Getting Things Done (September 97)

What Does the Public Think? (August 97)

June: A Banner Month for Good News In Wilmore (July 97)
WHAT IS WILMORE? (June 97)
When You Need to Risk...Risk It ! (May 97)

A Forward View

A healthy community should have a sense of where it should go and what it might become.  Navigating a boat in the open sea without a chart or guidance system, or building a house without a set of blueprints would invite disaster.  A community would face an equally perilous voyage if its residents and leaders didnít have a strong sense of direction.

In an earlier era, when many communities experienced little changes over decades, the idea might have made little sense.  The answer might have been, "we're happy where we are."  In theory, a community doesn't have to have a goal or "vision" beyond survival.  It doesn't have to be "going" anywhere.  But in practice, if it drifts, it may have changes forced upon it that it would not have chosen.  Today change is a given -- for good or ill.  So the question becomes, "where will these currents of change take Wilmore if we fail to act?"

How can we intervene to insure a better outcome for our children and our children's children?  We must understand clearly and embrace our community's shared values and we in leadership positions have an ethical responsibility to be responsive to our constituents' concerns.

In addition to understanding a community's core values, leadership includes:

• Tackling touch questions -- those must not be avoided
• Approaching problem solving with an open mind
• Making decisions that will be for the community's common good

 Some of the major issues needing a forward view in Wilmore are:

• Determining the differences in growth and progress
• Determining the funding for major infrastructure needs for Wilmore
• Building a park and recreation system to serve the total community
• Developing a long range transportation improvement system with the Federal Government a Highway Department way 29, 1268, and 68 (Harrodsburg Road)
• Insuring that public safety continues to receive the focus necessary to move forward
• Development of impact fees on new growth

Sometimes we think leadership is charged only to elected officials.  Ethical leadership does not blossom in a vacuum.  It must be encouraged through the involvement of the entire community.  These tough issues will require much planning and work, and will impact all of us.

Thirty years ago Jessamine County ó Nicholasville and Wilmore ó was sprawling, quiet, mostly rural.  Today, the entire County is under tremendous development pressure.  The growth, both suburban and urban, has been astounding.  Jessamine County is the second fastest growing county of the 120 counties in Kentucky!  The population also is more culturally and ethnically diverse than at any other time in our history.

Jessamine County and Wilmore faces a future that can either be productive or crippled by disagreement.  It all depends upon residents and government leaders (all three governments) reaching a consensus.

Clearly the time is right for Jessamine County residents to recheck their bearings and take a forward view.

 Mayor Harold Rainwater