Williamsburg Mayor to be sworn in as Kentucky League of Cities President

Above, Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison will be sworn in as Kentucky League of Cities President Thursday.

Starting Thursday evening, Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison will be getting another title.

During the Kentucky League of Cities annual convention Thursday in Owensboro, Harrison will be sworn in as president of the organization.

"It’s a pretty dog gone good honor that your fellow mayors and council members from across the state – it’s mainly mayors – think highly enough of you that they will nominate you," Harrison said.

The election will make Harrison only the second Williamsburg mayor to hold the position.

In 2002, then Williamsburg Mayor Bill Nighbert served as president of the Kentucky League of Cities.

The league was formed in 1927 when 12 Kentucky cities came together to create a unified front on common legislative issues, and to benefit from economies of scale for purchases.

As president of the Kentucky League of Cities, Harrison will preside as the chief policy maker of more than 380 cities.

The league provides cities, leaders and employees with a number of services including legislative advocacy, legal services, community consulting, training and online training, policy development and research, and more. KLC also provides enterprise services such as financing options for cities and the Kentucky League of Cities Insurance Services (KLCIS), which insures more municipal clients than any other insurance carrier in Kentucky.

An 18-member Executive Board of Directors representing communities of all sizes governs the league. The 53 members of the KLC Board of Directors develop a legislative agenda every year, provide legislative strategy and review policy issues.

Harrison said that the top three legislative priorities for the coming year will be 911 funding, Local Investment for Transformation (LIFT) and revenue diversification, and correction of the spiking pension system.

Harrison said becoming president of the Kentucky League of Cities is a process that takes years.

First someone has to nominate you to serve on the board of directors, and then you have to be nominated to serve on the executive board.

The officers for the organization are then picked from members of the executive board.

Harrison has served on the executive board for eight years and two years ago he was selected as second vice-president of the Kentucky League of Cities. After a year in that position, Harrison was supposed to become first vice-president last year and then president of the organization this year.

Harrison said that the mayor, who was supposed to serve as president of the league last year, lost his re-election bid so for the past year, he has been serving as interim president of the league.

Thursday, the interim part drops off Harrison’s title and he becomes president of the organization.