The results are in and the winners are the citizens of Union County. Why? This election was decided on the issues; the important issues facing all of Union County.

The number one issue for the District 35 and 36 Representatives was highway infrastructure; the four lane of SR 33 from the Knox County Line to SR 144 in Maynardville and the straightening of SR 61 from Maynardville to south of Jim Town Road. The Union County Commission unanimously passed a resolution earlier this year, prepared by 1st District Commissioner Stan Dail, calling for a re-evaluation of the priority of these projects by Nashville and a number of individuals addressed the issue personally with TDOT at the Regional Transportation Workshop in June. As of this writing, TDOT is currently re-evaluating the priorities on both SR 33 and SR 61, with a proposal being discussed to publish the contract bid on SR 33 later this year and the contract bid on SR 61 in 2020. As neither project is included in the TDOT 2019-21 Comprehensive Multimodal Program, construction will ultimately depend on a budget amendment by the 111 General Assembly. It will be important for our local elected officials and citizens to travel to Nashville in January to meet with the legislature and stress the immediate need for these projects, for both the public safety and economic prosperity of all of Union County.

The number one issue in the race for Mayor and County Commission was the need for a Tennessee School of Applied Technology in Union County; a Trade School. The statewide need for vocational training was recognized by the General Assembly in 2013 with the establishment of the Labor Education Alignment Program (LEAP). This program created a statewide, comprehensive structure enabling students in Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs) and community colleges to participate in technical training developed with input from area employers. Now in its second iteration, the LEAP program continues this effort by encouraging and facilitating the alignment of local workforce and education partners through a $10 million competitive grant process available to local collaboratives. For purposes of this grant, a local collaborative is defined as a partnership that serves at least three counties. Grants of up to $1 million are available to local collaboratives to facilitate the development and implementation of employer-driven career pathways that include both K-12 school districts and higher education institutions. Union, Claiborne and Grainger counties and their associated industries form the ideal collaborative for a successful grant submission. The Union County Commission unanimously passed a resolution earlier this year asking the Joint Economic Community Development Board to explore opportunities for establishing a Tennessee School of Applied Technology in Union County. With new mayors being elected in each county, the timing could not be better for the right executive leader to step up and form a collaborative partnership and bring a TCAT to our three county region.

Having access to high speed broadband service is quickly becoming the most important differentiating infrastructure of our time and it was a topic of conversation by all candidates for Mayor and County Commission. Following approval of a resolution prepared by 1st District Commissioner Stan Dail to have Union County placed on the Tennessee list of Broadband Ready Communities, work is underway to establish a collaborative partnership with Sunset Digital Communications. Founded in 2003 by the father and son team of Paul and Ryan Elswick, Sunset has been at the forefront of remote, rural fiber to the premises deployment. Sunset is a tier-two next generation fiber-optics services company based in Duffield, Virginia with branch offices in Kingsport, Tennessee and Tazewell, Tennessee. Sunset is currently bringing new broadband access to communities in Hancock and Claiborne counties after the State of Tennessee awarded a $1.3 million grant to the company. Sunset is also investing $1.1 million to bring the total investment to $2.4 million. The grant was made through the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act which is designed to offset the capital expenses in the deployment of broadband in unserved areas. According to Sunset Digital Communications co-founder Paul Elswick, “Bringing broadband access to rural communities is the mission of our company and we are happy to make an investment in the future of Hancock and Claiborne counties.” A number of individuals are working with Sunset in the hope that they will also make an investment in the future of Union County with the help of a Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act grant.

Additional issues discussed by the candidates included the need for continued transparent county finances, a balanced county budget and the need for citizen involvement through referendum in major county expenditures such as a new justice center or a new school.

Election 2018 was decided on issues important to all of Union County and all of Union County will be closely watching the progress made on these issues by our newly elected county executives.