Newly elected Fentress County Executive Jacob Rosenbaum preparing to transition into his new role with a focus on implementing ways to manage the area’s recent economic expansion.
Rosenbaum said the community must engage in a strategic planning process to address the challenges of rapid development. Rosenbaum said the county has experienced record-setting growth over the last few years that the local government was not fully prepared to handle.
“You’re never going to be prepared for everything, but the, the time to do some, some long-term planning is, is well at hand,” Rosenbaum said. “And that’s where we start, but I’m going to have to get to know my, my team, I’m going to have to have, meetings with the, the directors of the various county departments.”
Rosenbaum said his professional background includes serving as the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce for four years and leading the Industrial Development Board. Rosenbaum said he also worked as the editor of the Fentress Courier newspaper, where he covered hundreds of public meetings as a journalist.
“So coming from, observing this ecosystem of local government, then to sort of getting off the bench and being a, a player in that and helping to work on grants or working with county and city government,” Rosenbaum said. “Uh, it’s definitely, I, I believe it gave me ideal experience for this role and that’s why I ran.”
Rosenbaum said he intends to build upon the work of his predecessor, Jimmy Johnson, who has served as the county’s advocate. Rosenbaum said he has a high level of respect for the outgoing executive and considers him a friend.
“County Executive Jimmy Johnson has done an outstanding job, he’s done a great job and, uh, he’s gotten a lot of things for Fentress County,” Rosenbaum said. “He’s been a great advocate for Fentress County and, we’ll definitely have some, some big shoes to fill.”
Rosenbaum said the election results were humbling after he received more than 3,200 votes in the general election. Rosenbaum said the campaign saw a strong initial showing during the Republican primary before nearly doubling those vote totals during the final tally.
“It’s a humbling experience to find out that even a single person believes that you are worthy of their vote, you know, your vote is something that I believe is sacred to each individual and, uh, for people to honor you with that is, is really incredible,” Rosenbaum said. “But we’ve had a great turnout, we had a, a really good campaign, a lot of people came on board early.”
Rosenbaum said he plans to officially begin his duties and meet with department heads in September.
