Mayor George Bray is releasing a series of City Profile episodes in which he talks with members of the Paducah Board of Commissioners. On this City Profile episode, Mayor Bray interviews City Commissioner Robert Buz Smith who has served on Paducah’s City Commission since 2023; however, Smith previously served on the Commission for six terms with two of those terms as Mayor Pro Tem.
Commissioner Smith, a Paducah native, has a family history goes back six generations in Paducah and includes a grandfather, George Thomas, who also served on Paducah’s City Commission. Furthermore, Commissioner Smith is Mayor Bray’s first cousin. Commissioner Smith’s business experience is from more than two decades at U.S. Food Service and then a tenure with the Department of Energy.
“I’ve got a bias for action,” said Commissioner Smith. “I like to get things done, and I think some of that comes out of the business world. I’m a big proponent of running the city like a business. The city isn’t a business, but you can measure resident satisfaction on things that show if you’re spending money in the right areas.”
Commissioner Smith said he enjoys working with the various personalities on the Paducah Board of Commissioners.
“We complement each other,” said Commissioner Smith. “I think it's important that as a commissioner, I listen to what everyone has to say. However, I'm certainly going to advocate for things that I believe in and in ways to do things. No one runs for this office saying I want to make Paducah worse off. So, we all have the same goals.”
In this 26-minute episode, Mayor Bray and Commissioner Smith discuss a variety of topics including the importance of increasing Paducah’s housing stock as outlined in the recently approved City-County Comprehensive Plan, incentivizing development on the Southside, and developing the site of the former Katterjohn building.
In addition to airing on Government 11 (for Comcast subscribers), the episode also is online at paducahky.gov and the various social media outlets for the City of Paducah including Youtube and Facebook. Visit the City’s Youtube channel (paducahkygov) and become a subscriber to be notified of new videos.
City Profile is produced through the television production facilities at West Kentucky Community and Technical College.
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Pictured left to right: Commissioner Buz Smith and Mayor George Bray at the WKCTC television studio during the recording of City Profile.
