candidate for
The Inner City Residential Enterprise Zone Program which I co-chair provided incentive funding to develop Kirkman Terrace apartments along 21st Street in Hopkinsville for seniors. There are 45 apartments with 1 bedrooms renting for $505 and 2 bedrooms renting for $600. For the future, let’s look at 3D printer homes. Habitat for Humanity has built its first 3D printer home in Virginia. The exterior of the home was completed within 28 hours. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1200 square feet cutting the cost 20% to 40%. 3D homes and buildings can withstand hurricanes and tornadoes.
First let’s identify the basic problem that the Cabinet of Economic Development citied in 2009 for Christian County. The reason was the educational level of our workforce. At that time Christian County educational level was second from the bottom. Also at that time Mayor Kemp established the Educational Coalition. Government, nonprofit and business leaders came together to promote better education. Within the first two years we improved our level more than 50 points. I served on a subcommittee of the coalition entitled “Future of Education in Christian County.” The subcommittee came to the conclusion that a “mindset change towards the importance of education was needed in the community.“ Since the Coalition was dissolved we have had limited progress. I suggest we bring back the Coalition.
One of the main responsibilities of an elected official is the safety of their constituents. I would support rural storm shelters. We need to be proactive instead of reactive. There are grants out there to provide communities with free weather radios like fire departments that provide free smoke detectors. We need to assure that our first responders have adequate communications (additional communication towers).
The conversations I’ve had with Pennyrile Area Development District there is a good supply of jobs out there. The problem is finding the qualified employees. We need to improve the educational level of our workforce. As co-chairman of the Inner City Residential Enterprise Zone Program we have developed a program called “Fresh Start.” This is a two week program at Hopkinsville Community College. Week one deals with soft (essential) skills and week two deals with very basic manufacturing skills. We also need to provide a third shift bus route to get these employees to the industrial park. Another problem employers are having with potential employees failing the drug test. We need to work on that problem too.
Property taxes have been the main pillar of local government finance. With property values increasing, property taxes will increase also. Lowering the tax rate will keep taxes down. The problem with lowering the tax rate, is the cost of essential items such as fuel, material cost and the replacement of capital items are on the increase. It will be very difficult to lower taxes. Applying for grants can help but grants have specific restrictions on how the money can be spent.
Yes I would support a library tax. As a member of city council in 2009-10 I served on the Library Board. At that time the library was in great need of repair, a new roof, better lighting and repair of the elevator. The county and city came together to make the repairs. At the same time the average age of library’s computers were between 10 to 15 years old. Hopkinsville Community College provided updated used computers. Warren, Davies’s and McCracken counties library tax was implemented by Fiscal Court. Most other counties were established by referendum. I recommend a referendum for Christian County.
Let’s move forward in Christian County!! We have a great potential for the future. Let’s work together to create a community that our children and grandchildren would like to return to and raise their families!!
