New Corbin City Manager bringing a wealth of experience to the position

The Corbin City Commission certainly picked someone, who knows the city well as its next city manager Friday.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

The commission interviewed four finalists for about one hour each on two different dates before meeting Friday for about 80 minutes and selecting former mayor Scott Williamson as the person to replace Marlon Sams, who is retiring effective April 1.

Scott was previously elected three consecutive times as mayor serving from 1993 until he resigned in August 2004 to take the position as Executive Director for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Over the years, he has also served in a number of other positions in Frankfort, including jobs with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

Scott has the experience to be a really good city manager, and I think he will be successful.

I think I speak for several people when I say that I hope he uses some of those connections in Frankfort to get some paving work done on Main Street and Kentucky Street in the not too distant future.

As Scott pointed out when I interviewed him Friday evening, he does have a little bit of experience working as city manager. While he was mayor he served as interim city manager for a few months between the retirement of Dave Hudson and the hiring of Bill Ed Cannon.

While Scott previously served as mayor for more than a decade, the city has changed since that time. For instance, pretty much all of the department heads from Scott’s era are different than when he served as mayor with exception of Corbin Fire Chief Barry McDonald.

Scott feels Corbin is on the cusp of some major growth, and I would have to agree with that.

With any luck, Frankfort will lift the moratorium on cities annexing property in the county later this year. When you combine that with London’s decision to de-annex the Exit 29 corridor, Corbin is poised for significant growth in southern Laurel County.

In particular, places like Walmart, gas stations, grocery stores, convenience stores, and several restaurants will likely want to annexed as soon as they can get in the city so they can sell alcohol. Businesses in southern Laurel County can’t serve alcohol now because Laurel County is dry, even though the cities in it are wet.

Annexation into the Corbin city limits would also likely spur development of the old King’s Truck Stop property, which already has a nice new road going through it up to the top of the hill. Work is also underway to expand utility infrastructure in that area.

A major shopping complex there would be huge for the Exit 29 corridor, and it would improve the tax base for both Corbin and Laurel County significantly.

Before I conclude this column, let me switch gears and offer my congratulations to Jonas Saunders, who was recently named the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department 2023 Deputy of the Year. I’ve known Jonas since he was a rookie. He is a hard worker and well-deserving of this award.

Let me also congratulate Deputy Tim Baker, who was recently promoted to sergeant. Tim is a very experienced officer and is deserving of the promotion.