LAFAYETTE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Although their population is only around 150 people, Lafayette Mayor Jared Thatcher continues to focus on community involvement and maintaining a small-town feel in the city he describes as a diamond in the rough.
Although Lafayette is small compared to surrounding cities, it wasn’t always that way. He shared that in the late 1800’s, it was actually a booming city.
“About 2,000 people lived here because it was a major throughway between Clarksville and Land Between the Lakes. When Fort Campbell came around it kind of stifled our community as it’s built all around us,” said Thatcher. “I see about three to four separate generations here. Some are still building their families, and some are selling their homes.”
Thatcher’s decision to run for mayor stemmed from his observations during city council meetings where crucial topics were consistently postponed. Motivated by the welfare of his own two young daughters and the approximately 15 to 20 other children in the community, Thatcher resolved to make the city a better place to live.
Aside from his duties as mayor, Mayor Thatcher and his wife Kylee own a knife making business, train hunting dogs, and operate a vineyard. “While those kids are here, I wanted to make it a fun, safe, and exciting place,” Thatcher said.
Community involvement
“I let people roll with what they want to do,” said Thatcher when talking about the growing community events. The small city holds several recurring events including their Christmas parade, Halloween contest, and movies in the park. Thatcher explained these events are important to the kids, and is a community effort. Plus, he is always looking for inspiration from residents for new ideas.
He gives a lot of credit to his council commissioners for spearheading events including Tim Hancock, Brandon Bourneman, Sandy Torres, and Norma Banks.
When Thatcher initially assumed office, he prioritized several agenda items, such as introducing broadband internet to the town, allocating funds for the city park, and focusing on the improvement of the historical city cemetery. Currently, there is a group of prior citizens of Lafayette that are putting together a non-profit to gather money to use towards maintaining the cemetery.
“Maintaining the cemetery takes a chunk of the city’s budget,” Thatcher explained. “If it doesn’t have to come out of our budget and we use this non-profit instead we can allocate money towards other things…So many people from this town are there and are going to be there.”
Overall, Mayor Thatcher believes Lafayette is a great community that provides that small town feel people are looking for. Keep up with city events on the City of Lafayette Facebook page.
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