PRIORITIES
Our Economy
Safety
Transparency
Our Youth
Homelessness
Affordable
Housing
The Inner City
LOCAL ISSUES.
LOCAL IDEAS.
Transparency.
An organization is only as strong as the trust it builds with the community around it, be it in the public or private sector. As a leader on several nonprofit boards in the Henderson community, I have tried to stress transparency every step of the way. Donors put their trust in us to use the funds in an effective, prudent, and ethical way—taxpayers are no different. We all pay taxes into a system; sure because we're legally required to, but also because we hope the funds will go to the betterment of our community and that we all will benefit in the end.
Over the years, government has developed a bad reputation at the federal, state, and local levels as being comprised of officials who unfortunately are not that transparent nor trustworthy—Henderson unfortunately has been no exception. Over my three years in office, I had tried to be open and transparent to our community, but engaging in open dialogue on social media, by doing a summary of the upcoming Agenda for each Commission meeting and sharing that for all to see, and exploring ways across City government for us to keep open dialogue with the community.
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My promise to the citizens of Henderson is to continue putting transparency at the forefront of every decision I make—that the citizens understand what issues are being discussed, why they're being discussed, and ultimately what is being decided at the local level.
Government should work for the people.
Safety.
The safety of its citizens is paramount in any community. We are blessed with great law enforcement, fire, and emergency personnel in our community. I will work to continue to support these departments in any way possible and continue to find ways to fund the capital improvements that they desperately need. The City Commission is committed to offering competitive wages and advanced tools and supplies to ensure that our police and fire can continue to serve our community as they have for so many years.
Our Economy.
Broadly speaking, Henderson County's unemployment rate prior to the pandemic was among the lowest the County has had in the last 20 years, but the number of people employed throughout Henderson County was actually in decline in recent years with a post-recession peak in 2016.
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Over the last several years we have seen the addition of 300+ jobs with Pratt, the announcement of a Distillery in downtown, the announcement and beginning build of hundreds of new homes in Bentley Point, and numerous new businesses not only start, but grow their investments in our community and expand their workforces over the last few years. Henderson is facing a resurgence with downtown business occupancy levels at the highest level in many years. But this is only the start.
As a City, we must continue to work to attract quality jobs that pay a living wage. We must continue to support entrepreneurship in our community and allow new ideas to thrive. And most importantly, we must continue to provide assistance to help those find work who currently are unemployed but wish to be gainfully employed.
Our Youth.
Anyone who has children, or that knows anyone with children, knows just how difficult the current childcare situation is within Henderson. Our community is fortunate to have several great childcare facilities, but we need more. It's imperative that we work to better understand how the City may be able to assist in these efforts, whether that be through the gifting of available land for development of new childcare centers, tax incentives, leasing City space to form a public-private partnership, or through other means. If we are to grow our City by people desiring to live and work in our community, it's a necessity for families to have more childcare options.
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Along the same lines as childcare, we must do more as a community to invest in our youth, to give them activities to keep them occupied, to allow them to learn important life lessons, and to build the foundation for their futures. The creation of a multi-sports complex is a promising start, but we must continue to look for ways to better the lives of our youth across our community.
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I am committed to working to ensure every working parent has a childcare option for their children. I am committed to ensuring our youth have more entertainment and learning opportunities. I am committed to our future.
Affordable Housing.
Over the last three years, I have been a strong advocate for exploring options to assist with affordable housing. Recently the City has embarked on a project to work on Blight within the Inner-City. In cooperation with Habitat for Humanity of Henderson, KY, $1,000,000 has been allocated over the next 5 years to address Blight and acquire properties for which affordable housing can then be built. For this endeavor, the City of Henderson is committing $500,000 while Habitat is matching that with $500,000 of their own funding.
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While we have had some progress in terms of laying the foundation for future affordable housing, the quest for the solution to build affordable housing continues on. Make no mistake, this is not just a Henderson issue, but an issue that communities across the country find themselves attempting to solve. I am committed to continuing to work for better solutions to this problem, including continuing to pursue grants/local investments as well as continue to search for public-private partnerships.
Homelessness.
As a leader in our community, I am committed to taking a compassionate approach to Homelessness which includes working to offer a "hand up", not a "hand out" in an effort to provide the skills and mental stability needed for many to escape homelessness.
In 2025, for the first time in our City's history, we allocated funding within our budget to pay for half of the salary for a Case Worker, through the Petino Shelter, to be present in Henderson 100% of the time to assist those homeless in our community. This Case Worker position was made possible not only through funding provided by the City of Henderson, but through cooperation with the Henderson County Fiscal Court which also provided funding. I am encouraged by the results we are already seeing, and the potential lives already saved. While this is a step in the right direction, we must continue to look for a viable way to have a family homeless shelter in our community.
The Inner City.
As a City Commissioner, I have had the honor to serve now on three Inner-City Improvement Plan Committees to look for ways to address needs in the inner city of Henderson. The Inner-City Improvement Plan is a four-year, $1.2 million commitment by the City to invest in an area of our community which for far too long has been overlooked and underdeveloped. We are already beginning to see improvements and hear success stories from the funds. I am committed to continuing to find ways to assist the inner city, even above the $1.2 million commitment, to ensure that we finally provide this area of our community the attention and commitment it deserves.