BLEDSOE COUNTY MAYORAL CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS

By Editor | April 14, 2026 |

LELAND BURKS

Q: Bledsoe County remains in the top 10 distressed counties in the state. What do you think needs to be done to bring Bledsoe County out of that designation or do you think we need to stay distressed and why?

A: We do not need to stay distressed. The infrastructure. Gas and water is what’s keeping us from getting any industry in here.

Q: Education and funding. On a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10, where does funding education rank in your plan as mayor?

A: Well, education ranks a 10. And as far as funding, we need to on the education. I think we need to, we got to get teachers. I mean, we just need to try to pay them better. The after-school, that ain’t part of the school system though, is it? It gets funding, but I’m not sure that’s right.

Q: Efforts to establish an animal shelter in the county. Do you feel there is a need for an animal shelter in the county and what role would the county play in seeing it is accomplished and maintained?

A: There’s a need for the animal shelter. I will have to check into that, because I do not know the ins and outs. I’ve told people that.

Q: Farming and biosolids. How would you address the use of biosolids on farmlands in the county? For or against?

A: There is forever chemicals in the biosolids that we have now. And it, I’m really against it, because it does mess the land. It gets into our food. It’s killing the farm animals, some of them. I mean, the births. It needs more research.

Q: What infrastructure do you see the county needs to focus on and improve?

A: Gas and water. Gas and water will get us industry. The roads, the roads, we need to work on that.

Q: How is the county prepared to attract industry? What industry would you focus on attracting?

A: We need a manufacturer, we have this building back (former Dura factory). The county and the city has this building back. We need to get a good manufacturer back in that building, or a distributor, like a warehouse.

Q: What is your main objective as Mayor?

A: To serve people in Bledsoe County and do the job the best of my ability. I have 40 years experience running businesses serving and served the people, but that’s okay I guess all of us. For generations, it matters now what we do for generations to come.

KRIS FRADY

A: I definitely would like to come out of the distressed — whatever tag that we have on us. How do we need to come out of the distressed? It’s gonna take a lot of the infrastructure work. I feel like that’s what’s gonna help bring us out. And the reason for that is, you’ve got to have the infrastructure to bring in industry or basically anything along those lines.

Q: Education and funding. On a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10, where does funding education rank in your plan as mayor?

A: I’m gonna have to rank it really high. I mean, I’m an educator, and I see those people working every day. You have a lot of good teachers throughout our system. So I’m probably a 10 on that. These students, that is our livelihood. I mean, they are our retirement one day, and I feel like the county should work as close, hand in hand, as possible with our education department. Now, I understand funding is limited, and it is what it is, but that needs to be the closest partnership that we could get. I would love, honestly, love to be able to see more of our families, our kids, our grandchildren, be able to come back to Bledsoe County and reside one day. You know, I have one son that is here, I have one son that’s out.

A: Honestly, I’m out of the city limits, and I don’t see an animal problem in the area that I live in. And what I’m hearing is there’s some concerns in other areas, but I’m not aware of the particular details in any of that. So the popularity of animals, it’s definitely growing, but the strays, I don’t really have them around our area. I don’t know how to say this. I mean, we’re all kind of pet friendly. I got animals, and so forth, but how much does the county need to do? I guess I need to understand the severity of the problem, and again, it’s always towards the funding aspect of it. Is there funds that we could allocate towards it as they’re not? I don’t know. I really need more information.

Q: Farming and biosolids. How would you address the use of biosolids on farmlands in the county? For or against?

A: Biosolids is something I definitely need to do more reach on, and understanding. But my understanding also is that there’s many counties throughout the state that probably use these Bible solids. I really want to, if I get the opportunity to be mayor, to go directly to those people, and understand the assets of biosolids that are tremendous for the agricultural family. It is tremendous. I do understand there are concerns, such as smell, that I’ve even smelled before. I don’t know the biochemicals, how clean. I don’t know the purity, but I’m sure that it has to be appropriate to be allowed to be spread on the ground. So, again, that is something I’m gonna have to get in contact, direct contact with those agencies that provide this, and to get more understanding and clarity on.

Q: What infrastructure do you see the county needs to focus on and improve?

A: Infrastructure. First thing we really need, if we want to see the county improve as far as growth, obviously is the road structuring. I know there’s some plans to make part of the road 127 between Pikeville and Dunlap a super three. Obviously, we got to have some more road structure. The water, water usage, has got to be there. That’s the probably main two infrastructure, things that I see are most needed right now. Our electrical and fiber with the telephone seems to be really, really good.

Q: How is the county prepared to attract industry? What industry would you focus on attracting?

A: I’m from a manufacturing background. I have a degree in business management, worked in the manufacturing world. As far as the business, I would like to see is some type of manufacturing that could include assembly, could include skilled trades, such as welding, various skilled trades taken there, all along those lines.

Q: What is your main objective as Mayor?

A: My vision of being a mayor is pretty straightforward. It’s investing in our future and leading with purpose. And when I saw you investing with our future, I’m talking about our schools, investing in those children. Strengthening our infrastructure. And then kind of back to the schools, creating opportunities that may allow our children or our grandchildren one day, to come back here and live in Bledsoe County, to be a productive citizen here. And it also means being responsible for taxpayer dollars while still moving the county forward. In the second part of it, just leading with purpose, means making decisions based on what’s best for the people of Bledsoe County. Not for politics, not for personal gain. But for long term strength of the community. And it means requiring me to be a great listener, being accountable, and staying grounded in the values that define us.

AMANDA HOLLAND PACK

A: The way that Bledsoe County would become out of distress would be that our employment rate rises. Right now, we don’t have a manufacture in place or anywhere like that as a job opportunity. We do have Aviagen, which has brought in jobs, and we do have Virnig that has brought in jobs. I don’t really think we need to stay distressed, but as a distressed county, we do get more grants because that we are. And you get more opportunities, because we are. But I really don’t think we need to stay distressed. I think we need to try to come out of being distressed county.

Q: Education and funding. On a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10, where does funding education rank in your plan as mayor?

A: Education is important. I think on a scale of one to ten, mine would be at eight. And I think the reason I chose that number is because the county mayor doesn’t have any say so in the school system. You have your school board and you have your school superintendent, which makes those decisions. The county support concerning schools and funding, we have so far helped Rigsby and Wheeler get a new energy efficiency grant, which is $585,000. That helped them bring in new AC units and electrical throughout the schools, and it also will help save the school’s $80,000 a year in electricity. So, in that retrospect, I think that the county can help the schools get more grants. I know that there’s one coming down that is 1.5 million going to Rigsby. Congressman DesJarlais, and the County Commission, and Gregg all worked on getting that through for the Rigsby School. I totally support that, and I would be behind getting any kind of grants for the school systems. We’ve also gotten other grants for the school systems, for the high school, for computers, laptops, for the kids. We, you know, we have done those things, and I will continue to do those things and try to promote any, in any way, of the school system.

A: Yes, I feel like the county probably needs one, but as far as the county’s roll, I think it needs to be a private animal shelter, not a county animal shelter, because if accounting gets involved, your tax dollars are gonna go up. They’re gonna increase, because that’s gonna be any where from $300,000 to $400,000 more a year. And that’s just to have people there and have people out and about. If you’re a nonprofit organization, sometimes you can get better funding, and that means that your tax dollars aren’t gonna increase.

Q: Farming and biosolids. How would you address the use of biosolids on farmlands in the county? For or against?

A: So, I have done my research on biosolids. The research is not cut and dry. It’s not something that you can just say, ‘Oh, I do want it here.’ There are a lot of facts, and there are a lot of opinions about biosolids. I think there needs to be more testing done on biosolids to have more information. I don’t know what kind of forever chemicals are in biosolids. Personally, people have come and said they don’t like the smell of it, and I can understand that, too. And right now, as far as I look at it is that my family has been farmers in this county for over 100 years. My dad and my brother own a small farm, and they spend out a lot of money to have fertilizer put on the land. As a small farmer, I don’t see if they can pay for a fertilizer, I don’t see why some of the other ones that are bigger farmers, why they have issues with paying for fertilizer, because not only does it help your community, it helps brings in tax dollars. It helps your local co-op. It helps everybody. So, I would say, I’m against biosolids, because I don’t think there’s enough information about what’s in them. I know it’s a touchy subject. It’s just the research I have done, you cannot really make a decision on whether there is not, whether there is forever chemicals in it or not.

Q: What infrastructure do you see the county needs to focus on and improve?

A: We would like to see more jobs come into the county. The Dura building has recently come back to the county and the city, and the county owns some acreage that we are working on with the Economic Community Development, to try to develop that acreage, and maybe bring in some jobs that way. As far as the infrastructure we have, we do have a new EMS building going to start being built. The state is working on, going to start working on the highway on 127. We do have a new roof going on the head start building through grants. We also have the historical grant for the courthouse, which has put in new windows, doors, and a new roof on the courthouse. And, like I said, infrastructure is a big thing. So I think that the county needs to work with the county commission and other elected officials on making sure our county is thriving.

Q: How is the county prepared to attract industry? What industry would you focus on attracting?

A: The county goes through the Economic Community Development District, which they help the counties attract businesses for different industries, and they try to match the industries with the county. We’re a farming community, we’re agriculture community. They try to match that. That’s how Virnig got here, is because they are about farming equipment, and that sort of thing. So I think if we stay focused on bringing in industry that focuses on our agriculture and that sort of thing, that we’re gonna be better off, because that’s what we are. That’s our community, our community, our farmers.

Q: What is your main objective as Mayor?

A: My main objective as mayor would be that I want to bring our community together and try to see if each community needs help. What can we do to help that community? Our fire departments, they need grants. We try to do that every year. They also get money from the county, which is $7,000, plus this year, they got to do a list of things of objectives for the fire department to meet. And then once they meet those, they get so much money for that. So some of them got, $7,500. Some of them got up to the max, which was $10,000. You know, my objective would be to still help the fire departments and get them grant opportunities as much as I can. It’s not just about fire departments, but if someone out in the community needs help, my door would always be open, and I would always like to talk to someone face to face, and let’s see if we can address a problem or an issue, and see where we can go. I can’t promise anything, but I can say that I promise to do the very best I can. And to work for my county, because I’m here because I love my county. That’s it.

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