Williamstown secret deal may get a free fire station for the Ark

Will the Ark Park get a free fire station from the City of Williamstown? Is the Ark going to announce a Tower of Babel ride soon (and get more tax incentives)?

Back on January 8, 2026, the acting Mayor of Williamstown, Kentucky, Dave Henson, had a special meeting/luncheon with Ken Ham and several Answers in Genesis/Ark Encounter officers on the Ark Encounter property. I submitted a Kentucky Open Records Act (KORA) request to Williamstown and received a handful of documents including photographs of the Mayor with Ken Ham and the meeting agenda. The meeting agenda briefly mentions a discussion of a “Fire Department substation” on Eibeck Lane (the employees’ and delivery entrance to the Ark) but nothing specific. Since this wasn’t considered a City Council meeting, nothing appeared to be official.

In early August, I noticed a record in the Grant County News where Ark Development, LLC (an Answers in Genesis shell company) had sold the City of Williamstown an ~1.9 acre property on Eibeck Road for $1. This piqued my curiosity, and I sent a KORA request to the City on August 3, 2026. On August 7, 2026, before the City responded to my open records request, I visited Williamstown in person to look up the exact location and take a photo of the site.

My visit to the County Clerk’s and PVA (Property Evaluation Administrator) offices revealed the exact location of the property on Eibeck Lane. The property is surrounded by Ark Encounter property and is on the Ark’s “employee and delivery entrance” located on the Ark’s private access road. To avoid trespassing, I stopped before entering the Ark’s property and photographed the property from a distance. My photo is attached. Also attached is a Google Maps image showing a pin for the location of the front of the property. You presently cannot access the property without trespassing on Ark property.

On August 11, 2026, I received the KORA package from the City. It revealed that the property is valued at $10,000. The deed records show that the Ark sold the property to Williamstown on March 8, 2018, for $1. Then on July 7, 2022, the City sold the property back to the Ark for $1. Then, on April 23, 2026, the City bought the property again for $1.

There is only one discussion of the property in the minutes of the Williamstown City Council on May 17, 2022 (more than 4 years ago). At this meeting the topic of “Returning of Property Back to Ark that was Supposed to be used for Fire Substation” was discussed. The record states that “Mayor Skinner stated the property was donated to the City in 2012 [he could be mistaken about the date given the deeds provided in the KORA – d.p.] for the purpose of a Fire Substation. Mayor Skinner stated that he and Fire Chief Les Whalen think it is not the proper location for a substation. Some discussion [not recorded – d.p.] occurred.” It then states “Ronnie West made the motion to return the property back to the Ark that was supposed to be used for a Fire Substation. Greg Middleton seconded the motion…. All voted in favor.” And the motion carried.

There is no other information concerning these property transfers in the KORA material I received.

When acting Mayor Henson and the Williamstown City Council have their public meetings, they often go into closed session. The meeting agendas then usually state, “Motion to go into Executive Session pursuant to KRS 61.810(1)(g) discussions regarding a business entity concerning a specific proposal as open discussions would jeopardize the citing, retention or upgrading of the business.”

The full text of KRS 61.810(1)(g) can be found here.

So far this year, the Williamstown City Council meetings have cited KRS 61.810(1)(g) in their agendas on February 2, March 2, May 19, June 1, July 6, July 21, and September 8 (seven times this year). (See all of the Williamstown City Council meeting Agendas here). According to the Kentucky Open Government Coalition website, Kentucky government agencies cannot take final action or vote on binding measures during a closed session. Any formal decision or vote must occur during the open, public portion of the meeting.

The Executive Sessions could be discussing other business entities but given the importance of the Ark to Williamstown politicians and the scarcity of other businesses interested in Williamstown, that is unlikely. Other possible business that the City of Williamstown has been dealing with includes selling/leasing an old gym, a warehouse, and a building formerly owned by Northern Kentucky University. Thus, a minority of the closed sessions could be devoted to these other projects. However, since there is no public record concerning the purchase of the Eibeck Lane property from AIG, some, perhaps a majority, of these closed sessions involve the City and AIG’s interests.

Was the vote, if any, to repurchase the property this year for $1 done in one of these secret “Executive Sessions”? Or was the property somehow purchased without a vote? Was any due diligence conducted to inspect the site for possible environmental or other liabilities? Why is no public record available?

I contacted a reporter from the Grant County News about this matter. She said that Mayor Henson told her, “The property was originally deeded to the City when the Ark Encounter project was initiated, with the intention that it could serve as the site of a future fire department substation. Because the City did not move forward with that use at the time, the property was deeded back to the Ark Encounter. The City is now considering the property for a possible future fire department substation and potentially a training facility. In January, I [the Mayor] asked representatives of the Ark Encounter to deed the property back to the City, and they were pleased to accommodate that request.” There is no public record of the City purchasing this property other than the deed. Everything else was apparently done in secret. Even the cancelled check for $1.00 was not provided to my KORA request.

There is no public record of the decision to reacquire the property, and no vote, no discussion of why it was deemed to not be suitable for a fire station in 2022 (but suddenly the property is or might be suitable in 2026).

Questions for the Mayor and City Council of Williamstown include:

• Is Williamstown going to build a fire station on the property or not?
• If not, what are the plans for the property since it is landlocked by Ark property?
• Since it is surrounded by Ark property, which is private, how can the city and its residents possibly make use of that property?
• There is no record of any public vote on reacquiring the property. Why?

Interestingly enough, AIG probably could easily raise its own funds to build their own fire station without getting the City to build it or finance it any way. In spite of declining ticket sales, the Ark is afloat in cash from donations. As I write this, Ken Ham has announced a $24 million fundraiser. A day and a half after the announcement, the multi-month fundraiser has already raised more than $2.4 million.

I have long predicted that when the Kentucky Tourism Sales Tax rebate expires, the Ark will change from a for-profit to a non-profit entity to avoid the monthly 50 cents per ticket Safety Fee to Williamstown. In spite of this likelihood, could the City now be planning to construct a firehouse, at City expense, on this property surrounded by Ark property? The Ark has a long record of getting one perk after another from sympathetic government entities. What is the town going to do to replace the per-ticket fee if the Ark becomes a non-profit?

The repeated “Executive Sessions” suggest extensive discussions with Williamstown concerning a proposal with a business entity. Since Crosswater Canyon (the for-profit AIG shell company that enabled the Ark to receive sales tax rebate incentives from Kentucky Tourism) has now received the last of the tax rebate money, perhaps AIG is going ahead with other projects. AIG has discussed “recreating” the Tower of Babel as a ride and/or movie theater since way back when the Ark was in its planning stages. It has been several years since Ken Ham discussed adding a “Tower of Babel” onto the Ark Encounter property. In his 2022 discussion, Ham says, “This project is still several years out, and will require much planning, design work, budgeting, fundraising, Kentucky tourism & permit approvals, etc. long before we formally announce we are moving ahead and can break ground.”

I would not be surprised if there is an attempt to get the Kentucky Tourism Commission to grant new tax incentives for the Tower of Babel “recreation.” In fact, this could explain the odd and possibly misleading presentation that representatives of the Ark made to a Kentucky Legislative Committee on Tourism back in July. At that meeting, the Ark was inexplicably praised as an economic dynamo for Kentucky whereas ticket sales have never matched the Ark’s projections and are, in fact, declining. That meeting may have been a way to soften up Kentucky officials for further breaks for AIG enterprises.

Another possibility is that AIG is waiting for a new Governor, of either party, who would be more likely to back a project with ties to Christian Nationalism. Members of the Legislature from Northern Kentucky are dominated by conservative, Christian Nationalists. Governor Andy Beshear’s term will end in December, 2027. Ken Ham has attacked Beshear repeatedly on Facebook and other social media for the Governor’s positions on social issues and has repeatedly complained that the Governor has never visited the Ark or Creation Museum.