Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White, Jr., has been elected to serve as president of the Kentucky County Judge-Executive Association (KCJEA).
White was elected to serve in that role by other county judge-executives throughout the state. He was sworn in last week by Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell in Frankfort.
The KCJEA is the organization that represents the state’s county judge-executives and helps lobby and campaign for issues that impact them and their work in their respective counties. According to the KCJEA website, the association seeks to provide “a single source of cooperative support and information for all county judge/executives” and “to work for the improvement of county government” through legislative representation, general research and training.
White said that he considers it a privilege to be elected as the association’s president.
“I think it’s an honor to have the judges from throughout the state to recognize you as a person that would be a good fit to serve in a leadership role for that organization,” said White. “It’s quite an honor and I’m very pleased to serve in that role.”
Todd Ruckel, KCJEA’s executive director, also provided the News Journal with a statement regarding White’s new role.
“KCJEA is very fortunate to have someone with the integrity and experience to lead our group.
Judge White has done a tremendous job for Whitley County and we look forward to his continued leadership for our association,” said Ruckel.
Ruckel was also able to confirm that White is the first-ever judge-executive from Whitley County to be elected as president of the association.
As the KCJEA president, White will be responsible for organizing and chairing a number of training conferences for judge/executives across Kentucky and could get the opportunity to testify on behalf of the state’s judge-executives during various committee hearings at the next meeting of the General Assembly in 2025.
Additionally, White will get to host the KCJEA’s yearly retreat, which a majority of the association’s members attend. White said that he has already working with Cumberland Falls State Part Resort to hold the retreat at their facilities.
White had previously served as part of the KCJEA’s executive committee for approximately a decade in various other roles, including vice president, though being elected president also affords him the opportunity to remain on the executive committee as a permanent member as long as he retains his seat as judge/executive.
