As millions of dollars for quality-of-life initiatives were presented Monday to officials in Warren and Butler counties at a ceremony at the Barren River Area Development District, local leaders stressed that the money would help position the area for the prosperity of future citizens.

After Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear presented the ceremonial checks, he said the funding, a combination of money allocated through the state budget and various grants, represents what can be accomplished when local and state officials and regional development leaders transcend partisan divides and work in unison.

“There’s no such thing as a Democrat or Republican bridge. There’s no such thing as a red or blue job,” Beshear said. “This is our job to make sure in this window of opportunity, where we’ve been able to do more than ever before and we don’t know how long it’s going to be open, that we sprint forward as fast as we can, that we don’t trip each other up. I think everyone’s goal up here is for the next generation to have more opportunity in our state than the last, and the one after that to have even more. If we’re doing this right, then our kids and grandkids will grow up in a Kentucky we could’ve only dreamed about.”

The awarded funds support internet access, public education, cybersecurity, first responders, traffic safety and other community-building efforts.

The North Central Telephone Cooperative and Warren Rural Electric Cooperative were presented with $9,170,682 to help connect 1,767 homes and businesses in rural Warren, Butler, Edmonson and Grayson counties to high-speed internet, complementing $3,930,292 in matching funds to bring that area online.

This round of funding is the latest in the partnership between the two utility co-ops that was forged in 2018 with the aim of rolling out broadband internet service to thousands in underserved areas of Warren and surrounding counties.

Warren RECC president and CEO Dewayne McDonald said the funds presented Monday should enable the project to be completed by the end of the year.

“We’ve seen, whether you’re a student learning online or an adult working remotely or you’re just going online for fun, (broadband) is a necessity,” McDonald said.

The Kentucky Product Development Initiative awarded $500,000 to the Inter-Modal Transport Authority to extend utility service to 669 acres in the Kentucky Transpark, where the Tyson and AESC plants, as well as a new Veterans Administration nursing home, are under construction.

Warren County Judge-Executive Doug Gorman said the grant would be a “ginormous help” to continue development at the transpark to attract future employers.

The county was also selected to receive $116,391 from the state’s Land and Water Conservation Fund to add a playground at Michael O. Buchanon Park.

“In Warren County, we’ve invested heavily in quality of life and that shows in the progress we have made,” Gorman said, while referring to the county’s explosive population growth this century. “That doesn’t just happen because we have roads and schools; it is our quality of life initiatives.”

The city of Bowling Green was presented with more than $2 million to fund four projects.

A Community Development Block Grant of $1.322 million was awarded to the city to replace an undersized culvert under Whispering Hills Boulevard.

That project will update the FEMA floodplain map in that area, where two homes were destroyed during the 2021 tornadoes.

Rebuilding was not allowed to take place on those sites due to them being located at the time within a floodplain.

Another $250,000 in CDBG grant money will go toward the construction of the new emergency first responder live fire training center, part of what has been a $16 million project to replace the Bowling Green Fire Department’s Northside Fire Station No. 5 and public safety training center on Porter Pike.

Bowling Green City Manager Jeff Meisel said the city looks to have the project completed in the early spring of next year.

The city also received $107,595 from the state’s Transportation Alternatives Program to construct pedestrian islands at the intersection of River Drive and College Street as well as the intersection of Riverview Drive and Center Street. Another $328,598 was presented to the city to hire a cybersecurity system engineer for at least three years.

Butler County officials were on hand to celebrate the $7.1 million secured in the most recent state budget for HVAC improvements and roof replacements at Butler County school buildings, which district superintendent Robert Tuck said would free up other funds to support teachers.

The city of Morgantown was presented with $300,679 in Kentucky Product Development Initiative funds to improve roads in that city’s industrial park and was also selected to get $69,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to build a new trail at Riverside Park.

BRADD was also recognized for having recently received $176,000 from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security’s State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program to be put toward the development and implementation of a cyber incident response plan for each city and county served by BRADD.