Loudon city, county mayors look ahead to new year

In separate exclusive interviews with The News-Herald during January of 2024, Loudon City Mayor Jeff Harris and Loudon County Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw respectively said what they were looking forward to in the New Year.

Last Friday each mayor reflected on what their plans were last year and how they have changed for the coming year.

Loudon City — Jeff Harris

Last January, Harris talked about three major projects he hoped would be completed in 2024 — find a new city and general manager, break ground on the Lakeshore Loudon development and an expansion to the LUB water treatment plant that would increase water capacity for the utility district.

At the time of last year’s interview, Harris had just applied for the manager position and had been working as interim city and general manager since October of 2023.

While Harris worked diligently throughout 2024 as mayor and interim manager and continued working toward the permanent manager position for the better part of the year, he told The News-Herald last Friday that he believes they found the best person for the job.

“(Kevin Goins) has been here two weeks, so he’s (still) getting his feet wet, (but) he’s going to do a fabulous job, I think,” Harris said. “It was a long process, but I think it was a process that paid dividends because I think we got the right guy. I think it’s hard for the city and the utilities having that kind of a combination of a job. And doing it for 14 months, I kind of got a different perspective on it.

“We’re not going to find a person that’s got all those qualities (we were initially looking for),” he continued. “So what we had to do was just try to say, ‘Okay, this person has these strengths. They’ve got utility experience. But what Kevin brings to it is a lot of leadership qualities.’ He’s big on empowerment, and I think he’s just a really good fit for our workforce. And I think, to me, that was the most important thing.”

For his other “resolutions” for 2024, LUB broke ground on the water treatment expansion in January of 2024 and while the project will likely go into next year, much progress has been made.

Unfortunately there wasn’t as much progress on the Lakeshore Loudon development; however, Harris is hopeful that they will break ground in the next few months.

“I don’t think that the downtown merchants and us in general, the population, realize how important this development could be for the community,” he said. “We’ve had several meetings with the developer and like I’ve told him, what we don’t want is just another subdivision downtown on the water. We want it to be a unique experience.”

Harris said the developer had some out-of-his-control situations occur with his engineering firms which stalled the project, but the planning commission did approve the build in December.

“We’re working through some final details of that before we can issue a land disturbance permit so we can get started with the grading. But hopefully in the next 30 to 60 days that can happen and we can start seeing some movement on that,” he said.

This new development will not only bring new housing to Downtown Loudon, but it will also have more commercial space, parking and recreational space like walking trails and boat ramps for paddleboarding and kayaking.

Habitat for Humanity will also be adding new homes in Loudon during 2025. Harris said they are adding more than 30 affording housing options coming in April. More information about this development will be reported in the coming weeks.

Center 75 Industrial Park will be seeing at least two new industries in 2025, as well.

In the coming months Loudon County, Blount County and Knox County will all partake in a study that will test roads throughout all three counties. The test will determine and rank which roads need to be worked on the most.

Loudon County — Buddy Bradshaw

Bradshaw is entering his 11th year as Loudon County Mayor and many of his goals for last year follow through to this year — open up the Loudon County Courthouse, grow the fund balance and maintain tax rates.

While the tax rate did increase due to accounting for the new Loudon County Middle and High School, which was inevitable from the moment the school plans were proposed, Bradshaw said he is very proud of the funds he has control over.

“One thing I’m very proud of, you know, the things that I have control under Funds 101 and everything under that,” Bradshaw said. “We’ve been able to live within our means very well with that and continue to grow the fund balance … and we’ve been able to accomplish a lot of things without needing new money for 101.”

More information on the new Loudon County Schools project will be reported in the coming weeks. Bradshaw said that they haven’t released bonds for the project — no debt has been issued for the project yet — and the details of the school are controlled by the school board.

At the beginning of 2024, Bradshaw’s biggest goal for the year was to be back in the Loudon County Courthouse, or as close to it as possible. A year later, it seems the open date is a few months away.

“We’re looking, fingers crossed, at April. The inside of it is amazing,” he said. “It’s beautiful … People are going to be really surprised. I know folks are frustrated with the timeline, none more so than me, but the inside is just, it’s amazing now.

“When they get done, it’s going to be something we can really and truly be proud of. So getting it back opened up, like I said, hopefully the first of April. We’re going to have a celebration for it.

We’re going to close the street down to celebrate it.”

At next month’s Loudon County Commission Workshop, Bradshaw plans to introduce a resolution requesting the state to split at least a portion of the property transfer tax that’s levied. He said that multiple counties in Tennessee have created and passed this resolution, as well as the Association of County Mayors (ACM) has got behind the initiative. He hopes Loudon County will be next.

There are at least two county government buildings, aside from the courthouse, that are opening its doors in 2025. A satellite office for the county clerk will open soon in Lenoir City on Hwy 321. The county has also created a public records storage building in Downtown Loudon to house all important documents.

“We went from storing everything in the basement of the Courthouse to now we have this building,” he said. “It’s safe to allow us to properly and safely protect evidence, court records and stuff like that. And so each officeholder has its own space, and that’s going to be an asset.”

Bradshaw also hopes to start work on a monument this year, honoring all of those who served and lost their lives fighting for our country.

“We’re looking forward to another successful year,” Bradshaw said. “Loudon County continues to be a destination.”