Introductions

I want to take a few moments in this first column to introduce myself and what I do at the City. I was born and raised in rural northern Ohio. I moved from Ohio to Northeast Tennessee to attend Milligan College where I received my Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and Legal Studies in 2009. I had started working for the City of Elizabethton as an Intern in the City Manager’s Office during my tenure at Milligan and shortly after my graduation I applied for and was offered a position working under Mr. David Ornduff as a Community Planner. I had worked for Mr. Ornduff for two years when he announced his retirement. I applied for the Directorship and was appointed to the full Directorship the following January of 2011.

In my position as the Planning and Development Director for the City I am involved in, well, just about everything! The core of my position is to plan for the future of Elizabethton, to see where the citizens of Elizabethton want to be in ten or twenty years and guide them on a path to get there. I work closely with developers in order to ensure that the type and look of developments is what this community desires. I work with surveyors and property owners to create new lots of land and decide where new roads will go. I work with the Parks and Recreation Board to help them choose new locations for parks and recreational activities within the community. I work with Carter County Tomorrow to ensure that the city has available industrial and commercial property as well as a viable workforce to meet the needs of existing and future businesses. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.

In this column, I will be touching on these various aspects of Elizabethton. Most importantly, I hope that this column can be a conversation between you and me on what you want to see in Elizabethton whether it’s housing, transportation, economic development, utilities, education, or any other aspect of the community… let’s talk about it!