City, county officials share goals, “wishes” for 2022

(Editor’s Note: City officials from Fulton, Hickman South Fulton, and Fulton County were asked by The Current to submit their “wish lists” for 2022. No information was received from Hickman City Manager David Gallagher by press time.)

FULTON MAYOR DAVID PRATER

Happy New Year, 2022!

I said last year that “2020 has been lime no other year in our lifetime”.

Well, unfortunately, that continued into 2021.

Every year, I wish, and pray, for the safety, health, and welfare of each of our residents and employees of the City of Fulton.

This year my “wishes” include the addition of new signage on “I-69” welcoming travelers to Fulton and leading them into our vibrant downtown and the implementation of some of the proposed upgrades to our parks.

I wish to see the completion of our mass foreclosure, so that we may continue to clean up dilapidated properties in our town and stimulate new residential development. As well, I wish for the demolition of commercial properties including the Guest Inn, old Bingo Hall, and bowling alley.

I continue to wish for the completion of the I-69 exchange, an affordable overhaul of our wastewater treatment plant, and continued growth in our industrial park.

Lastly, I also, expect to continue to further our excellent relationships with leadership of the Cities of

Hickman, South Fulton, and the Fulton County Fiscal Court for the betterment of each community.

FULTON CITY MGR. MIKE GUNN

I wish to see the Twin Cities develop and implement a planned approach to community renewal, not a willy-nilly one. This would be done through strategic planning in the areas of tourism development, industrial development, commercial development, and residential development.

I wish to see the completion of the Farmer’s Market & “Village” project Downtown.
I wish to see community pride start spreading throughout the community, as it “seems most of the time community members view us as if were playing a basketball game and starting 20 points behind.”
With the recent home sales market booming, we are now facing a housing shortage so my wish is we can attract new community members for 2022, for the community to formulate a way to create safe, affordable, healthy, and physically accessible homes in neighborhoods that are connected to the resources they need to thrive.

I hope to continue the efforts to focus on curb appeal of entry ways into the city as well as neighborhoods through code enforcement efforts combined with new investment and growth.

We have a concept of what we want our parks to look like. I hope to make some of this plan take form so the community members can start to enjoy our public spaces again.

In closing, I want to thank everyone who has helped during the year, as the list is long.

Thank you, especially the city employees. They have given their unending support to me and dedication

to their job of making The City of Fulton a safer, more sustainable, and cleaner place to live and raise a family.

SOUTH FULTON CITY MGR. JOYCE GRAY

My goals on my 2022 wish list will include repairing the roadway on Harris Drive, and securing the Cavitt Lane pumping station, with plans already underway to accomplish each of those goals.

Another area where I want to focus is the maintenance on ditches within the city and the ongoing cleanup efforts for properties on Broadway. I want to finalize the city’s Code Enforcement updates as well.

I plan to put into place a street-paving program and re-establish the Industrial Development Board, which I believe will be essential for city-wide growth, and I want to coordinate a “Christmas In July” fundraising effort for our Unity Park fund.

Relating to the South Fulton Fire Department, I want to be able to purchase a new fire truck, make sure all of our sirens throughout South Fulton are in working condition and recruit more volunteers to serve as volunteer firefighters.

Despite rising costs in all areas, my goal is to make sure the city remains in compliance financially and otherwise, as well as make sure the fiscal year budget is completed and submitted on time.

Hickman Mayor Heath Carlton and Fulton County Judge/Executive Jim Martin provided their responses, when contacted by The Current, regarding their “wish list” for 2022.

SOUTH FULTON MAYOR DAVID LAMB

The last two years has been a trying two years for all of us, with the pandemic, changes within the city itself and change in life styles but we have survived.

My wish list for 2022 is that we continue to get back to some form of normalcy.

I want the city to continue to get in compliance with all state regulations, continue to become financially stable.

I also want continue to strive to keep our audit up to date, have a balance budget approved

and to go into effect on July 1st as it’s supposed to.

I would like to see us be able to secure grants to help get sidewalks put in on both sides of Broadway to the Clinic and Dollar Store and continue to clean up the city’s old, dilapidated houses and businesses.

I would like to see Unity Park expansion, paving of city streets, full repair of the hole on Harris Drive.
For years, I have been wanting to try to get a gas station and/or convenance store such as a Casey’s and a Sonic Drive in or something along this line.

I truly believe that we would support these two businesses if we were able to get them to come.

I would like to see the creek beds cleaned and maintained, and hope to bring BBQ on Broadway back. But, we would need assistance from the public to do so.

The last thing I would add to my wish list, would be to put the industrial board back to full strength and work on getting some new industries to bring jobs to the community.

HICKMAN MAYOR HEATH CARLTON

“Moving in to 2022, the hope is to take the things learned from conducting business under the presence of Covid and use that information to implement a more user friendly business model,” Mayor Carlton said.

Carlton said his list, in realty, is “very long” however, some of his goals and wishes for the new year include exploring and implementation of a more streamline process to access billing statements/payment options for city provided services and taxes, with the continuation of equipment and facility updates and improvements to provide better quality and dependability in services.

Mayor Carlton said he wants to see partnerships continue in existing community services and outreaches with the goal of adding additional services.

“Taking into account the decreasing population and increasing operation costs, the most important thing I feel, is that intergovernmental relationships and services between Fulton County, Fulton and Hickman continue to be strong and grow. Together we are definitely a great community in which to live!

Happy New Year!

FULTON COUNTY JUDGE/EXECUTIVE JIM MARTIN

Fulton County Judge/Executive Jim Martin shared his wish, for a housing replacement program as part of the recovery from the Dec. 10 tornado.

“We are working with several organizations to establish a replacement housing program for the Cayce community. Organizations involved are FEMA, HUD (CDBG) and KY Department for Local Government, a community leadership group, Habitat for Humanity and others. I requested funding for new homes several days ago and the response received from Frankfort and our local representatives there have been very favorable. We have hired a housing consultant who specializes in disaster related housing replacement and the consulting will start working with the community leadership group this week,” Judge/Executive Martin said.

Another goal for Judge Martin involves the county’s Buy/Sale Agreement with Gibson County Electric to purchase their property located at 1702 Moscow Street in Hickman.

“We have a grant application pending for CDBG funding to support the acquisition of the property and remodeling of the building for the planned usage,” he said, adding a public hearing at the County Judges’ Office is to be scheduled for Jan. 21 at 9 a.m., to finalize the last steps of the application before sending it on for final review.

“Our goal is to purchase, remodel and provide the building to the community for use as a health department, food pantry, the Hope Center and Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the facility will have a community room that will be used for community meetings, private events with infrastructure for a media center that can be used for telemedicine, distance meeting events, etc,” he said.

Completion of the new Industrial Park on Hwy. 307 and the beginning of marketing for new jobs creating industries to locate there, are “wishes” high on Judge Martin’s list, and well as better preparedness for disasters.

“We are applying for funding of an early warning system that will provide better warning for the residents when we have weather events similar to last month. We will work with the cities to intergrade the system into existing warning system in the cities,” Judge Martin explained.

He said he would love to see us, as a community create a better environment for job development and economic growth, which would require bringing together forces among us that divide us and restrain us.

“We are one county, a single community. A house divided cannot withstand the forces that restrain it. I hope we can work toward making Fulton County a more attractive place for investment and prosperity. This will require all of us working together,” he said.

One of his goals is to eliminate all debt currently held by the Fiscal Court, noting a healthy financial position is even more important now as the country is undergoing considerable uncertain times. To serve the citizens of the county, Judge Martin said the Fiscal Court must remain financially strong, with elimination of debt a great step in that direction.

“Debt is a good thing when you need it but not so good when you have it, and it burdens our ability to provide for our citizens,” Martin said.

Judge Martin contends the Fiscal Court needs to continue to work with the county’s two cities, forming partnerships wherever possible to serve all the citizens of Fulton County, one community.
Recently the Fiscal Court formed an enhanced partnership with Fulton County Fire and Rescue.

Formerly, fire and rescue were two different organizations. Last year they merged and formed Fulton County Fire and Rescue.

“The Fiscal Court encouraged and supported that merger by including the new organization in the county budget with funding aimed at assisting Fire and Rescue which will improve their ability to respond to fire and rescue events and lower the cost of insurance in the rural area of the County. Fulton County Fire and Rescue has made great strides toward their goals and will not be weakened by the recent tornado that took their station house and much of their equipment. They will rebound stronger than ever,” he said.

“Last but not least, I wish everyone touched by the recent tornado event a speedy recovery. The Fiscal Court and all county employees are focused on doing everything we can to assist the community to build back better and to become better prepared for future emergency events. My phone number at the County Judge’s office is 270-236-2594. If there is anything we can do to assist you, please call us,” the Judge said.