2026 Kentucky General Election

Bruce FRALEY

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Buket Urgen

Bruce Fraley is seeking reelection to the office of Mayor, City of Berea. Voting for Mayor, City of Berea will be in the General Election on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. I respectfully ask for your vote and support.

Bruce Fraley, a Berea native, is an honors graduate of Berea Community High School, and a Cum Laude graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, with a dual major in Political Science and Sociology.

About

Bruce Fraley is a Berea native. He graduated from Berea Community High School and from Eastern Kentucky University with a dual major in political science and sociology.

Bruce Fraley, a Berea native, is an honors graduate of Berea Community High School, and a Cum Laude graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, with a dual major in Political Science and Sociology. He began a career in public service as a Cooperative Education student while an undergraduate, and served with the Social Security Administration for thirty four years, with the past twenty seven years experience as a District Manager. Fraley retired from federal service in September 2017, and sees his service as Mayor as a continuation of a successful career in public service.

Bruce Fraley retired from federal service after working as a district manager with the Social Security Administration. He began his public-service career as a Cooperative Education student while an undergraduate.

Fraley, a Berea native who grew up on Christmas Ridge, and attended EKU before going to work for the Social Security Administration where he retired a manager out of the Richmond Social Security Field Office, served on Berea City Council from 2017-2018. He won the election for mayor in 2018, taking that office in 2019 and holding it ever since.

Meet your mayor: Bruce Fraley sits down with The Edge

Bruce currently serves as mayor of Berea. He won election in 2018, took office in 2019, and has held the office since. He previously served on Berea City Council from 2017 to 2018.

As of October 6, 2026, Bruce FRALEY’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Education

“The City of Berea looks forward to working with Walmart’s team to move this project forward,” said Berea Mayor Bruce Fraley. “There are very few large tracts of available land inside the city limits that would meet the needs of our city’s largest retailer, and I am very happy that Berea College is willing to make part of its land available.”

“The City of Berea will continue to work with Walmart through the appropriate planning and zoning processes.”

Berea College, City of Berea Partnering to Support Walmart’s Desire to Remain in Berea

Supports smart growth that provides adequate housing while maintaining infrastructure.

I also hope to see smart growth raising the standard of living, raising average income levels, having adequate housing for people who want to live here, and maintaining our infrastructure. From roads, to water and sewer infrastructure, to electric infrastructure, doing everything we can to make things world class.

Plans to work with Walmart through planning and zoning processes for its Berea redevelopment project.

- Plans to work with Walmart through planning and zoning processes for its Berea redevelopment project.

Housing & Urban Development

• Making support for our City Police Department, Fire Department, and all city departments a priority.

• Advocating for Anti-Drug programs to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs in our community.

What I Stand For

• Making support for our City Police Department, Fire Department, and all city departments a priority.

• Advocating for Anti-Drug programs to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs in our community.

• Working cooperatively with our County and State Representatives on issues of mutual concern to grow our economy, to improve our infrastructure, and to address the needs of our citizens.

Prioritizes supporting the city police and fire departments.

Advocates for anti-drug programs to address illegal drugs in the community.

- Prioritizes supporting the city police and fire departments.
- Advocates for anti-drug programs to address illegal drugs in the community.

Public Safety

"I think we need to take a look at our reserves and see if we can use some of those to invest in an indoor recreation facility, hopefully close to our public school system—that will make for easy access," Fraley said, noting that an effort is already underway to collect feedback from relevant stakeholders about the best path forward to realizing that goal. "It's the number one thing we are doing," he said.

Fraley: new youth rec center is 'top priority' for his administration

Proposes using city reserves to invest in an indoor recreation facility near public schools.

- Proposes using city reserves to invest in an indoor recreation facility near public schools.

Public Services

TE: That begs the question of what do you need to do to bridge any gaps to that “world class service” you mention?

BF: Well, that’s a really broad question. There’s not just one gap. Is there one gap in particular — development is a big part of our quality of life. If you can raise the standard of living, you can have a positive impact on the quality of life. So that's one particular area.

But there are other things that are not as tangible such as infrastructure. The streets and roads — we have to maintain our own streets, but also work closely with the Kentucky transportation cabinet because we have so many state and county roads that run through Berea.

Plans for water and sewer infrastructure.

Water and sewer infrastructure are things that you don’t see, but you have to plan for. So when you talk about gaps, there are a lot of little gaps that kind of make up that whole quality of life that you have to focus on.

Plans to maintain city streets and coordinate with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet on state and county roads in Berea.

- Plans to maintain city streets and coordinate with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet on state and county roads in Berea.

Transportation & Infrastructure

One objective of the coming year, he said, will be to find similar incentives to bring new businesses to Berea.

“It’s actually a future goal – to secure some tax incentives for recruitment of retail, commercial, and small business,” Fraley said. “What we see at the state level is incentives at the state level for our industry, but not a whole lot for small business.”

Takeaways: Berea State of the City Address, 2026 – City of Berea, KY

• Encouraging economic growth and job creation.

→ Create an economic climate that encourages new businesses and entrepreneurship.

→ Encourage planning to support and keep our current industry.

→ Encourage fully utilizing the talent of our Industrial Development Authority and Economic Development Department.

While we had many hurdles to overcome along that two-year path, the governmental executives, Judge Covington, Mayor Gorton, Judge Taylor, and I, along with our key advisors, were committed to the concept of “regionalism” in economic development, and finding a way to get this done. I look forward to the next steps following today’s groundbreaking as our ultimate goals are to seat new industry in Central Kentucky, to create good paying, quality jobs, and to ultimately uplift our communities by creating economic opportunities for our people. We also need to thank our local legislative bodies, along with elected officials at both the state and federal level, who believed in this regional economic development effort, and have provided the funding needed to make this happen.

Officials from 3 counties break ground regional industrial park

Plans to seek tax incentives to attract retail, commercial, and small businesses.

Supports creating an economic climate that encourages new businesses and entrepreneurship.

Supports planning to retain existing industry and making full use of the Industrial Development Authority and Economic Development Department.

Supports regional industrial development to attract industry and create quality jobs.

- Plans to seek tax incentives to attract retail, commercial, and small businesses.
- Supports creating an economic climate that encourages new businesses and entrepreneurship.
- Supports planning to retain existing industry and making full use of the Industrial Development Authority and Economic Development Department.
- Supports regional industrial development to attract industry and create quality jobs.

Economy

Ricky CLONTZ

Troy LANE

- The duties of the mayor depend on the type of government within the city, 
- If the city has a mayor-council form of government, the mayor is responsible for the executive and administrative functions of the government. They oversee all city departments, but cannot vote in most council matters. 
- If the city has a mayor-aldermen form of government, the mayor is responsible for executing and enforcing local and state laws. The mayor may appoint city officials with approval from the aldermen. 
- If the city has a mayor-commission form of government, the mayor presides over the city commissioners and can vote within the commission. The mayor is responsible for executing all decisions reached by the commission. 
- If the city has a city manager form of government, the mayor presides over the city commissioners and can vote within the commission. The mayor is recognized as the head of the city department but does not have any regular administrative duties. 
- City mayors are elected during general elections for a four-year term. Most cities in Kentucky hold nonpartisan elections for mayor. 