Doug Farnsley defeated opponent Sandra Leonard by significant margins in Oldham and Jefferson Counties to become the new mayor of Prospect.
Farnsley, who serves alongside Leonard on the Prospect City Council, received 28 votes (75.68%) in Oldham County. Leonard received nine votes for 24.32%
In Jefferson County, Farnsley received 1,664 votes (64.42%) and Leonard received 919 votes (35.78%).
A Louisville native who spent his high school years in Washington, Farnsley graduated from the University of North Carolina on a Morehead-Cain scholarship. He returned to Louisville to graduate from the Brandeis School of Law in 1976. From there he attained a Master’s Degree in Legal History at the University of Wisconsin. He worked as a clerk for a federal judge and later as a medical malpractice lawyer and general counsel for a law firm. Farnsley also served as President of the Kentucky Bar Association. During his campaign, he ranked parks, public safety and increased walkability as his focal points for the city of Prospect.
Farnsley provided a personal anecdote to recap his election experience and vision for the future of the city.
“Here is a little story that provides a good summary of my campaign and of the type of mayor I will be,” he wrote. “At 9:30 on election eve, a young lady sent an email telling me that earlier in the day her five-year-old son had asked her what it meant to be a mayor.
She explained to her son that mayors do things like deciding to build a playground. At first her son said that his mom should be mayor, but she said that being mayor was a lot of work and that she didn’t have time. So then her son said that we need a mayor for the kids. She went on to write that she and her husband would be voting for me to be mayor for the kids. She also wrote that they look forward to playing on Prospect’s new playground and perhaps one day walking on a new sidewalk “all the way to Dairy Queen.”
He continued:
“I will work to be a mayor for kids and their families, to ensure that the mother who wrote to me and her family are safe, that we have wonderful parks and that we have more sidewalks so that our families can safely walk to visit friends and to enjoy a visit to Dairy Queen.
To conclude, Farnsley recapped his three key campaign points.
“First and foremost, I support our police and am committed to keeping our city safe,” he said. “Second, we have terrific parks, and I will encourage our council to invest in further improvements to those parks. Third, I will strive to improve walkability and connectivity in the city.”