Kathy Lawson is hoping to retain her seat on Martinsville City Council. She has been a longtime supporter of the city, has actively worked to improve it, and she’s not done.
Lawson, 70, currently works as a personal lines manager for Burton & Company Insurance. She also has a long list of volunteer activities, including being on the investment review board of the Martinsville Henry County Sector of the United Way, is the current president of Christmas Cheer, and serves as a board member at the Southside Survivor Response Center.
Lawson has previously been working with the council to improve the infrastructure of uptown and will continue to do so if reelected.
“I recently suggested putting aside funds to modernize homes to be more energy efficient,” she said, and also is exploring ways to alert citizens to utility complications.
“The city has been behind the times,” she said, stating that there are steps that can be taken to improve communication in the city. “We can do anything that any other community can do.
“My focus for Martinsville has always been making this a great place for our citizens to live, work, and raise their families,” Lawson said, adding that she has made sure that all citizens’ voices are heard as she focuses on improving quality of life.
She praised the Martinsville Police Department, noting that “all of our crime statistics are down,” respects for Police Chief Rob Fincher, and said, “we pretty much have an open door discussion with one another, I’ve known him forever and I can just be perfectly frank with him.”
As for the school system, Lawson currently has several family members attending school. She feels that “supporting our children to ensure they have quality education is of utmost importance.”
Lawson said she believes that youth should be given a platform to grow to “provide them the stepping stones to be successful adults.”
During her previous term, Lawson supported reversion, but her views have since changed. “Reversion, if you go back to 2018 and 2019 and look at the city’s finances, if you see the opportunities that weren’t really there, it was the right thing to do.
“Then, when COVID hit, our community saw an influx of millions of dollars, millions of dollars that gave us opportunity,” Lawson said, and now, reversion doesn’t make sense because the city is in a much better financial position.
“I think we have things in place now that’s going to bring more people to the Uptown area,” she said, adding that she has been impressed by Uptown’s progress over the past few years, and the fact that “we have an opportunity to grow in many different dimensions.”
Lawson said she supports business growth. Supporting our local businesses is also a priority for our community to grow,” and believes that businesses provide quality services to residents while helping to attract and retain a healthy population.
“We have the opportunity to build houses that we haven’t had in many years,” Lawson said, adding that she hopes Habitat for Humanity would once again become active in the area. “I’m really hoping we can get our foot in the door with that again.”
If Lawson loses the November contest, she said she is determined to keep working for the city and for charities like Christmas Cheer.
“I love helping people, and as long as God continues to give me health, and I have the ability to do so, I will continue to do so,” Lawson said.
Meanwhile, she encourages voters “to look at the facts. I serve with honesty and integrity, and my goal is to better serve our citizens and businesses to make this a greater than it already is, and to be able to grow.”
She wishes her competitors well.
“I wish everyone luck,” Lawson said. “It is an opportunity to serve. Be warned and understand that it can be thankless. There are people that won’t understand where you are coming from. You have to open your eyes and listen to what they are saying.”
