Preceded by Robert L. Miller Religion Southern Baptist Occupation Businessman | Political party Democratic Succeeded by Brenda Allen Name Paul Osborne | |
Residence Campbellsville, Kentucky | ||
Paul Edward Osborne (born 1939) is a realtor who served as the mayor of Campbellsville in Taylor County in central Kentucky from 1999 to 2002.
Osborne first came to Campbellsville as a mathematics instructor at Southern Baptist-affiliated Campbellsville College. A Democrat, Osborne unseated the 33-year-incumbent Republican Robert L. Miller in the election held on November 2, 1998. Municipal offices in Campbellsville are elected on a nonpartisan basis. At the time of Osborne's election, the Fruit of the Loom plant, the largest employer in Taylor County, was closing its operations after forty-six years. Amazon.com later moved into Campbellsville to fill part of the large void in employment there.
Osborne noted that Fruit of the Loom had signaled a decade before its closing that it might eventually move to Latin America. However, because of the long-term stable employment in Taylor County, local officials were caught off-guard. Not long after the underwear plant ceased operations, the Indiana-based Batesville Casket Company also closed its Campbellsville operations. Amid the economic readjustment, Campbellsville had to re-tool its industrial recruitment efforts. In October 1998, a month before Osborne's election as mayor, the city and county governments formed the Team Taylor County Industrial Development Authority, usually known as Team Taylor County, and established a strategy to recruit manufacturing, service, and distribution businesses to Campbellsville. The Taylor County assets included (1) location and accessibility to domestic and Canadian markets, (2) an abundant work force, (3) sound infrastructure, (4) the low cost of conducting business, (5) state financial incentives for business growth, and (6) available education and training opportunities through Campbellsville University, which among other studies offers a Master of Business Administration program. Beginning with Amazon.com in 1999, ten other companies soon located or relocated to Taylor County.
Osborne did not seek a second term in 2002 and was succeeded by the city's first female mayor, Brenda Allen. He is co-owner of Osborne-Humphress Real Estate.
Osborne is a member of the Campbellsville University Board of Trustees. A member of the Campbellsville City Council, Osborne was a candidate for re-election in the general election held on November 4, 2014.
Over an extended period of time, Osborne wrote essays of his lifetime memories primarily for the benefit of his grandchildren. In 2016, the expanded collection of essays was released as a book, A Mayor's Diary, which examines both personal and business matters. Osborne recalls that when he took office as mayor, Taylor County had a 26 percent unemployment rate: "People will be surprised about what happened once I took office. I found some issues and I addressed them." Osborne describes his book as "factual" and free of negativity.