FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — On a lunch stop in Hazard, eastern Kentucky’s state senators met with Perry County’s local officials. It was one of many stops Tuesday from London to Whitesburg for lawmakers to specifically focus on eastern Kentucky’s wins this session and the work still left to do.
“Sitting down with different people in different counties, going through the things that are important to them, and then showing them the results of what we’ve just done in the last legislative session with our budgets and our policies,” Sen. President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) told FOX 56.
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The Clay County Republican is a powerful ear representing this region of the state, and this opportunity to break bread is also one for local leaders to stress some of the biggest priorities.
“A state-funded four-year university, access for people in Appalachia, is what would really take us to the next level of where we need to be,” Perry County Judge/Executive Scott Alexander mentioned during the lunch’s lengthy discussion, which also touched on energy needs and maintaining eco-tourism areas like Buckhorn State Resort Park. However, the conversation frequently circled back to the need for more education and workforce development opportunities.
“Heard a student just the other day say it, he said. I just need more opportunities. You know, I need more opportunity, and he felt kind of like he wasn’t going anywhere because he didn’t have the opportunity to do what he really wanted to do. So, I think if we give them more educational options, we can really change all this generational poverty that we see here in Appalachia,” Hazard Community and Technical College President Jennifer Lindon told the table.
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This year, Stivers carried a resolution, SJR 132, to study transforming HCTC into a 4-year residential university, which Lindon thanked him for. The Republican leader also said budget wins like $25 million in building a psychiatric residential partnership with the region’s two biggest hospitals, Appalachian Regional Healthcare and Pikeville Medical Center, help retain and create jobs in the area.
“You know, we need job opportunities. And so, we’re doing all the things we can do to create jobs in eastern Kentucky. We lost so many in the transition, this coal transition that creating jobs and opportunities is our number one issue,” Stivers said.
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