The following is an overview of what I see as my priorities for Murray, Ky.

Increasing employment and educational opportunities in Murray will have a lasting impact on the quality of life in our community. I will work diligently to lower the unemployment rate and to improve educational opportunities. We must work together and do our part to support job creation and economic opportunity, including:

Focusing First on Murray Businesses – The best way to create jobs in Murray is to focus on growing the businesses that are already here and to help entrepreneurs with new business start-ups.  As mayor, I will work with existing organizations to expand the growth of businesses in Murray. I will provide a way to make it easy for entrepreneurs and business owners to start and expand their businesses.  Instead of having to navigate through a maze of government offices to get started, I will initiate a one call or one-stop process to connect businesses to the resources that best meet their needs.

Promoting Industrial Parks – As Murray businesses grow, they are going to need places to locate.  Our community, thanks to the EDC, has done a very good job of making available state-of-the-art industrial and business park property ready for new clients.  We run the risk of losing our most promising businesses to other communities if we don’t stay on top of this. As mayor of Murray, I will help pave the way in promoting our industrial parks as well as job training facilities for our residents.

Ensuring A Vibrant Downtown – A city’s downtown is its heartbeat.  If we want to improve our confidence and self image as a city, Murray must have a vibrant downtown.  Some completed projects that are helping accomplish this are the restoration of the “old post office” building, improving the downtown streetscape, and other projects in the planning stages.  If we build on these successes and unify efforts, I believe our downtown will be successful for the long term.  As mayor, I will ensure that City Hall provides leadership on the following points.

•   Engaging downtown property owners and stakeholders to come up with a unified vision and shared roadmap for investment and revitalization.
•   Developing downtown districts and design standards to create a unified identify, revitalize properties and encourage investment from the private sector.
•   Preserving our historic properties.
•   Ensuring the infrastructure is in place to support a vital downtown core.

Supporting the Cultural Arts and the Creative Community – Murray offers a wealth of cultural and creative arts opportunities for a city of its size.   As Mayor of Murray, I will consider the excellent working relationships we have developed between Murray State University, Playhouse In the Park, Murray Art Guild and others to be of utmost importance to the well-being of our cities cultural growth.

Safe Neighborhoods - As a father of two grown sons and grandfather to seven, perhaps nothing is as important to me as having safe, quality neighborhoods in my city. The progress we have made over the years is encouraging.  This progress is a result of several things:  1) good policing 2) increased number of sworn officers and 3) local economic improvement.  Murray’s rate of unemployment has not increased as much as comparable cities in our region.  To have a lasting effect on crime, we must continue to maintain and improve in the three areas just mentioned.  Research shows a clear connection between crime and unemployment rates; therefore, better education produces better paid jobs and ultimately produces safer, better quality neighborhoods; to these outcomes I am committed.

Quality Neighborhoods – Revitalizing Murray’s neighborhoods and ensuring sustainable growth patterns for generations to come is a major concern of mine.  I am committed to finding ways to make improvements.  Much is being done by civic organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and city projects completed through past Community Development Block Grants to revitalize neighborhoods and promote quality growth patterns.  As the mayor of Murray, I will build on the progress we have made and make sure citizens who want to improve their neighborhoods have a voice, and that their visions, goals, concerns and issues are heard and addressed.

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Taking care of our residents will be my top priority at City Hall.   As mayor, I will work closely with city employees to make sure we live up to your expectations.  I will be tenacious in my efforts to help the city of Murray develop a national reputation for excellence in customer service.  My immediate priorities will be:

•   Building a culture at City Hall that recognizes every resident as a customer.
•   Streamlining permitting processes and implementing internet based government tools.
•  Working with city staff to identify any and all opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness in City Hall.
•   Setting up programs and processes to make City Hall as open and accessible to citizens as possible.

All too often, Murray and other cities in Western Kentucky seem isolated from the rest of the state and sometimes overlooked by state government because of our proximity to Frankfort.  Murray is a key player in West Kentucky.  As mayor of Murray, I will take every opportunity to make sure Murray continues to be a leading voice at the regional table.  My immediate priorities will be working with the region’s local, state and congressional delegation to advocate for the funding needed to:

•   Upgrade our roadways in Murray and this region to higher standards.
•   Continue our high quality of water and wastewater facilities with reliable, quality resources.
•  Upgrade and maintain the city’s infrastructure with new development and ongoing rehabilitation.
•   Continue to improve our recreational facilities such as parks, hiking paths and trails.