Bowling Green City Commission incumbents Carlos Bailey, Dana Beasley-Brown and Sue Parrigin have all filed to run for reelection. The only commissioner yet to file is Melinda Hill, who said she does intend to file.

Parrigin was the first incumbent commissioner to file. Parrigin is the chair of the Barren River Area Crisis Services Transformation Committee, the group pushing construction of a mental health center in Bowling Green, which recently received state funding.

“That’s my No. 1 priority,” Parrigin said. “We’re not letting up until we have it.”

Parrigin was first elected to the commission in 2014. She said if she is re-elected, she hopes to continue work on the planned Riverfront Park project on Barren River.

Both public and private projects featuring park space and activities and entertainment along the river are planned.

“The riverfront development is huge,” Parrigin said. “We’re working alongside some private developers and (getting) some public funds that are through grants to do a lot of work down in our riverfront.”

Bailey filed for reelection on March 6. Bailey works as an attorney in Bowling Green and was first elected to the commission in 2020.

“It’s very important for me to give people a voice,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t matter where they live.”

Bailey said his biggest priority is increasing affordable housing. He said while some action has been taken by the City Commission with regard to housing, Bowling Green needs to “keep moving forward” with it.

“I want to make sure that we have affordable housing where people can live,” Bailey said. “That’s important to me.”

Beasley-Brown works as a family resource coordinator at Bowling Green Junior High, and was first elected to the commission in 2018.

She said several of her priorities this election are public safety, enhancing the quality of life for Bowling Green residents and managing the growth of the city.

“There will be challenges ahead, but I’m excited about the ways we will continue to live into a vision that is worthy of our city’s potential,” she said.

Hill was first elected to the commission in a special election in 2011 and served through 2016, returning to the commission in 2020.

In between her terms on the commission, Hill worked in Frankfort as the deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Revenue and was later promoted to chief of staff for the Finance and Administration Cabinet.

Hill’s main priority for this election is keeping Bowling Green safe.

“My main concern is making sure we have a community where everyone can feel safe and loved,” Hill said.

Along with public safety, Hill said preservation of what people “grew up with and love” about Bowling Green is a focus.

“We are continuing to grow at a rapid pace, and I think it’s important that we keep our values what Bowling Green was founded on,” Hill said. “Keep that intact.”

Two others have so far filled to run for the commission.

Deshawna Maxey, who works at EZ Liquors on the west side of Bowling Green, came to Bowling Green in 1999 to attend Western Kentucky University. She said a large focus of her campaign is bringing attention to that side of town.

“It’s time for somebody from the west side to stand up and say ‘we’re not all drug addicts, we’re not all drug dealers, we’re not all homeless,’ ” Maxey said. “I’m just tired of the negative conversation when anybody mentions the west side of the city.”

She said as the western side of Bowling Green continues to grow in population, the city will need plans for the growth.

“What are we going to do about this,” Maxey said. “How are we going to accommodate a changing city?”

Johnalma Barnett is also vying for a seat on the commission this year. Barnett is retired from Western Kentucky University and currently serves as the coordinator for Feeding America Bowling Green.

Barnett first ran for a spot on the commission in 2022, fetching 3,378 votes in that race. This time, she said access to affordable housing is a priority of her campaign.

“We have people that are living in their cars and they’re in wheelchairs,” Barnett said. “They don’t get enough in Social Security (or in disability) to afford their house.”

The deadline to file for the non-partisan city commission races in Bowling Green is June 4.

In recent years, the commission race has regularly drawn a dozen or more candidates. The top four vote-getters in the November election earn commission seats.