Julia’s community involvement started with taking adoptable pet photos at the Hardin County Animal Shelter on Nicholas Street in 2013. When the county received the new shelter on Peterson Drive, she co-founded Friends of Hardin County Animal Shelter with Jo Ellen LaRue Thomas, Leslie Clifford Smith, and Autumn O’Neal to provide spay/neuter programs, establish a medical fund for sick and injured pets, and reintroduce the shelter to the public to encourage adoption first. Since Julia stepped off the FOHCAS board in 2018 to run for office the first time, the group has continued to thrive and become a mainstay in the community. 

In her first term on Elizabethtown City Council in 2021, Julia sponsored the Humane Pet Store Ordinance, which passed unanimously and made Etown the first city in Kentucky to outlaw parking lot and retail sales of dogs and cats of any age. The goal of the ordinance is to encourage adoption first and encourage responsible breeding practices in our area, which in turn protects consumers from the financial burden of sick and poorly bred pets. Radcliff and Louisville passed similar ordinances after Etown. Julia and other supporters of the ordinance successfully testified in the General Assembly in 2024 against proposed legislation supported by pet store lobbyists that would have preempted Etown’s ordinance. 

Since Julia was first elected to Etown’s City Council, she has supported increasing the sidewalk budget each year, commissioning an updated stormwater master plan and updating the City’s Comprehensive Plan in anticipation of industry, retail and population growth. She serves as the Council Liaison to the Elizabethtown Tourism Commission, and attends Planning Commission meetings to hear citizens’ concerns about zoning issues that will come before the council. She worked on the Safe Streets for All Grant Committee to evaluate dangerous intersections and potential remedies. The City applied for an implementation grant from the federal government to make changes that could potentially eliminate traffic fatalities in Etown. 

Julia is also serving her second term as Chair of Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland, which serves 42 counties. Most recently, she was voted onto the board of the Legal Aid Society, which provides free civil legal help on issues related to income, family, housing, safety and health in 15 counties.

She was honored to be named a Kentucky Colonel by Gov. Andy Beshear in 2022 and was appointed by Governor Beshear to the Animal Control Advisory Board in 2021, which distributes spay/neuter funds to counties throughout the Commonwealth.

Because of her results-oriented leadership, the director of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation approached Julia with the idea of starting a women’s fund in our area. Julia is a charter investor, served on the core committee that developed the program for three years and led grant applicant recruitment for the Heels Together women’s fund. Now in its tenth year, the fund supports community programs designed to raise up women and girls in our community. Julia also served as a community contributor on The News-Enterprise Editorial Board for two and a half years and on The Heritage Council for several years to promote downtown development.

After spending over ten years in sales and marketing, including serving as VP of Sales and Marketing for an international logistics software company in Virginia, Julia pursued a law degree at New England School of Law in Boston. She practiced first in Virginia as a trial attorney with the federal government before moving to Etown in 2009, joining the Kentucky bar and practicing nonprofit law. Her solo law practice resulted in the creation and continuation of local nonprofits from which local residents directly benefit. 

Julia enjoys a busy life in Etown with her husband, Ray, two teenagers, a dog and two cats. 

Re-elect Julia Springsteen to the Etown City Council on November 5!