MAYOR

Ruckel was sworn in as mayor Monday during Vanceburg City Council meeting and spent the rest of a busy week learning the details of the mayoral position, taking notes, spinning plans and setting priorities.

Among those priorities: establishing a plan to get every road within the city limits paved within the next four years, improving communication in the county and specifically downtown Vanceburg where cell service is notoriously sketchy and pursuing a defunct Renaissance Streetscape project for the downtown area.

"Our communication has got to get better, not just for personal but for business opportunities," Ruckel said.

While the city cannot itself build cell towers, Ruckel said he will make phone calls and do what he can to persuade companies to build towers locally.

The Renaissance Streetscape project targeted Main Street previously. The goal was to get utilities placed underground. Ruckel wants to revisit the project to see what funding could be available to continue Renaissance Streetscape for other areas of the city.

Ruckel has an idea for a partnership with the Lewis County Boys and Girls Club still in its initial stages. Ruckel said part of the plan is to pursue getting a permanent location for the club, which now rents a local church building, and establishing recreational facilities for the club and the use of the community.

With his plans, Ruckel must keep track of current projects as well. Ruckel said funding has been secured for the first phase of a Safe Routes to School project that will allow for new sidewalks from the intersection of Kentucky 59 and Kentucky 8 to Central Elementary School and from Central to McCann's Auto Sales located on Kentucky 59 and Shelton Drive intersection. He plans to immediately begin pursuing funding for phase two of that project.

Vanceburg is under an agreed order with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the city's combined sewer overflow and sanitary sewer overflow issues and Ruckel said progress must continue with that project. The new mayor said the issues with the CSO and SSO are some of the biggest challenges for the city. The city has some funding for the multi-million project, but more funding needs to be secured.

Through it all, Ruckel said a focus must be maintained on providing updated equipment for fire and police departments.

Ruckel is a "numbers person," with some college work in math, so he is particularly excited to look into the city budget. Ruckel said he will examine the budget to see where excessive and wasteful spending can be curbed and the funds used for some other projects, such as paving the streets.

Ruckel is a 1990 graduate of Lewis County High School. He took some college courses majoring in math at Maysville Community and Technical College but left before completing his degree. He has worked in insurance for 16 years.

Ruckel previously served as magistrate for the county, but did not run after his first term, instead running for property valuation administrator because of the numbers aspect of the position. Ruckel was not successful in his bid for PVA but his love for his city and county and his desire to be involved in politics prompted him to run for mayor, he said.