Teacher runs to expand youth opportunities

A long­time school­teacher wants to be a Winchester city com­mis­sion­er to pro­vide more recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for youth, as well as bet­ter jobs and afford­able hous­ing for young adults.

Tim Cornett has been a teacher for 22 years, with the last nine being at George Rogers Clark High School. He was also an assis­tant boys bas­ket­ball coach at Berea Community High School and has served on sev­er­al com­mit­tees in pub­lic school sys­tems, so he believes he has a good idea what young peo­ple want and need.

This is his first polit­i­cal race.

“The rea­son I decid­ed to run for city com­mis­sion­er was the need for recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for our youth in Winchester and Clark County,” he said in a can­di­date survey.

He said the num­ber one com­plaint he hears from stu­dents, includ­ing his 16-year-old daugh­ter, Ally, is that there is “noth­ing to do here out­side of school and sports.”

There is no bowl­ing alley, no out­door swim­ming pool, no skat­ing rink, no arcade.

“All the bor­der­ing coun­ties around us have those things and more,” he said, and to enjoy them, those from Clark County have to trav­el out of our community.

“Kids need more pos­i­tive envi­ron­ments to get involved in. If those things are not avail­able, many times it leads to neg­a­tive out­comes,” he said. “It’s been my expe­ri­ence in work­ing with kids that they are going to find things to occu­py their time one way or anoth­er. As a par­ent, I’d much rather it be a safe, con­trolled environment.”

Another pos­i­tive out­come of pro­vid­ing those things, he said, is that they would pro­vide job oppor­tu­ni­ties for teens, such as life­guard posi­tions at the pool or staff at oth­er recre­ation­al facilities.

Other than the need for greater oppor­tu­ni­ties for youth, Cornett said, Winchester’s great­est needs are for more good-pay­ing, sus­tain­able jobs and afford­able hous­ing options.

Industry will not locate in a com­mu­ni­ty with­out good infra­struc­ture and qual­i­ty employ­ees, he said.

“I believe our school sys­tem and our BCTC Winchester cam­pus can do a great job of pro­vid­ing train­ing and work-ready employ­ees. But we need to make sure our infra­struc­ture is good enough to pro­vide for growth,” he said.

Cornett said that if peo­ple can­not afford hous­ing in Winchester, they will relo­cate to places where they can afford to live.

“All these things — from recre­ation to jobs to afford­able hous­ing options — must come from all pub­lic offi­cials, no mat­ter their polit­i­cal par­ty, work­ing togeth­er from Washington to Winchester to pro­vide grants and support.

“But we can­not for­get about the back­bone of any com­mu­ni­ty: our local­ly owned busi­ness­es. We must pro­vide sup­port and resources to them as well,” he said.

Cornett, 53, was born and raised in Knott County in south­east­ern Kentucky and moved to Winchester in 2007. He has been mar­ried for 29 years to his wife, Heather, who is the lead car­dio­vas­cu­lar tech at Baptist Health Hamburg in Lexington. Their daugh­ter, Ally, is a sopho­more at GRC.

The can­di­date grad­u­at­ed from Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in his­to­ry teach­ing and also stud­ied eco­nom­ics and finance.

“I’m not a politi­cian, just a hus­band, dad, edu­ca­tor, and friend that wants to ensure our great­est resource we have — our young peo­ple — have a great com­mu­ni­ty to call home and raise their fam­i­lies in,” he said. “No one has a loud­er voice for that than me.”

Cornett is one of 10 at-large can­di­dates for the non­par­ti­san Winchester Board of Commissioners.