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Mayor Hoots featured in Kentucky City magazine By Michele Hill Reprinted with permission Columbia Mayor Pam Hoots is proud of her city's accomplishments over the past several decades. She is technically serving her third term as mayor after reelection a few years ago. Her first term started in the early 1990s. "I was in HR here locally, and then the company downsized. So, I took a job out of town as an HR manager," she explained. "I moved back nine years ago. My parents were getting older, and I wanted to be closer to them for any kind of medical issue or anything that occurred. So, I got back on the city council, and then I became mayor again. I just got reelected again two years ago." Q: What do you think calls you to that role? A: I love people. I know that's a cliche, but I do love people. That's my favorite part of the job. I could stay out and talk to people all day long. Q: How do you think your experience as an HR manager helped you in the mayor role? A: I think the experience of dealing with people because that's a daily thing with HR. To me, everybody's problem is a big issue to that person. We need to make sure that we take care of them. If it's something we cannot take care of, if we can listen to them, point them in the right direction, or just listen to them, I think that matters. Q: You were first mayor in the early 1990s, and now it is 2024. Obviously, times have changed. What do you notice is different about your role and your city from then to now? A: In the 1990s it was a part-time position. I was down here maybe two or three times a day, even though I worked full-time. Now, it is a full-time position. We have a lot of growth going on in our community. Probably 90% of the grant work is done through my office. It can be a full-time position, and it definitely is. Q: Tell me a little bit about Columbia. Why do you think people love to live there? A: I think the small-town atmosphere. We have a lot of people moving in. It seems rural, but we are getting a lot of retail establishments. We are bringing back our square here, which is historical. One of the things the city did with some of our ARPA funding was a program for any downtown business that wanted to work on the facade of their visible business. We helped them with their supplies, notfor it. They had to say what they were doing, and we helped to improve it. A lot of our businesses took advantage of it and painted the buildings outside or did new awnings. One building did new doors and windows because they had not been done for probably 70 years. It really helped with the downtown businesses. Mayor Hoots is rarely seen without her sidekick Jakky, who the mayor calls the First dog. Q: What do you hope to see in Columbia in another 30 years? A: I would like to see a lot of our youth be able to stay here with economic positions. We have four current manufacturing locations in our community, and they all have done extremely well ... I would like to see a couple more. I want to see that we are able to maintain our small-town environment. I think that's very, very important -- that we are able to maintain a sense of community. I want to be able to preserve the history. Q: What are you most proud of? A: We have started doing all kinds of things in the last six years. We do "Truck it Up," which is a food truck event for the community. We do "Paint the Town," where we take all the sidewalks around the downtown area, and individuals, churches, and organizations take a portion of that sidewalk and paint it with chalk. This year, we're doing it a little bit differently. We're even going to block off the square. We're going to have popcorn for kids and Popsicles for kids. Just make it an event for the night, so the whole community can come down and enjoy the park. I want the kids to remember that I loved kids and wanted to do things for the children of this community. And I want people to remember that more than anything else, I try to do things for the community. One thing Mayor Hoots has been aggressive about doing for her community is acquiring financial help, however possible. "We've done a lot of grants since I've been in office," she remarked. "Everybody always says that's my middle name, grants, because I firmly believe if there's something out there, we need to apply for it." Columbia received a grant to build a new maintenance building and splash pad, for economic development, to help with the city's DARE program, and to purchase police equipment, a drug vehicle trailer, playground equipment, and more. They have millions more in outstanding applications. "We will not get every grant. If we get some grants that we can use for the benefit of our community, I think that we need to try to do whatever we can." She encourages other city officials to apply and stay on top of available funding. "I have people ask me, so how do you find them? I look for them every day. I look for any kind of email I get that's grants. I try to keep in contact with people for grants all the time." KLC keeps an active list of dozens of grants available to cities on www.klc.org. This story was posted on 2024-11-21 01:10:11
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Agenda for Nov 21 Special Called Board Meeting Personnel Committee to meet Nov 22 P&Z to consider variance for 116 Heskamp St. on Nov 18 Columbia-Adair EDA to meet Nov 19 County Offices to close for Veterans Day City Hall to be closed on Veterans Day County Clerk to be closed Saturday and Monday Participants welcome in Columbia Christmas events Public hearing on P&Z Comprehensive Plan is Nov 14 Two locations planned for City Park Christmas events View even more articles in topic Local Government |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
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