PeADD 53rd Annual Dinner Meeting

Moving forward was the theme of the night at the Pennyrile Area Development District’s (PeADD) 53rd Annual Dinner Meeting held June 13, 2022, at The Bruce Convention Center in Hopkinsville, KY. The evening was sponsored by Planters Banks and under the chairmanship of Perry Newcom, PeADD Board Chair and Crittenden County Judge Executive. A crowd of local officials, legislators, business and civic leaders, and others from throughout the Pennyrile filled the room to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year and to prepare for future opportunities moving forward.

The PeADD Board Nominating Committee brought one new appointment, Verdell Smith of Christian County and four reappointments including Chris Phelps of Hopkins County, Crissy Carter of Livingston County, Rajiv Johar and Karen Robinson both of Muhlenberg County before the board. The appointments were unanimously decided.

Several awards were presented throughout the night begining with the PeADD Board Service Award given to Bernard Standard for 30 years of service as a member of board. Staff Service Awards were presented to Heather Meeks (5 years), Amy Frogue (20 years), and Sheila Clark (40 years) for their respective years of employment with PeADD.
 
Representative Jason Petrie received the inauguaral “Legislative Champ” award. This new accolade is presented to those who have gone above and beyond to assist us with carrying out the mission and services of the Area Development Districts. Representative Petrie was one of five representatives to receive this award across the state of Kentucky.

The final award bestowed was presented by Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman. The John C. Mahre Regionalism Award was given to the five Long-Term Recovery groups located in Caldwell, Christian, Hopkins, Lyon and Muhlenberg counties for their disaster recovery efforts that have taken place and will continue for the next several years.

Guest speaker, Doug Griffiths, a wildly popular community strategist and author of the famed book 13 Ways to Kill Your Community, gave the audience tips on how to grow (or not grow) your community.  Mr. Griffiths pointed out that sometimes it is easier to decifer what not to do than to decide what we should do in making long term decisions. He had the audience completely intrigued from beginning to end.  He made points that had many raising eyebrows and nodding relating his concepts to their own realities.
 
Jason Vincent, Executive Director of PeADD, presented the 2022 Annual Report and a video that provided statistics on many of the programs operated by PeADD. He also thanked the award winners again for their service and support to the Pennyrile region as well as regional congressional delegation and their representatives and members of the Kentucky General Assembly. Mr. Vincent concluded the night stating, “Let’s keep moving forward.”