Since being sworn in as the new Adairville mayor early last week, Donna Blake has been having fun getting up to speed on what it means to run the south Logan County city on a day-to-day basis.
She had a pretty good idea, already, after having served as a city council member for eight years through four different terms, but now that she is actually occupying the mayor’s office, she’s learning even more about the job.
“I’ve just been getting my feet wet and learning what each department does on a daily basis,” Blake said. “I’m learning what the employees expect from me and letting them know what to expect from me. They’ve all been wonderful and have just bent over backwards to help me any way they can.”
Blake even started part of her role as mayor before officially taking office.
Last month she went to Frankfort and met with officials in the Department of Local Government, the Department of Homeland Security and with representatives from the governor and secretary of state’s office.
“That’s good when it comes networking and letting them get to know who you are,” Blake said.
It will also come in handy as Blake tried to move the city forward in the four years of her term.
Among her list of things she’d like to accomplish is getting a new city hall and a new fire hall.
“Our city hall isn’t even handicap accessible,” Blake said. “And we’re going to have to build on to our fire hall, because we’ve outgrown it - but it’s already been built on several times before. We really need to get a new one.”
Blake is also committed to bringing new industry in to Adairville.
“We need something, even if it’s just a small industry with 20 employees,” she said. “It just needs to be something to help out our tax base.”
Also, Blake wants to see something done with the old Auburn Hosiery Mill property, which was given over to the city when the business left town a couple years back.
“I’d like to see that become a nursing home or maybe senior apartments,” Blake said.
And, of course, the new mayor really wants to see Adairville get grocery store - ideally back downtown at the previous IGA location.
“I’ve already been in contact with several companies about that,” Blake said. “And the Chamber of Commerce is willing to help, even by buying the building and leasing it out to whoever puts a store in there.”
Getting a new grocery store in the location on the square is part of Blake’s dream of seeing all the downtown buildings brimming with businesses.
“We have a real gem in the Country Angel gift shop right now,” Blake said. “We need more businesses like that one the square, and I think having a grocery store down there would help anchor that.”
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