Members of the Graves County community gathered Monday night in the Mayfield High School gymnasium to share their thoughts on what the city should prioritize in the process of rebuilding after the devastating December tornado outbreak.
Upon arrival, attendees were given sticky notes and pens and encouraged to write down what they thought the community needs as it rebuilds. People then placed those sticky notes on poster board under categories, including utilities/transportation, health and welfare, rebuild and one called “Parking Lot” where Mayfield Mayor Kathy O’Nan encouraged people to put ideas they had but weren’t sure where they went.
“I hope to get a lot of ideas. I don't care if they are only one person [who] has one idea that nobody else has in here,” O’Nan said. “We want to get it recorded on a sticky note so that we can get all the sticky notes back and compile them into a list of projects.”
The hope is that the lists will lead to committees for community members to get involved in as projects get planned and funded. O’Nan said this is patterned after community planning done in places like Joplin, Missouri, after a tornado rocked the town in 2011.
The mayor’s personal hope is for more green spaces and walkable areas to be built in downtown Mayfield during the recovery process.
Lots of local officials were in attendance Monday night, including Mayfield City Council Member Derrick Parrott. He said he came to the event because he wanted to hear and see what the city wanted from its recovery.
“I think it's important just for everyone that wants to be a part of it [to] make sure that they're involved, and their ideas are heard and seen,” Parrott said.
Parrott said that aside from the loss of life, one of the biggest losses the community faced was to the housing and small businesses in the area.
“I just want to be a voice for the people, make sure that the underrepresented, the ones who feel like they don't [have a voice], have [one],” Parrott said. “Most importantly, I want to be a voice for those [people] to make sure that they're heard when their ideas are shared because they’re part of this community and I just think it's important that they have input.”
Mayfield realtor and auctioneer Buck Shelton hoped the meeting would generate some ideas to retain the city’s population after the rebuild.
“I'm looking for our community to find a way to retain our youth,” Shelton said. “As it was, even before the tornado, we were having a problem with our youth not having a draw to keep them here.”
One of his ideas was for the city to buy up some of the damaged land and turn it into a space for a flea market or a farmer’s market.
“There's a lot of local agriculture here and we need to focus on what we do have currently so that we can build off of that,” Sheldon said. “With a flea market or a farmer's market, we have all the Amish in the area and that brings tourists, and that brings more commerce and people will start buying stuff at the restaurants and gas and whatever else and it just builds.”
Mayfield High School sophomore MattiClaire Wheeler thinks one of the biggest losses for the city was the historic pride in the area. She’s hoping the recovery efforts can address that.
“We can definitely gain that back, especially through meetings like this,” Wheeler said. “Just getting everyone back involved in our community is such a big impact and it's going to help all the generations to come that will live here.”
One thing Wheeler wrote down was that, while buildings don’t have to be rebuilt in the exact way they were before they were destroyed, she does think they should replicate the old buildings to help restore some of the “Mayfield pride” that was in the community’s character. She also hopes to be involved in the education committee as things move forward.
“I just want the town to make sure that it has [younger people’s] ideas since we'll be the ones living here in the future,” Wheeler said.
The next community meeting will be held on April 12 in the Mayfield High School gymnasium.
