Marion resident seeks GOP nomination
Fred Stubblefield said he's pondered the prospect of running for office for a while, but decided this week that he will pursue the GOP nomination to run against State Rep. Mike Cherry, the Democrat incumbent who holds the Fourth District House seat.
"(The Republican Party) has been in touch with me before and they actually approached me this time," said the Crittenden County man, a farmer and union representative for Westlake Group in Calvert City.
Stubblefield, 51, was born in Livingston County and raised on a Crittenden County farm. He is married with three grown children, two of whom have moved out of state to find jobs. Stubblefield has not held elected office before, but serves on the board of the Marion Mineral Museum, is treasurer of the Community Arts Foundation and is a volunteer with the Shady Grove Fire Department.
"I have seen the local economy slowly decline," Stubblefield said. "As representative, I would like to help Governor Fletcher make Kentucky more business-friendly, keeping the jobs we currently have while bringing good-paying jobs back to the state."
Stubblefield says he favors a common-sense approach to government, in particular, how small businesses and farms are affected. He wants to look for ways to "make them more profitable and competitive, and to find ways to make affordable healthcare available to everyone."
So far, Stubblefield is the only Republican to announced his plans to seek the party's nomination. The filing deadline is Jan. 27. Stubblefield said he planned to be in Frankfort Wednesday where he would officially file the necessary paperwork.
If no other candidates files, Stubblefield would face Cherry in the November general election. Cherry is a three-term legislator who has been unopposed the past two elections.
City closing in on new home
Architects continue trimming back costs for a new city hall which could be finished later this year or early 2005.
Dennis Arthur, the architect with CMW of Lexington who is designing renovation plans for the old Sav-A-Lot building, met with Marion City Council members Monday night. Arthur told them he'd created a more detailed design which included some cost-cutting measures. Arthur told the council that some of the cutbacks could be bid separately and if the city has enough money it could add them back into the project.
One of the cost-cutting measures was the elimination of a new roof from renovation plans. Several council members expressed concern because the roof on the building it recently purchased at English Manor shopping center has had problems in the past. The council asked the architect to put the roof, estimated at about $45,000, back into the plans.
Also taken out of the plans were tile flooring in the foyer of the building, two exterior windows, parking lot improvements and some other drywall finishes.
"The things we eliminated were niceties, mostly cosmetic in nature," Arthur said.
The new cost estimate presented Monday was for $887,047 or $93.37 per square foot, which is $38,441 less than the previous project quote. However, the figure is subject to change because of some things council members wanted added back into the plans. Additionally, the architect was asked to figure costs on dressing up the exterior a bit more and renovating the outside of The Peoples Bank Drive-Thru, which is part of the city's building and is leased to the bank.
Otherwise, the council gave the architects a green light for continuing toward getting the project ready to bid. If all goes well, the building could be completed in about a year.
County creates cemetery board
The county will soon have a board to oversee restoration and maintenance to cemeteries which do not already receive perpetual care funds.
The Crittenden Fiscal Court approved on first reading Tuesday the formation and membership of a Crittenden County Cemetery Board, which will enable the county to apply for matching state funds for local cemeteries.
"This will be a big help to us because we've already taken it upon ourselves to improve the roads of the cemeteries," said Judge-Executive Pippi Hardin, who proposed that Brenda Underdown serve as chairman of the board. Other members will be Shirley Byford, Ronnie Heady, Charlie Hunt and Doyle Polk.
State law requires that the board shall have five volunteer members, each of whom has lived in the county for at least one year prior to appointment and has demonstrated an interest in cemetery preservation, genealogy, local history or a related area. No more than three members can belong to the same political party.
Hardin said he hopes that with second reading of the ordinance in February, the newly formed board can apply for state funding by March.