Kim Bradford, City Clerk of Lexington, smiles for a photo while working on the city's water billing on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Evelyn Reece began her term as Lexington's mayor in January. As she nears her first anniversary in office, Reece shares her plans to beautify the city, inspire town pride and expand record keeping.
Originally from New Orleans, Reece moved to Athens in 1990 to get her masters in Historic Preservation. She later relocated to Lexington in 1998 with her husband.
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Q: What made you want to run for mayor?
A: I have always worked in government since living in Georgia. I worked for the National Park Service as a city planner in Athens-Clarke County. When I stopped doing that, I was a consultant helping get things approved through the government channel. I also served on the Historic Preservation Committee. On the commission, I was very involved in obtaining grants for the city-owned historic properties. We had a long-range trajectory on some specific grants, federal grants in particular, and it wasn't moving forward. I realized that to keep this long-range goal on track, I was going to have to lead.
Q: You're coming up on one year as mayor. How does that feel?
A: It feels very busy. I put in about 25 hours a week, maybe more some weeks, and I get paid $20 for every public meeting, which is not about the money. I feel very much in my element, having worked as a planner and dealt with grants. I feel pretty comfortable with these things. They are different, new things to me, which is kind of exciting, you know, learning about the water department was a very important first step.
Q: Have you gotten pushback since taking office?
A: Sure. I joke to Kim (Bradford, city clerk of Lexington), I’m an armadillo. I have very thick skin. I haven’t always, but I do now. I’m working two and three times as hard as any other person in this role because it’s what I’ve always done, and I’m going to keep doing it. I’m going to do the stuff they didn’t get done, and I’m also going to get done the stuff I want to get done.
Q: What are some events the city is trying to promote?
A: So it’s the 250th (birthday of America), so that's kind of all year long. And Michael Thurmond, who was a labor commissioner, also recently ran for governor. He wrote a book called “James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist.” So he is coming on Nov. 7, and he will do an author talk about his book. The other thing we're doing is old-fashioned Christmas.
Q: Why does community involvement matter?
A: There’s been this sense of “we’re just little Lexington, we’ll never be like that town, those towns are bigger and have more money.” But I feel we’re really special. We have a highly educated, smart citizenry who are here because they appreciate specific things about our history. People who live here should be very proud of who we are and have a better understanding of what it means to live in this historic place. It’s going to take time. When the community comes together and sees people from outside appreciating what we are, that’s when it becomes real.
Q: Is there something about Lexington you wish more people understood?
A: I wish more people understood that we have one part-time city clerk. Sometimes there's a request that we act like big government, and we’re not. We’re a volunteer-based community. Kim does an excellent job. I joke that I’m actually working for her, that she's training me. We work really well together and I’m really thankful.
Q&A with Kim Bradford
Kim Bradford celebrated her 10th year as city clerk of Lexington in August. She moved to Lexington in 2015 with her husband to care for her mother and began working part-time as a clerk. After her mother died, Bradford began clerking full-time (around 30 hours a week) for the city.
Bradford answered questions about working with Reece.
Q: What was it like when Evelyn took office in January?
A: She was really hands-on from the beginning. She was here as soon as the holidays were over, she was here and wanting to know stuff and to try to take it where everybody left off.
Q: How do you two communicate when things get busy?
A: Evelyn comes up here a good bit, more than any of my past mayors. So she comes up here, and she has her own little desk over there. Text, call, emails. Yeah, we do it all, weekends. She’s definitely hands-on, and she really took the water department by the horns and went out and rode around and looked at wells and all kinds of stuff. So she really familiarized herself with things that most mayors just really don’t have time for.