Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Sunday, May 2, 2010
Kim Adkins deserves a seat on Martinsville City Council.
Tuesday’s council election pits Adkins, who has never held elected office, against someone with 12 years on the council and someone with four years on the governing body.
Don’t let that fool you.
Adkins’ resume shows a wealth of experience in the fields of business, education, work force development and public service to make her fully qualified to serve on city council.
Adkins is executive director of the West Piedmont Workforce Investment Board, which funds and monitors area Virginia Workforce Centers and many employment services and training programs for employers, job-seekers and youth. That position has made her acutely aware of the impact of the area’s declining economy on local residents and their families and the need to provide services and skills so they can have better futures.
Before that, Adkins was president of the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce for about eight years. During that time, the chamber encouraged talks about merging the county and city school systems, worked for construction of Interstate 73 through this area and helped promote business interests in many issues.
Prior to joining the chamber, Adkins was director of corporate communications and investor relations for Tultex Corp. for about 14 months before the company closed in 2000.
She also is chairman of the Martinsville Planning Commission; is vice chairman of the Southside Business Technology Center; is a member of the West Piedmont Planning District Commission; and is on the boards of the Martinsville-Henry County YMCA, the chamber’s education foundation and Carlisle School, where she is immediate past chairman. She helped launch and was a founding board member of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., Fayette Area Historical Initiative and the West Piedmont Business Development Center.
Adkins’ stands reflect her work with many of those organizations. For instance, she knows how people are struggling now, and she opposes a tax increase. She has seen school merger studied before and wants to see it studied again. She is open to new ideas that could enhance Martinsville, advocating “a sense of urgency toward economic recovery,” and has the energy to help make that a reality.
She is running in Tuesday’s election against 12-year veteran councilman Gene Teague and the city’s current mayor, Kathy Lawson, who is seeking her second four-year term on council. Of the three, we believe Adkins is the best choice, and we hope city residents make her the top vote-getter on Tuesday. |
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