Civil Municipal Magazine Aug 2023

96 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 8 satisfied until we have this service in place in all four corners of the county, so it’s available everywhere you have electricity. The project we are in is very much like the rural electrification of the 1930’s.” Strong spoke of the county’s infrastructure. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Mettel Field is a municipal airport three miles north of Connersville’s central business district. It boasts a 6500 ft X 100 ft runway and an equal length parallel distance taxiway, it has multiple ILS approaches. It’s owned by the City of Connersville and is governed by the Connersville Board of Aviation Commissioners. An important part of that infrastructure is Reid Health, which has broke ground on a $100 million local facility for Fayette County. Reid is the largest health care provider in the region, as Strong informed. “They have made a $100 million commitment for a new hospital facility here in Connersville,” he revealed. “They had a nice groundbreaking ceremony in the fall of 2022. Their goal is to have this structure built and open for business by 2025.” “This new hospital construction will replace the 100-year-old facility which has about used up its life cycle from a number of perspectives. This new facility will be a real blessing for our county, Parker pointed out.” Green initiatives Parker also talked about local environmentally-friendly efforts, including a solar-energy program slated to come in on the western side of the county.