The Corbin Rotary Club held its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 23 with guest speaker Corbin Assistant City Manager Jacob Roan, who shared project and community updates, as well as information on upcoming city events.
Roan has served in several roles in the city, including parks and recreation director, downtown coordinator, and grant writer.
“At the end of the month, believe it or not, will be two years since I’ve been in Corbin,” said Roan. “Each time I am here, I’m wearing a different hat.”
Roan discussed updates on various parks in the area.
There will be a new playground at the Engineer Street Bridge for ages 2-5. The project is expected to be completed this spring and will cost $250,000.
“We have been awarded $125,000 from the federal government through the Land and Water Conservation Fund,” said Roan. “We are expecting a $120,000 match from the state through House Bill 723 funds that will leave us with a $5,000 price tag on that park there, so that’s great.”
Also, funding has been secured to replace the Corbin Civic Center roof, and that is expected to happen in the spring. Additionally, the soccer field at the Civic Center will have sunshades that are planned to go up in the next couple of weeks. They are also working on a new building for storage and concessions, as well as a bathroom.
Roan has plans to address the vandalism at Rotary Park, stating that they’ve installed a camera and that police will be patrolling more often.
“We currently don’t have the funding, but we are searching for the funding,” said Roan. “We are going to be removing some equipment this winter. Some of that’s broken, and we’re looking to replace that.”
Roan shared that he wants the youth to take pride in their community and is looking into ways for kids to take ownership of the parks, such as volunteer hours or putting in work.
Roan shared that the City Pool has a new pool manager. The pool will have earlier opening hours, starting possibly as early as 5:30 a.m. or 6 a.m., according to Roan.
“We’ve had a lot of requests for people, prior to work, to come in and exercise in the morning,” said Roan.
Miller Park is expected to see increased use from travel teams after renovations and remodels.
“We just had a travel tournament two weekends ago,” said Roan. “This is the first time that we’ve allowed an outside group to come in and do a travel tournament. So we’re looking to do more of those, especially next fall.”
Regarding downtown Corbin and city development, Nibroc Park will have lights installed.
The Witches Walk event in Downtown Corbin was deemed successful by Roan.
“This is the second year. We plan to do it again next year and keep building on what we have,” said Roan.
The Entertainment Destination Center (EDC) has been a topic of discussion, along with some confusion in the community.
“This is a license that allows you to carry an alcoholic beverage out of one restaurant into the EDC, which is outside if there’s music, a live concert,” said Roan. “You can carry that drink into shops that allow you to, so you can go into the alley and shop with a glass of wine. We look to add some sip-and-shop events for folks a few times next summer.”
Downtown trick-or-treating will be Oct. 31 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. with several businesses participating. Nibroc Park, Sanders Park, the Farmers Market, and City Hall parking lot are all available for anyone who’s not located on Main Street and wants to set up there.
“We do not reserve spaces for people, and we also don’t assign spaces,” said Roan.
Roan informed that they will close Main Street as late as possible before it starts and will ensure school traffic gets through. Residential hours are 6 – 8 p.m. that evening.
Christmas Open House is Nov. 23 from 2 – 5 p.m.
The event will feature Santa and a station where kids can send letters to Santa.
The Evergreen Artisan Market, put together by the Cumberland Arts Collective, will be at Harveys Dec. 4 – 6. The event will feature over 40 vendors and local artwork for purchase.
The Christmas parade will be on Dec. 6 in Downtown Corbin.
“I think we have 15 units right now, which is good for this time, but we’re still over a month out,” said Roan. “If anyone is interested, I would love to see more floats, bands, anything of that nature.”
The Christmas Pub Crawl, with a Christmas pajama theme, will be on Dec. 11.
Roan discussed the condition of the roads, giving credit to City Manager Scott Williamson for bringing transportation cabinet funds to Corbin to improve them.
A Rotarian asked about Kentucky Street, and Roan shared that we should see some news in the spring.
Roan also shared that the Senior Citizen Center was still being renovated.
“We had received a community development block grant for $390,000,” Roan said. “We will receive $36,000 match from the state, which will leave Corbin with somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 price tag, but that’s going to include a new kitchen, counter, and flooring.”
This project is expected to be completed in the spring.
In Rotary Club business, club member Joe Caldwell shared that the Southeast Kentucky Empty Stocking Club recently received a $1,000 contribution.
Club members were reminded about the Senior Citizen Thanksgiving meal on Nov. 20, during which they were asked to contribute items for goody bags.
Next week’s guest speaker on Oct. 30 is Dr. Mustafa, an Interventional Cardiologist, from St. Joseph’s Hospital in London.
