I’ve served as the Roane County Executive since September 2022. During my term, we’ve grown our economy in historic ways. We’ve limited government spending, building a surplus that we’ve used to prepare for future capital expenses. And we’ve increased communication and transparency in the County Executive’s Office to help the public understand what we do on a daily basis. We’ve also completed several capital projects including a new ambulance station, a new health department, a records storage facility, and a spay/neuter clinic. This includes creating a new Planning office, a Human Resources Office, and Records Management Department. We’ve generated great momentum in Roane County and have put us in a position of leadership in regional economic development particularly within America’s nuclear renaissance. I want to continue our work to improve our quality of life, grow our economy and maintain our small town atmosphere.

The potential for rapid growth brings growing pains, such as increased traffic congestion and the need for utility expansions. These challenges should be addressed through long term planning. That includes zoning updates through the Planning Commission. It also includes collaborative work with all regional utilities to coordinate expansion of capacity, transmission, or collection. Any assumption that the bulk of investment required to fund necessary infrastructure expansion would fall on the taxpayer is incorrect. Growth would be encouraged in areas where infrastructure exists which would place the cost of additional infrastructure on the developer. The local government can decide to expand infrastructure to new areas if a new future land use plan establishes an area favorable for growth.

We always want to improve communication. We’ve made great strides through a new website, far greater social media activity, and screens throughout the courthouse. But transparency requires excellent communication. We want to stay on the path to improved communication. We also want to continue to promote a customer service approach as a first priority. Again we’ve made great strides by moving all building permits to an online process. We’ve created the ability for the public to reserve the use of facilities at Roane County Park online. We’ve made customer experience surveysavailable at multiple locations throughout county government services and we want to make these more visible to the public.