It’s two weeks before the Primary Election in Knox. Today, we will begin a series of interviews with candidates running in contested races.
Rick Chambers is completing his first term as Mayor of Knox. The Mayor sat down with us recently to talk about that four year term.
“The first term was very exciting,” he said. “I like dealing with industry. We had industry move into our Industrial Park every year I’ve been Mayor. We added about 80 jobs, we did six tax abatements for industry that either expanded or built new. It was very exciting seeing that Industrial Park grow.”
The Mayor said a lot was accomplished by securing grants. He mentioned the infrastructure grants that helped tackle “underground” projects that the public doesn’t see every day. He also talked about how proud he was of the development of the parks, especially the Skate Park.
“The five year plan was completed last month and now there are other grants available for equipment and maybe additional land. The Friends of the Park and the Park Board have been working with us and hopefully the Skate Park will be completely rebuilt within the next month. Funds have been arranged for that. They’re hard at work on that, even as we speak.”
Moving from a law enforcement background into the new position has been challenging, but one he has really enjoyed.
“I really enjoy working with the industry and the citizens of Knox. It’s a joy to meet them everyday when they come into City Hall. I get to greet people everyday. There’s a lot of meetings involved – many more meetings than I ever realized! There are several meetings a day and meetings two or three nights a week. I spend a lot of time in meetings because of all the different Boards I sit on, because of my position as Mayor.”
Mayor Rick Chambers is running in the Democrat Primary to become his party’s candidate in the fall election. He is being challenged in the Primary by Mark Smith, who we will hear from tomorrow.
