‘Dream big:’ Alcott outlines next term priorities, initiatives
Published 9:06 pm Thursday, November 14, 2024
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott speaks on his upcoming focuses and priorities as he enters his second term as mayor in his office at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Grace McDowell/grace.mcdowell@bgdailynews.com)
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott speaks on his upcoming focuses and priorities as he enters his second term as mayor in his office at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Grace McDowell/grace.mcdowell@bgdailynews.com)
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott speaks on his upcoming focuses and priorities as he enters his second term as mayor in his office at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Grace McDowell/grace.mcdowell@bgdailynews.com)
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott speaks on his upcoming focuses and priorities as he enters his second term as mayor in his office at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Grace McDowell/grace.mcdowell@bgdailynews.com)
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott speaks on his upcoming focuses and priorities as he enters his second term as mayor in his office at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Grace McDowell/grace.mcdowell@bgdailynews.com)
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott speaks on his upcoming focuses and priorities as he enters his second term as mayor in his office at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Grace McDowell/grace.mcdowell@bgdailynews.com)
Growth management and ongoing community initiatives are the focus of Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott after winning reelection to a second term earlier this month.
Seated at a table in City Hall replete with U.S. military challenge coins, Alcott praised the work of the City of Bowling Green’s management team and cited the ongoing Anchor Project mental health care initiative, the Housing Authority of Bowling Green’s Small Business Accelerator and the LifeNav Collaborative Center as examples of the city’s success.
“I don’t get to take credit – I get to be part of that,” Alcott told the Daily News. “They happen because we’ve got like-minded leaders working together.”
Alcott, who was first elected in 2020 after then-Mayor Bruce Wilkerson suspended his own reelection bid, defeated former State Rep. Patti Minter 11,245 votes to Minter’s 10,100 for the mayoral seat.
All of Bowling Green’s incumbent city commissioners were reelected as well. Alcott said the reelection of both himself and the commissioners is evidence of city residents preferring a “balance” in their elected officials.
“The second thing, I think it signifies, is that, and I heard this repeatedly as I knocked (on doors), is they don’t like confrontational government officials,” he said. “They want their government officials to make headlines for the good, but not bickering or tearing each other apart.”
Continuing cooperation between city and county government is a focus for Alcott. He said to this end, one thing he would like to see is an expansion of the city’s joint police and fire department training facility, which broke ground in April.
“I would like to see, eventually, our sheriff’s (deputies) go through that academy here locally,” Alcott said. Currently, he said, deputies with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office train in Eastern Kentucky.
“I think there’s more synergies when a local police officer or local sheriff has that training here, because they see our court systems, they see our community in play, and that’s the community they’re going to be serving when they’re on active duty,” he said.
When it comes to expanding public-private partnerships in the city, Alcott used the ongoing Riverfront Park development as an example, saying the city is “thinking bigger than we’ve ever thought” on the project.
The Riverfront Park is a large-scale, multi-year plan to redevelop an area of land on the Barren River into a multi-purpose recreation site. Alcott said the park will become an opportunity to showcase the city’s partnerships with private sector entities.
“I think this is an opportunity to show Bowling Green in a showcase where we can get corporate sponsorship, reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars going into public enterprises, and come out with something that’s a win for the entire community, including our surrounding counties,” he said.
Efforts to increase aid to those experiencing homelessness is another focus for Alcott. In September, the LifeNav Collaborative Center opened, located across the street from the Salvation Army.
The center houses services from several local nonprofit organizations including Room in the Inn, LifeSkills, HOTEL INC, Goodwill and the Salvation Army.
“How can we get more help for a facility that can actually bring people together,” he said. “How can we take it to the next level? Where can leaders look at the bigger picture, think big and really get this investment going.”
Challenges are on the horizon though, and from Alcott’s perspective, the biggest challenge is the city’s unrelenting growth and the impact it is having on infrastructure.
He said solutions to this are in the works. One, the Bluegrass Farms Boulevard extension, will see that road lengthened by one mile from its current dead-end near Camping World to intersect with Plano Road. The city commission approved in August a $7 million bid from Scotty’s Contracting & Stone for the project.
“You go down Scottsville Road and 31-W, everyone feels that,” he said. “The growth that’s going to be necessary for us is the infrastructure.”
During this year’s presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump promised to enact the most comprehensive deportation plan ever for those who are in the United States illegally.
According to Bowling Green Independent Schools, 55 languages are spoken throughout the city school district. For Warren County Public Schools, the number is over 100. Each year, Bowling Green hosts its annual International Festival where aspects from many different world cultures are on display for the community.
When it comes to changes in immigration policy, Alcott said “we’re all watching this transpire,” although he is uncertain what exactly this would mean.
“We are all migrants, unless we’re Native American,” Alcott said. “This is the home of the brave, this is the home of the free, this is a home for those that want a better life and prosperity.”
He said while living in Europe during his career in the U.S. Air Force, he observed a “clash of communities” since people of different cultures lived and went to school separately, saying “those communities couldn’t work together.”
“Our community has already shown that legal immigration is absolutely the key,” Alcott said. “What it does for us is it helps us be able to take care of everybody. Our schools need that, our hospitals need that … I will say (with) legal immigration, no one has anything to worry about.”
A little over a year into Alcott’s first term, Bowling Green was struck by several tornadoes on Dec. 11, 2021. In the days and weeks that followed, he said, the city “went forth with fortitude, and we came out stronger than we could ever possibly imagine.”
He said the events he started his term with and the way the city has rebounded since then have given him optimism about the road ahead.
“We overcame, but we also achieved the unbelievable,” he said. “What I’m telling this staff and I’m telling our elected officials (is) dream big, because we can do it.”
About Jack Dobbs
Jack covers city government for the Daily News. Originally from Simpson County, he attended Western Kentucky University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in journalism.
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