24-25 Leadership Central Kentucky: Jessamine County Visit Recap

Written by: Cody Parks, Project Coordinator, Keeneland Association

​In the first of our trips around the Greater LEX region, the LCK group had the opportunity to explore Jessamine County. Having grown up in Nicholasville, I wasn’t sure of what to expect, feeling as though I already knew the economic staples of my hometown and adjacent Wilmore and Keene. To my own surprise, there was so much more to the makeup of Jessamine County than a previous local could surmise. Starting our day off at the Public Well, we were received by warm welcomes from both Mayor Rainwater of Wilmore and Mayor Alex Carter of Nicholasville. They truly made me feel as though I was in lockstep with the community, even though I hadn’t been back to Jessamine County in over a decade. 

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In our first of several stops, we took off through Nicholasville and out towards Wilmore with Ronda May, Executive Director of the Jessamine Co Chamber, providing insight into what makes the area so special. Before we knew it, we had arrived at Highbridge Spring Water. The rollup gate scaled open, and we made our way into their corporate headquarters: a vast cave. We were greeted by Linda Griffin Slagel, the President of Highbridge Spring Water. She started with a story about the history of the cave and how High Bridge Springs came to be. From her father’s acquisition of the once-mine, in hopes of storing milk for wholesale purchase at local grocery stores, to his innovative idea of bottling water from the natural springs in the cave, which would later evolve into the thriving local business it is today.
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After closing, Linda guided us on a tour of the facility. I felt pride in knowing that, through opportunity to grow and change, the Griffin family was driven on a mission to sustain the idea that with hard work and a quality product, there was no need to change the course. As we departed out of the cave, I looked up and couldn’t help but notice a quote that Linda had hung 30 years previously above the entrance/exit that read “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages” – Henry Ford. This spoke volumes to me; that through decades, recessions, pandemics and the like, Linda never lost sight of what makes Highbridge Springs what it is: the customer. During our time underground, we also toured their sister company, Kentucky Underground Storage. Made up of millions of cubic feet of subterranean space (including specific areas with protection up to Department of Defense Standards), Kentucky Underground Storage is a secure and safe facility to store valuable assets, such as sensitive documents, data, and other property.

Then, we loaded back onto the bus and took a short drive over to the local industrial park, where we were greeted by Scottie Perdue, Owner & President of Perdue Environmental Contracting Company (PECCO), accompanied by his son, Kyle. They brought us into the lobby of PECCO, where they provided a slideshow of some of their biggest projects to date. Scottie divulged on PECCOs growth, from oil tank removal to environmental cleanup of all sizes. He took us through the in-house innovations and industry standards set that continue to be the foundation behind the company’s growth.
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 There were questions fielded after the presentation with a lot of classmates being taken back by the innovations of PECCO. They wanted Scottie to bring them in and to understand how he made it all work. Into which Scottie would reply with a nonchalant response. Softly spoken and kindly, he said that the feats that his company made weren’t made as an overnight success. It was hard work and a pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps type of mentality that spoke for itself. At one point, Scottie was asked a similar question: “how did you do it?”, in which Scottie replied “We didn’t pick and choose what we wanted to do. Maybe we started off and we wanted to pour the asphalt for the parking lot, but the owner wanted us to do the curbs. Even though we maybe didn’t want to do the curbs, we still did the work in hopes that we would get to do the parking lot.” His point being: if you want to be successful you need to take all the opportunities that present themselves, not just the ones you want.
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After lunch, we had the chance to visit Jeannette Industrial Park, where we learned about the economic growth and development opportunities coming to Nicholasville from Craig McAnelly. We then ventured over to Camp Nelson, where the park rangers described the history of the camp as being one of the largest refugees for African American men, women and children after the Civil War concluded in 1865.
To end our day, we were afforded the chance to tour Alltech’s headquarters and research barn, led by Chief of Staff, Brian Lawless. Walking through the offices of Alltech, you were able to see not only the legacy of founder and owner Dr. Mark Lyons, but also the innovation and questions being asked by Alltech in their research on how to continue to be a world leader in the market.
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Growing up in Jessamine County, I thought I had always had a clear understanding of the community and the togetherness of Nicholasville and Wilmore. Leadership Central Kentucky allowed me to see my own community through a different lens: one that showed how family, community and history can not only be teachers of the past, but of roadmaps toward the future. That not all things need to grow and change as the world does. That if you have the inspiration, willingness and work ethic to do things the right way, success will inevitably follow close behind. I am proud to call Jessamine County my first home and look forward to its continued growth as an integral part of what makes Central Kentucky so special to us all.