For more than six hours Wednesday morning and afternoon, Christian County’s Fiscal Court and its tangential leaders collaborated inside the warm second floor of the historic Alhambra Theatre — fully dead-set on breaking down a comprehensive questionnaire asking residents to elaborate on local civics.
It took six hours because, in the end, more than 590 questionnaires — and more than 40 pages of written responses — were returned by constituents, detailing every aspect of life and its quality in southwestern Kentucky.
Jerry Gilliam, Christian County’s magistrate turned judge-executive, was seeking 200 or so responses in order to get an adequate read on public perception and community needs.
Gilliam said he received that, and so much more.
Some notes from the survey:
*250 lived in rural Christian County, 289 lived in Hopkinsville
*281 were lifetime residents, 209 had been residents for a decade or longer, and more than 50 were active or retired military
*More than 77% believed the county should explore ways to protect landowners from nuisances and other infrastructure issues that could potentially harm values and quality, but many stipulated certain concerns with the question — noting what some might consider a nuisance, could be valuable to others.
*More than 80% either believed or were indifferent to whether the county should look for ways to attract private investments that lead to job creation — but not at the expense of empty tax incentives or empty factories.
*More than 80% either agreed or strongly agreed that the county should continue to look for ways to create consumer-based revenue and reduce the amount of property tax — but some noted this has the potential to shift the tax burden to the poorest residents, and that property tax ensures quality county services and education.
*More than 10% said job creation, more than 11% said housing, more than 19% said infrastructure, and more than 58% urged it needed to be the sum of all three, when talking about what areas of growth should the county be focused.
*If Christian County were to involve itself in one single facet going forward, more than 23% said it needed to be public safety, 18% said county roads, 17% said the animal shelter, 9.5% said the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library and 7.8% said quality of life events.
*And how effective is local government at solving problems in the community? Less than 2% said extremely effective, 16.5% said very effective and more than 54% said somewhat effective. More than 25% said not so, or not at all, effective.
Through this analysis, fiscal court and related associates determined a quintet of goals in which to maximize in the immediate future of Christian County:
— Embrace a relationship with Fort Campbell.
— Optimize manufactured and natural resources to grow the community.
— Focus on population growth through housing expansion.
— Proactively pursue financial stability.
— And protect current fiscal assets of the community.
But Gilliam and associates also noted there’s a very real subset of weaknesses in the community, including:
— A negative culture and mindset;
— A sincere housing issue;
— A declining workforce;
— A lack of retail and social life options;
— And a void in viable, trusted child care.
Gilliam also noted that volunteer fire department issues, and similar concerns, rose to the top — but other problems, unsolvable by fiscal court jurisdiction, also came to light.
Deemed potential threats to Christian County progress and development, leaders said, included taxation reform and restrictions, changing family dynamics, education loss, zoning issues, neighborly competition and the loss of farmland.
FULL SURVEY: