October 10, 2025

• Friday Thoughts
• 'Coffee With Your Councilman' - Monday at 6 p.m.
• La Grange Road Area Bicycle/Pedestrian Improvement Project
• Pop-Up Drop-Off - Saturday, October 18
• Public Hearing - 600 N. English Station Road
• Jack O'Lantern Spectacular Discounts

Friday Thoughts

Happy Friday! I hope you've had a great week! This week at Metro Council, we had two discussions in committee that I think might be of interest to many of you.

In the Public Works Committee, we received an update from the DOT Director on our snow clearing efforts for the upcoming winter season. The department has made many improvements including investing in new equipment, changing requirements to get more plow operators, and increasing pre-treatment options. One of the open items from last year is updating our snow routes. Those routes have been largely static over the past decade, even as our population has shifted. The administration recognizes this and is working to create a map more reflective of current conditions. I will share that new map as soon as it is available.  

One caveat I want to go ahead and address proactively - these routes will not include neighborhood streets. Public Works focuses on arterials (Westport Road, Hurstbourne Parkway, etc.), collectors (Murphy Lane, Goose Creek Road, for example), and connections to major employers, hospitals, emergency routes, etc. That said, I do expect we'll see a little more of our area get cleared even if it's just a portion of a road. For example, a long road with a hill might only be cleared in and around the hill if it's not practical to plow the entire road.

Clearing roads is primarily a function of our budget and the weather. Luckily, we don't often experience weather events like we had last year. Purchasing equipment and hiring drivers for a peak event that may occur once every few years would not be a very responsible use of tax dollars. Should this turn out to be another significant winter, I would ask for your patience and understanding as our crews work to clear as many roads as possible.

The other topic I want to touch on is our new park ranger program. Everyone who visits one of our beautiful metro parks wants to enjoy their time and feel safe there. To that end, last year's budget included an allocation for a pilot park ranger program. The first of these officers is onboard and already working in our parks. We are working now to transition this department to LMPD and then expand the coverage they provide. It's no secret some of the higher profile shootings we have seen over the past few years have occurred at larger events in our parks. Having a greater number of officers dedicated to our parks should help prevent these types of issues in the future.

Finally, another topic many of you care about is JCPS (and the concerns related to their budget we've all read or heard about the past few weeks). To that end, I have asked James Craig to join me at my coffee meeting Monday evening. I hope you can be there to get any questions or concerns you have addressed. More information on that meeting is below.

As always, if my office can help you with anything, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Contact the District 17 Office

Markus Winkler
17th District Councilman
Louisville Metro Council
502.574.1117
Contact Councilman Winkler

Kip Eatherly
Legislative Aide
502.574.3462
Contact Kip

Follow Me on Facebook

Important Numbers

Animal Services  473-7387
Charmoli NP  574-5787
Codes & Regulations  574-2508
EACM  426-2824
Health & Wellness  574-6520
Jefferson Co. Clerk  574-5700
KY Science Center  561-6100
LG&E  589-1444
LMPD (8th Division)  574-2258
Louisville Water  583-6610
Louisville Zoo  459-2181
Mayor's Office  574-2003
Middletown Library  245-7332
MSD  540-6000
NE Regional Library  394-0379
Parks & Recreation  574-7275
Planning & Design  574-6230
Public Works  574-5810
TARC  585-1234