WILLIAMSON — Democrat Doug Kirk is challenging incumbent Republican candidate Thomas Taylor in the general election for a seat on the Mingo County Commission.
Taylor, who currently serves as commission president, owns Graylor Enterprise and lives in Williamson.
“I went to Pikeville College, and I have a degree in accounting and business management,” Taylor said. “We run Graylor Enterprise. We’re based out of Matewan. We work in the mining industry.”
Taylor said of all the issues facing the county today, the budget each fiscal year is one of the biggest concerns.
“There’s so many issues that our county is facing right now,” Taylor said. “The budget is always my top priority as a county commissioner. You have to keep your numbers in line, and you’ve got to make sure you don’t have a shortfall with the budget. The budget is everything to the county. I would like to see us finally get turned around to where we can give money back to organizations and Little Leagues and things like that.”
Taylor said the uptick in the coal industry may help the area some, but the county needs to focus more on job creation.
“There’s an uptick in the coal industry, which is great and if we could see an uptick in the coal severance tax now, maybe that will help lighten the load,” Taylor said. “The jail bill is an awful burden to the county.”
Taylor said ultimately, his goal as a county commissioner has been working toward a better quality of life so that people want to stay in the area.
“The main thing is we have to figure out a way to have a future here,” Taylor said. “One of the main reasons I wanted to run for county commission is because I was tired of the decline in the state. I don’t want to see my babies grow up and leave here. I don’t want to see my friends leave here. We have to figure out a way to provide a good life, a good quality of life for our people.”
Challenger Kirk lives in Lenore. He owns Kirk Trucking, which his family has operated for the past 42 years.
“Kirk Trucking in Lenore, it was my dad’s,” Kirk said. “He passed away in April, and I took over the trucking company.”
Kirk said he has never held an elected office but was raised volunteering and helping in the community any way he could. That upbringing is what inspired him to run for the commission seat.
“I have been involved in the community forever,” Kirk said. “Since I was a kid, my family has always helped through everything — all the flooding, the storms. We’ve been instrumental in doing whatever the county needs as far as from the schools to the kids to whatever is needed.”
Kirk said two major issues he sees facing the county is the litter problem and the cost of the jail bill on taxpayers.
“My main focus will be the trash, the litter problem and trying to get the jail bill down,” Kirk said. “We’re going to try to work on getting a transfer station here. The main goal is to get a transfer station in each municipality that we have throughout the county.”
Kirk said he would listen to needs and work across party lines to try to achieve what is best for the county.
“I want to try to surround myself with a lot of good people to help me throughout the term,” Kirk said. “I’m not looking for a pat on the back. I’m not looking to go and argue with everybody and fight all the time. I’m looking to move forward. At some point you would think, term after term, these people would work with each other because people in Washington are not going to work with us, and we’re not going to get much help from Charleston. If we don’t learn to take care of each other, we can never move forward.”
