industry - have someone target industry here
Attract more industry - find a company to use that new building on 127 to bring more jobs to our community

More industry to create employment for our young people
Create opportunities for kids to come back to county
Plans for attracting businesses to provide opportunities to young people
Improve opportunities for youth to return to Owen Co when grown
Job opportunities for our kids to come back to the county to live/work
Good educated children with good jobs available for them to come back to within the county
Try to draw industry or companies to provide our young people opportunities to return to work here
In a few years I will have grandkids. I hope there are things they like to do here and stay in Owen Co. when they grow up
Would like to see more industry so our young people wouldn’t have to leave the county to find employment
More opportunities for kids now – make a need for them to return – better jobs and positions

The community needs to focus on the amount of money it is losing to neighbor counties because of the backwardness that has been insisted upon in the county for so long. While I am proud of my family, my heritage, and my community, it currently leaves me with no option but to pursue a career and start a life elsewhere, unless I put in hours behind the wheel as if I were a truck driver
There would be more money in operation and more jobs and would create a lot different work place and a whole lot better place to live
Businesses need to pay their employees more to keep other businesses from taking those good help away


Home-grown, small business development, arts and crafts, tourism

Provide funds for education of small business owners toward marketing their products
Teach more about marketing Owen Co products
The Internet allows people to sell their product, crafts, B&Bs to a wider market without the necessity for relocation - are there resources to supply and train interested individuals
Give more support to small businesses
Support small businesses
Keep small businesses
Involve small businesses
Encourage small business owners to open stores here. Not big franchise chains but small personal businesses
Bring in more small businesses
Attracting small business
Help people to start small businesses in Owenton
Local people need to take the initiative to do some of the things that outside people are coming in here and doing. We need to avoid big land companies and developers from gobbling up all our land.
Convince people to expand companies, open new businesses, and provide them with information on how to do so.

Promote local businesses – local businesses to provide merchandise that people want – local businesses support people
Creation of promotional groups to promote county’s local businesses
Try and change the trend to drive to Wal-Marts and Lowes to shop - support local economy
Get business experts to help start grass root economics
Develop programs and policies to help entrepreneurs be successful
Advertise ways to turn farms into money and hobbies into a business
We need to support our local businesses
Help support the enterprises in our community
Find ways to promote intown shopping.
Support our local businesses – shop in Owenton!!

keep shopping our small businesses to keep them open
Education/advertising campaign on benefits of supporting our local economy
Shop locally as much as possible to support the local businesses
I think local retail stores need support from the community and our local government. Small towns that seem to do well have nice shops and variety, but small town stores need to realize they have to be competitive with prices also.
Help educate people on how-to businesses – co-ops, grassroots movement
Co-op for area similar businesses
find new business owners.
Work with the state, local schools etc., to provide any training that employees would need for existing businesses to expand and to attract potential businesses; Sometimes you need more than one strategy, especially in small communities to make the community more prosperous

Keep Wal-Mart out!
Pursue a goal now that limits factories, etc. There is enough in surrounding areas that we can go work in.
Don’t let big businesses take over

There is a lot of arts and crafts persons who would like to have this. There is a lot of people who could make a living from a place like this with keeping Owen County a small town for the most part
Promote the artistic talent in Monterey
Recognize our local artists, as in music, crafts, hand-made to home-made. These are the people that make Owen Co feel like home to me

Establish a tourism commission to organize tourism development and activities
Promote recreation and tourism
Explore tourism options
Encourage tourism
Look for ways to promote and encourage new lakes and camp grounds and hunting areas
Vote for the winery
plan events to bring people in
We need to find a way to capture the tourism value of existing things such as the traffic that passes through Owen County going to the speedway and the 127 yard sale
We need to keep a representative on the Kentucky River Commission and the KY Heritage Commission so that we have a voice in decisions
Begin planning for these (lakes, camping, fishing, riding trails) recreational areas. Search for financing – invite people to take an interest
To change our vision of Owen Co. growing as an industrial community and focus on becoming a community to train our citizens to become skilled workers and to focus on becoming a tourist community
Encourage tourism environment
Continue to expand the farmer’s market as well as striving to find ways to attract tourists to stop in the community as they travel through to other sites
More resort areas - hunting and fishing
More water and camping recreational
Create tax incentives for tourism
Focus on parks, recreation, hunting, hot air balloon, etc.
Create more mature preserves and protect our wild life.
resort lakes and another golf course to attract tourists, then enable them to stay comfortably then go home
Identify recreational opportunities to be used as attractions for new residnets and formulate a plan for the development of the recreational areas.
Provide support (govt & community) to those who are interested in starting tourism-related businesses
Cooperate with local, state, and federal authorities to build large water reservoir promoting small recreational and vacation businesses such as docks, campgrounds, parks and RV camp grounds
Develop long-range plans to enhance marketable recreation facilities to draw people/$$ to community
Owen Co. has become quite the place for outdoor activities; Many people come from outside the community to Perry Park and Fairway Golf Course because of long waits for tee times at other places; Lots of outsiders own property at Elk Lake and Perry Park; They enjoy boating, fishing, and just being in the country; They pay taxes!; Maybe another development with a golf course and a lake would be a good thing; Elk Creek Hunt club and Pheasant Ridge provide quality hunting experiences; Of course, Elk Creek has world class sporting clay activities facilities; Maybe we need more things like this; If Owen Co. is known throughout the area as a major center for outdoor activities, more and more people will want to come and more businesses will cater to their needs; Many of these people are prosperous and spend lots of money here; We need more of them!; Many of these people are business people and might be willing to expand business opportunities here; To be most effective, concerted effort would be needed to push for this.


Retain, support and expand agricultural businesses

Agricultural businesses such as farm vegetable/fruit stands/stores. Orchards with associated stores and recreational opportunities come to mind
Talk to Congressman to keep up the farming
Take care of the farmers so they don’t have to sell their farms to survive
Support the Farmer’s Market
We enjoy the farmers market
Promote commercial hemp production of products such as paper, cloth and oil as replacement crop for tobacco
Encourage farmers to sell produce to residents
Buy vegetables from farmers.
Protect the farmer
Try to get diversified means of agriculture to offset the loss of tobacco.
Need to do things to help our farmers survive without tobacco – different types of farming
Develop a certified kitchen for farmers to be able to market their products to consumers. Then expand this into a regional marketing center. Great location between Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati
If there is ag development money, why not let the farm women have some $ to start small businesses, consignment, etc.

Finding ways for farmers to keep their farms by finding alternative crops to replace tobacco. Grapes are a good example. Learn to accept change. Vote yes for more wineries
Obtain necessary things to start ethanol facility
Combine our resources to take our product to a market n which we may receive a higher price ie. utilizing the Canada-Mexico interstate to move our beef
To keep agriculture important in this county we must have local farmers’ markets and also regional markets. The Phase I money is helping farmers diversify and hopefully this will continue. A certified kitchen in the county would help farmers process what they grow. Marketing cooperatives might become very important
Farmers could switch from tobacco growing to organic farming which would improve our water (pesticides), give farmers new hope.
Bring the independent farms together in an expanding market un-utilized by current market trends. To a simplistic explanation, unionize the "small farmers" into a market where all can profit. Develop a uniform plan of attaching current markets
Promote farmers currently in business by selling products and alternate crops into surrounding areas. Also use farms as recreational farms, i.e., pumpkin patch
Ag changes to prevent rising poverty
To get more cattle and more farmers moved in
help farmers find a crop
Make it where farmers can make a living
Fight for the right of farmers to grow hemp for textiles

Continue to link farmers with new agricultural possibilities and information
We need to take care of our farmers no matter what it takes. Spending more dollars, etc.
Find alternative crops (options) for farmers
Seriously implementing alternative crops to replace tobacco
Protect our farm land. Make it more productive in growing fruits and vegetables, cattle, poultry, etc. making ourselves more productive so as not depending so much on outside help. We used to be this kind of county where most families that had excess land grew a big part of the food needed for their families. It was a good life and children weren’t stuffed with junk food
Encourage more farm-related businesses like wineries berries, fresh produce – all those greenhouses could be working all winter
Midway has a pie factory! We should develop experimental kitchen. Take local produce, put "added value" by making chutney? Pies? Sauces? Owen County fried apple pies! Advertise our county as Alternative agriculture/rural residential
Start working with groups and institutions that help to educate land owners what are our choices for
alternative crops. The U of K provides much info but a broader range of information is needed
We need better farm prices so farmers can continue to farm
Educate our farmers on other crops
Research alternative crops and/ or live stock to better improve farming revenue in Owen County.
Keep it a country atmosphere.
Enhanced partnerships with universities for agricultural state-of-the-art research
Work to keep jobs in America rather than sending them overseas. Tobacco farmers, peanut farmers, cottons farmers are being put out of business by imported goods

Try some different crops, livestock, hunting preserves
Explore agritourism ideas/funding and ways to attract more artists to our county. Agritourism/winery/artists = our rural landscape.
Encouragement for value-added approaches to timber and other primary products that keep the revenue in the county would encourage thriving, not just surviving, commodity production
Help find a crop for the farmers to take the place of tobacco – ie winery and grape arbors
We are surrounded by 3 major metropolitan areas could this be a resource for local products and services and tourism? Could we grow in the variety of agricultural products - such as herbs, trees, scrubs, ginseng, help (if legislation were there), nursery crops, home grown organic produce. Could there be subsidiary services such as local processing and transportation companies. Could we discover a self-sustaining economic growth that allows more products and crops and businesses – to keep the rural environment intact. Thus acting globally as an example of local solutions to growth and a conservative effort to steward the natural resources of nature – giving a great gift to future generations


Maintain and improve the natural environment

Maintain and protect natural environment
Useable green space – golf courses
Create a plan to either replace or put something else in where the trees were cut down in downtown Owenton
Focus on protecting our environment and keeping the rural feeling of Owen County
Now that the county has cut down the trees, we need to put something in place of them
Protect our ponds and lakes
Remove the raw sewage from the high school lake
Stop throwing pesticides empties in our creeks and other chemical containers
Check our water sources, such as creeks
environmental care
Stop cutting down trees
Plant trees in town.
plant trees.
Community clean up

Pick up the trash
Clean up our county
Clean up junk and trash
Clean it up!
Clean up around Owen County
Clean up community
Keep Owen County clean
Provide incentives for people to take pride in property
Make anonymous litter reporting possible (attached example of form used in Lexington)
Eyes sores, such as trash and abandoned cars need to be dealt with
Clean up the place to keep the land beautiful
Get litter cleaned up along roads and private property in county
Clean up the county
Start to clean up places
Help clean up around town (2)
Stop littering
Fixing and cleaning Owen County
By making our community better instead of littering or by mowing grass
Get people to help clean up our community
litter clean up
clean up
Clean it up (2)
picking up the trash on roadsides
Clean up county
Clean up trash
Clean our county
Clean up the town
watch out for dumps
Cutting back on littering
clean up trash along roadsides
Establish county clean up programs
Organize a county wide clean up.
Do an entire county clean up.
pickup sides of roads
Clean the trash out of ditches
clean up the county, get the trailer parks to clean up and fix up
I picture Owen County cleaned up in 20 years. Hopefully everyone will get on the same page and want to take care of their properties. With the race track growth we have a lot of outsiders going to want to use our resources so let’s make them nice and available for them.
Educate children about not littering
Start cleaning up the roadsides
Clean the trash of the roads
landlords keep property
beautify the county roadways
Adopt a highway.
Work on cleaning it up, not just garbage but the fair grounds and in town needs to be fixed
Clean up projects.
Sow grass, plant trees, landscaping, highway.
Clean up around homes
Look into cleaning up our county and community
Clean up junk and trash
Work on keeping the county clean
Cleaning up of individual "junk yards" around the county
Clean up the garbage
More promotion to clean up county and recycle
Establish on-going litter control program
Help the cows by picking up trash and helping the cows when they are in danger
Clean up our own property
All the yards would be mowed and all clean of trash and junk cars
Just look around and see some of the eye sores that do not enhance the community. Ordinance on junk/trash at someone’s house
Well maintained homes
We need to clean up the county. Especially in town. Need to get the trash cleaned up would be a great start!
Get people to understand how nice it is here and realize that it could be even better. At least then they maybe won’t throw so much trash out along the roads
Help property owners clean up/remove abandoned trailers, cars; maybe contract with scrap metal company to do it for free or at a nominal cost
Keep Owen County neat and pretty even with the growth that is coming. Get rid of the junk cars

Investigate use of regional jail inmates for regular litter pick-up duty
Let those in jail pay for their way by cleaning roads (our people are housed in Carroll Co)
Use prisoners to pick up litter, use alternative sentencing

Mandatory trash pick-up
Mandatory garbage pick up
Start a county-wide regular trash pick-up

Make littering a major fine
Have co. enforce law that clean up Owen Co
Enforcement of current nuisance ordinances
Enforce nuisance laws
Advertise, enforce the laws
enforce littering laws
Enforce laws on littering and have more days each month when dumping trash is free
Tougher laws, follow through with ordinance to see if the owner or person responsible did what they were told. to do.
Actively pursue roadside cleanup and enforcement of the blight laws
Enforce our nuisance laws that are already in effect and make people clean up their junk
Improve and/or enforce litter laws
Look at present ordinances and see what could be enforced
Enforce the Nuisance Laws
Adult education programs required or violators of minimum cleanliness standards
Enforce litter laws
Enforce nuisance laws
Fine people for littering and not maintaining trash-free property
Organize volunteers, post fines for littering – enforce it!
Make leaders and law enforcers look at our county and enforce laws regarding clean up of trash
Aggressive enforcement of litter/dumping laws

Begin recycling program
Establish recycling
Pay for dumpsters to be put in neighborhoods for free dumping for 1 week
We need to renovate old houses and use recycled materials. e need full recycling and education to teach the next generation not to litter, pollute and waste. We could give the family who generates the least garbage per month a monetary reward and write up in the paper. The average American family uses 400 gallons of water a day (c0mpared to 5 gallons for the average Indian family) so we need to educate our people about water conservation. Only 3 states in the US waste more electricity than Kentucky, so we need to get the blinders off and realize we cannot continue to waste it if we want our grandchildren to be healthy and happy. With creative thinking and compassion for those yet to be born, we can have a green, beautiful healthy county that could be an inspiration for other counties. We have been called backward state, perhaps we can change that
Do away with plastic shopping bags
Put deposit on milk jugs and beverage containers
Bring recycling back into the county.
Have clean up days. Use groups, convicts, etc. Teach children to clean up (school activity)
Rural cleaning projects
Have several "clean up Owen County" weekends to encourage trash pick-up
Implement litter/trash clean-up program and educational programs for adults and children
Clean up, paint up, fix up the county by enlisting volunteers to help the ones in need
Little things make a big difference. Host more county wide clean-up days.
Clean Community Program with organized leaders of volunteers


Downtown improvements

Maybe some incentives to get people to fix up the downtown areas. We can look as nice as Danville or Harrodsburg. We need to get some old fashion pride back in our bones
We could "spruce up" the town square and make it inviting to tourists. We could make the town square a place for tradition, arts and crafts, etc. that reflect the talents and lives of Owen Countians.
Start fixing up the buildings
Plant trees, install new street lamps, planters, fountains, have a landscape artist do a professions job
Restore historic buildings

Work on getting the "eye sores" in the city taken care of. The old IGA building would make a wonderful area for more shopping but I heard he would not sell. Force him to keep the building up in shape if he will not sell or rent. Again – zoning! That old Mefford’s Hardware building is also an eye sore just at the edge of town. Wow – what a nice "welcome" this is to the city when you enter from the north side!

Some renovating and painting could be done. We should start cleaning up the litter on our roadways to make the town more attractive and inviting

We need to get Owenton and Owen County as a whole to really work together to clean up towns and communities as well as our roadsides. Landscape is the first thing people see when driving through our county

Restore old buildings
Enforce laws that are in place regarding blight
Paint the buildings downtown
Destroy unusable houses in Wheatly and New Liberty
Pride in community
Protect historic structures
The older houses would all be fixed up
Start repairing the town.
Work on getting old buildings and the old school in use
More sidewalks (2)

More parking places in town
Get more parking in town and STOP businesses from parking in front of their own door. Some businesses have 2-3 cars of their employees at their door. I refuse to do business with those folks. On court days – forget about shopping in town. I try to use both drug stores for cards, gifts, and medicine but parking up town is impossible so I end up at North Park most of the time. Forget about eating at the pool hall on court days too because there is not parking. Is there room behind the storefronts to park behind them???? Can the gravel lot across from Owenton Pizza House be blacktopped and lines placed for more parking. If no one is in the old KU building, can that be torn down for parking?

Infrastructure planning and development

Plan so as the community grows what you put in place now will still work in 2020. Large enough facility to handle waste products if you put in city sewage; large enough water lines to handle the volume of water people will consume. The roads to handle volume.
When we install utilities, or any infrastructure, size it for the future; The sewer line going to the new school
appeared to be very small; Installing water lines and not putting in fire hydrants.

Get infrastructure
Fixing the infrastructure in order to benefit both commerce and travel
Get infrastructure
Develop infrastructure to encourage and sustain growth
Maintain county properties as preventative instead of having to restore later
keep up county lands

Broadband access
Broadband internet access
Bring broadband into this county
I know Owen County is not alone in not having broadband or wireless Internet service, but something needs to be done in the whole state to correct this problem. To many people, having Internet service is not about playing on the web but more about working and using it for educational purposes
County-wide wi-fi
Get high speed internet access quickly that will cover the entire county; Current businesses need this; There are many potential businesses that might pass us by if we don’t have this; Location is not that important to some businesses; They can just as easily use their computers in Owenton as Cincinnati; They might come because it’s much less costly to operate there, but can’t come if we can’t provide professional level internet access;

Cable TV
Get cable TV

Improve animal control program
Humane society – an actual facility for the animals, not just an organization
Start a humane facility for dogs and cats
Creation and support of animal control shelter
Care for and control our own animals
keep dogs off streets
animal shelter (2)

Re-evaluate services

For starters, the proposed gas lin needs to be finished. Maybe this would encourage new businesses to locate here and keep the ones we already have
Work to get gas and water for industries
Get gas line so we can get better industries
A gas line needs to be available for more industry work (more jobs)
Natural gas line into the county
Get natural gas to the area for industrial growth
Work on getting natural gas as soon as possible
Get natural gas line run to Owen Co. There will never be any industry or jobs without it, right?
Get gas line in county – can’t have industry without it
Natural gas line in
Bring in natural gas
Get the natural gas line problem fixed fast; Not only could this hurt our chances of getting more industry, it could cause us to lose Actaris;

Maintain public electric co-operative. Do not sell to private entity or conglomerate

Railroad service into the county

Support our hospital and doctors
Make health care and hospital a focus
The first thing we could do is pave the hospital parking lot. It is truly a shame that a woman broke her arm and her glasses from falling into a pot hole trying to get to the hospital building.
Expand current health care services
Elderly activities and supportive living

Maybe have all Owen Coluntians actually have Owen County phone numbers and addresses! We live in and pay taxes in Owen County yet are listed in the Sadieville phone section and have a Stamping Ground address!!


Road improvements

Start fixing and redoing the roads now! Some are very very unsafe to drive on, esp 330 from Corinth to Owenton
Fixing the roads
Fix roads (3)
Roads
Better roads and transportation
Build more roads
Repair roads
Clean roads in winter
Road planning
Improved roads (2)
Improve our roads
Roads in Owen County
Start working on roads
Start fixing roads
Fixing the roads.
Fix the X#$%^ roads
Fix the roads (2)
Fixing the roads
Start fixing the roads
Work on the new road
Improving the roads
Start taking action in the act of repavement and fixing the roads
better roads
Fix the roads (2)
Look into more things for the roads
fix all the holes in the road
Improvement and widen the back roads
Finish the road and put black top or something on all side roads.
Fixing roads better.
kick the road department in the butt to get them moving to fix these dangerous roadways.
Better roads (4)
Widen county rural roads
Clean streets at least once a month
Improve roads and utilities, esp water
Use of highways and interstate corridor
Apply for state/federal grants to improve the roads; tell them we will "do it for the children" – politicians like that!
repair roads,
Finish roads that are under construction
fix the roads in the county so that when people travel through they don’t damage the cars
We need to have more than one safe road for 18 wheelers to come into and out of the county (East, west, north, south). This will help to bring industry that will best suit the community.
Work on roads
Upgrade roads
Our leaders must plan for this growth by developing a long term traffic plan
Talk to state about interstate so we can get industry
We also need to attempt to do something with the roads of OC..many need to be repaved and improved...especially in Owenton itself
Finish road construction projects
Road repair correctly - not the bad fix jobs that are causing accidents and car repairs
Fix the roads
Fix roads in Owen County
Start on the roads
Fix roads and bridges
Fix the roads
a decent road to get to some place else and back
Road improvements
Construct a bypass road around Owenton
Better road departments. If people can’t travel the main roads, then they can’t get goods, services, or to their jobs.
Spend money on roads, water
Fix the broken up highways and roads
At least begin by improving the roads for safer driving conditions
No potholes in the roads
Identify and keep old county roads under county control for future use for recreation


978 Old New Liberty needs resurfacing
HWY 22 east to connect I75
Push to complete Hwy 22 to Dry Ridge so we can have modern access to 1-75 like we have to 1-64 and 1-71
Encourage development of Hwy 22 East to Dry Ridge, Swallowfield Road to Perry Park and 127 North to Glencoe
Fix Hwy 330 and 227
4-lane HWY 22 to Dry Ridge
East/West highway across the county equal to 127
Resurface Hwy 227 from 127 to New Liberty and Battle Ridge to Worthville
Need to redo the rds on Bucks Run
It would be nice to have a road to drive on, the roads are ridiculous
Lobby politicians in Frankfort to improve roads to I75
Start working on our legislators to get a new KY 22E on the 6 year road plan

Something needs done about the road dept in the winter time
Put more men on to get the little
Talk about the roads


Improve water service - access to and quality of

Better water service to supply entire county and industrial park
Start with roads and water
City water
Better water system
Work on the water problem
Water quality
Continue to extend water lines
Work on our water problem
What we need now in the county is to have an endless supply of water, that is clean and safe to drink
Solve the water problem
Work on water conditions
Update water system
Try to meet with water improvement people to try to come up with better water
Make sure all residents have water service
Improve city water and pipelines
Provide city water to all of the county
Focus on getting clean water - I hate paying for water that we cannot drink and then spending LOTS of money at Wal-Mart to buy drinking water
Clean water is something we all need.
Put water in on roads without. In this day and age, people shouldn’t have to haul water for their personal use
Finish the water line
Start with getting water for all
Get water that is clean – we buy a flat of distilled water 2 or 3 times a year ($103). We won’t use it even in ice. Too much chlorine, cancer causing - NOW!
Looking into water situation
Improve water system
Independent water resources
Continue to work for everyone to have access to water
Fix water
Fix water problem
better water for the entire county residents
Water lines with hydrants out in county
Secure funding to build modern, reliable water and sewage treatment plants
My vision is a bit clouded, but I would wish that every home would have access to running water
Get what ever funds like Grant to get water system updated in area
Updating water lines due to age
Water for revenue, recreation, etc

Severn Creek dam project
Dam lake
Severn Creek Dam
Severn Creek Dam (water, recreation)
Severn Creek dam for water, recreation, revenue
Build lake (Severn Creek dam) for water, recreation, revenue
Get lake (Severn Creek Dam) going with the recreation area
Develop Severn Creek Dam (recreation, water supply)
Severn Creek Dam – water, recreation, revenue
A recreation lake
Build the lake
More lakes – revenue and water
The main thing would be improve the water, such as building a large lake. Not only for drinking water, but this would bring in more jobs, tourists, something for the young and old alike to enjoy
Eagle Creek dam project for water, recreation


City water and sewer expansion

Develop plan for city water and sewer (how to find)
Increase water and sewer availability
Require sewage systems with homes
Make lagoon septic systems illegal
Do away with lagoon septic systems - if another septic system won’t work, then it is not a building site
Lagoon septic systems are an eyesore and unhealthy. Surely there is a better way


Improve and invest in public safety

Increased commitment to law enforcement
This county needs law enforcement pay increases and incentives
Wiser use of law enforcement (2)
Wiser and more aggressive law enforcement
Stronger law enforcement
Have more police patrols to make it safer
More money needs to be allotted to the sheriff’s department for more deputies and for a jail. Presently, the department transports prisoners to surrounding counties jail which could get quite expensive, especially the more growth the county takes. At least make an existing jail as holding place for prisoners. Then transport and could be only weekly rather than each time.
Stiffer law enforcement and patrolling. This is necessary, especially the more we grow.

Combine city/county/sheriffs office – one county-wide law enforcement entity
Combine county/city law enforcement to form one body
Combining police departments (city and county)

Tighten up on law enforcement. Criminals should be caught and punished
Direct enforcement of laws
Strict enforcement of laws
Increased commitment to law enforcement
Maybe use the spec building for a county "jail" and save the county money
We also need a new jail to house our prisoners and not have to pay other counties to house them for us. For what we pay to transport and house them, we could pay for our own jail – save money on that
Build city jail. Rent out space to federal and state prisoners. Use inmates for clean-up
Get jail going
Also, use the inmate working program more. They can do things like mow, pick up trash, rake elderly people’s yards in the fall, help businesses with their landscaping jobs, etc.

Support our police staff
Increase support of police force
Help fire and police
Improve our police Dept
Expand police dept and law enforcement
Better emergency planning

Fight crime, drugs
More drug tests, more road blocks, more police involvement in minor’s activities. Parents need to be ore involved in their kids activities
Stop pot growth - drugs and labs are everywhere, ruining us – It’s who you are
"0" tolerance for crime and drugs
More aggressive actions with drugs
Be more aggressive against drugs
Stop the drug problems
Get rid of drugs.
More drug busts.
Crack down on drug heads in schools and local community
Clean up the drug problems in the county
More aggressive action to clean up drug problem
Keep drugs from children
Take a stand against the drugs in Owen County
Get rid of the drug problem that does exist even though the sheriff says it doesn’t
Get drugs enforced and harder punishment. Get the word out this is not the county you want to come in or through to deal drugs
More aggressive involvement by the police departments, state, local, federal to clean up drug problems no matter who it would send to jail.
More aggressive drug clean up in the county
Sweep through county to get rid of drugs – cultivated,dealt
Start forming groups to drive drugs out of this county, community meetings

Begin working on the community to make it a safer place.
Protection would be good
Take care of the community.


Improve and enhance educational system

Continue improving our school system
Visionary achieving school system
Education, education, education - both scholastic and civil
Educational needs more aggressive
Continue to educate
Focus on improving education
Education (2)
Better education (2)
Fix the education, lose the county aspect
Get good education
Kids get good education
Make sure kids get better education
Kids get good education
Improve education!! Help the youth. The youth is our future
Educational growth
Educational improvements
School focus – best that it can be
Get a better education system
Take more time with students
Increasing academics to better our county in the future.
The schools are, in their efforts to increase academic rigor, taking a step in the right direction.

Improve high school graduate rate
Work on the drop out rate
Encourage school age children to stay in school
Show our young people to stay in school

Support school activities, sports, etc
Spend more money on schools
Increase funding for schools
increase teacher’s salary
Spend money wisely especially in school
Put money into our schools to remodeling, IE painting, carpet, air conditioning units
Up taxes to help schools
Pay parents to send students to school
Offer scholarship to encourage education

Increased environmental consciousness

Create programs in the school that teach kids about other cultures.

Better educated children make better community leaders
Work to improve the school system and athletic facilities. Improved school system can help to attract new businesses and increase tax base
Our schools need to be strong and competitive
Worry more about kids and after school activities
Better after school programs to help stimulate children in a safe environment while the dual income family is working

Put some discipline back in the schools, where the teachers have more control of the classrooms and a more basic education is taught
Kids education and morals training
Start teaching Christianity in schools which is legal, it’s not any different than teaching history
Try to get the parents involved in their kids activities and support of the school system
Training for parents on the values of education and helping their child
Hold parents responsible for truant kids
Put God back in school

Better educators for youth
More qualified teachers
Bring in better teachers
Improve test scores in the schools. We cannot attract/retain committed individuals without offering a strong school system
Support and find ways to elevate our school district – attract and keep first rate educators
Hold administrators and school system accountable for better education
New superintendent that’s for educating our children

Career counsel
Have our children prepare for life while in school. Not everything comes from books
Encourage local carpenters, mechanics, hospital, restaurant, day cares, businesses, painters, etc to mentor high school students by letting them be employed or volunteer to work with them
Push high end technical curriculum in high school. Offer engineering scholarships to college students who agree to stay in Owen County for a certain # of years after graduation. I feel that if a high school student knows he/she can make 40K+ at a local facility upon graduation, they would be much more likely to pursue a college education and stay local

Drug and alcohol and sex problem awareness
I think we have a drug problem in our schools. Our school leaders are partying with the students. The people in power look the other way

Stop KERA in schools and the ACT tests will improve (I’m a retired teacher and this program is bad)

Encouraging kids now to want to learn and be a part of clubs and programs will make for a better future for them

Encourage education or training beyond high school
Study the possibility of more post-secondary classes here at home
Create educational and career training opportunities for all members of our community
To find a place for the Adult Learning Center
More opportunities for adult education: computer classes, health, literature, religion, language
Expand programs like family resource, youth services, migrant, etc. that reach parents
Educate the people – teach them their worth to empower them
Training classes for residents, farmers, skills..

Invest in our youth
Interest in children
do something to improve children’s behavior
Inspire our children to be good citizens. Parents should discipline children and reward children for good behavior.
Start with children and work your way up
Concentrate on our children
Parents need to discipline children and teach them good behavior so they can grow to be good citizens
parents need to make their kids mind so when they grow up they can instill the same thing in their kids and to have respect and morals
Parents to take responsibilities for their children and family life. It’s sad that there is more divorced parents that married parents. What example do we set for out children to learn from, That’s what it comes down to. They learn by what they see. They have to change for the better so things will be better for them. Then they can pass that good and right example on down.


Not sure what needs to be done

I’m not sure what needs to be done to achieve this
I wish I knew. How can we teach people to care for themselves and their property?
I’m sure that I don’t know. But I do know that somewhere there are people who do. We need to find someone who does to help guide us through the pitfalls that go with this type (becoming a tourist community) of endeavor
I’m not sure what steps to take
Many things, but I don’t know how or what


Don’t need to do anything

Not much
Not really that much.
Nothing (2)
Nothing, Owen county is fine how it is.
Not building no more stuff
Don’t put in more buildings
Same as now
Owen County is a pretty good place to live
Just keep doing what we’re doing.
Oh, you’re doing fine.
I have no idea.


Pray

Pray (2)
Pray for our community
Pay for things now and start funds for kids to keep them in Owenton.
Become more involved in any one of the many churches in the community
We need to pray, get the churches involved
Pray – get involved with our kids
Start praying to the Lord, Start service God, and stop being chicken bout what’s up.
Start spreading the good news of our savior
encourage faith in God, Give an orientation on the foundation of our faith in God to all newcomers.



Other comments

Have flowers donated for everyone to plant in their yards. Flowers that will come back every year

I guess it would be smart to save and be more smart about things but kinda hard when you raise 5 children alone

Stop welfare and put people to work
Make welfare people work

Look more close @ welfare in Owen Co "moved here because it is easier to get on welfare here" Multiple reports verbalized, esp from No KY – increased cost to all of use! – not going to work if they don’t have to
Basically don’t root out the poor person

I don’t thing we can do anything. There is too many people moving in Owen County
Bring back the chain gangs (prisoners) for work
Pass a smoking ban
We need to welcome more diversity to the community
Speaking my thoughts.
Speaking out loud.
Speak out and say what you feel
Start enforcing equality
Tell people how you feel.
Say what and how I feel
Look more to the farmer in the community.
If the current problems were addressed, growth would follow
Loud and fast cars
Stop looking at the county as a bedroom
Not let values slip through the fingers of society.
Tear down the old high school.
I hope it happens soon
Put something in Owenton to put it on the map
I don’t care.
Crack down on school teachers and principles and students who do drugs and drink, make a public demonstration by bringing back public whipping, also for those who are sex offenders and bus drivers.
Do away with just anybody moving into our community.
everyone run free under age.
pass a law that prohibit smoking in public facilities Please.
Everything
Its too far gone to help
Anything
Lower gas prices.
I’m not really sure about that
I don’t know, whatever it takes
Encourage competition
Start enforcing the rules
Stop giving us these stupid surveys
Spend more of our tax money at home rather than over seas
Think of ways to help, instead of ways to destroy.
I think you are doing awesome
Greet one another and take the time out to ask how each other are doing and if they may need anything that each other could help out with, if they can.
Fixing better food for the animals and have people stop running over them.
I do not plan on living in Owen County when I get older
Change the way people live now.
Make sure the people doing this survey have their life in order enough to worry about fixing ours.
Everybo