Paul Finley has entered the race for Mayor of City of Madison. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Paul Finley has announced his candidacy for Mayor of Madison.

Finley served as mayor from 2008 to 2012.

“Madison is in desperate need of an engaged mayor. Our city has lost its focus on teamwork and communication,” Finley said.

“Our current mayor has shown no strategic plan forward for our next four years. We have a proven track record in all of these areas,” Finley said. “Our administration used a collaborative approach to problem-solving.”

“We worked hand in hand with the city council for positive outcomes. That has not happened with our current mayor,” Finley said.

“Mayor Trulock cares so little about Madison that he did not turn in a 2016-2017 budget,” Finley said. “When I was mayor, we took the responsibility of developing the city budget seriously.”

Finley defines Madison’s top threat as the Limestone County tax dispute. “Our track record in proactive engagement and leadership on the second high school threat in 2008 helped solve that problem, leading to building James Clemens in 2012. We’ll immediately engage our Madison City team to support Dr. Fowler and school board in obtaining funding that is rightfully ours.”

A second threat is “lack of strategic vision in the mayor’s office. Madison’s growth must be controlled and managed,” Finley said. “Our current mayor has given no game plan forward.”

“He (Trulock) ran on our platform in 2012. We were excited to have multiple projects (County Line/565, Old Madison Pike, Zierdt Road, Martin Road) already in process; it has been great to see those completed,” Finley said.

Finley earned a bachelor’s degree at Murray State University in Kentucky. He accepted a job in the Huntsville area in 1988 and moved to Madison in 1996 to benefit from strong schools.

He and wife Dr. Julie Finley own Paul Finley Consulting for strategic plan development, marketing outsourcing and professional development. The Finleys are natives of Owensboro, Ky.

Their sons are 23-year-old Tyler, graduate student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH); UAH sophomore Tanner, 20; and Kyle McCormick, 17, James Clemens senior.

The Finleys enjoy UAH basketball games and time at Weiss Lake.