The Spirit Of Kingsport

Initially chartered in 1917, Kingsport was the first city with a modern urban design and among the first municipalities with a city manager form of government and a school system built on a model developed at Columbia University. Kingsport, 'the Model City', has become known known as a progressive and orderly community.

For many years Kingsport enjoyed great industrial and economic growth, due largely to visionary leadership from business entrepreneurs. Photographic pioneer George Eastman, of Eastman Kodak, purchased a wood distillation plant (now Eastman Chemical Co.) in 1920 to produce methanol for Kodak's photographic base. Kingsport also became the home of several other large industries, including the Kingsport Press (now Quebecor), the world's largest Bible manufacturer; Holliston Mills, which produced cloth needed for the Press' books; Mead Paper Company (now Weyerhauser ), which produced paper for the Kingsport Press; and American St. Gobain (now AFG), one of the world's leading glass manufacturers. With such a large industrial base, Kingsport and its residents enjoy a comfortable standard of living.

Honors have been awarded to the Director of Parks and Recreation, Public Works Director, Outstanding Middle School Principal. We have also received national accreditation for Police department, consistently high rankings for schools, international awards for public information productions, decreased insurance rate for rapid emergency response time.

Kingsport has been named an "All-American City and Community" finalist for two years, and in 1999, as part of the Tri-Cities region, an "All-American City" by the National Civic League.

Kingsport has received the distinguished budget presentation award from the government financial officers association of the United States and Canada.

The twice a month "listening post" program allows the citizens of our community to be heard by the elected officials and staff on an informal unstructured basis.

The board of mayor and aldermen meetings are televised in an effort to enhance community awareness of the "business" side of local government.

The Kingsport Police Department in cooperation with the Kingsport Housing Authority has established police substations in several area housing projects. These sub-stations have helped reduce crime rates in these communities while enhancing the level of trust in the Kingsport Police Department.

The Kingsport Citizens Advisory Committee routinely surveys the residents of our community to determine their satisfaction with the services provided by the City of Kingsport. (no! We don't always get perfect scores, but the level of satisfaction is well above average.) The survey process also allows us to identify the "rising" needs and issues in our community.

The Kingsport Fire Department has instituted a "first responder" program. In the 1995 calendar year 19 citizens of Kingsport lived to see 1996 because of the efforts of our fire department's paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

The City of Kingsport has enacted a comprehensive sewer use ordinance that allows us to recognize and assist the environmental protection efforts of businesses, individuals, and institutions who are served by our waste water collection system.

The Greenbelt, a unique linear park system, allows citizens of all ages and abilities enjoy outdoor activities and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

Bays Mountain Park and Nature Preserve (a 3,000 acre city park atop Bays Mountain) serves as a year round educational and recreational opportunity for residents as well as school systems throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

Kingsport Residents' Information System (K.R.I.S.) allows remote access to water/sewer billing as well as property tax information. K.R.I.S. can be accessed from home computers. See the City Services page on this server for more information.

Kingsport's annual contribution to the "arts enrichment re-granting program" allows the residents of our community to enjoy a large number of cultural activities from art shows to concerts and plays.

Hunter W. Wright stadium opened in the spring of 1995. The stadium serves as the "home base" for the Appalachian League Kingsport Mets baseball team. The stadium will seat in excess of 45,000 baseball.

The MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center (a 200 room deluxe hotel; 55,000+ square foot meeting, convention, and civic center; and championship par 71, 18 hole, 6,800 yard golf course) is now complete. This 50 million dollar project is the product of a unique joint partnership between the city of Kingsport, the State of Tennessee, local private industries, businesses, and financial institutions.

Community Efforts

City officials look to non-government organizations to lead civic efforts when possible:
the Chamber Of Commerce operates Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau, Clean Kingsport, and Funfest. The Chamber also conducts Leadership Kingsport and SHOUT! youth leadership program, training over 500 community leaders since 1983.
First Night and Sister City are volunteer programs under Kingsport Tomorrow.
The Downtown Kingsport Association conducts historic preservation and downtown revitalization efforts.

Volunteerism and Philanthropy:

• Thousands of volunteers organize and support Funfest, First Night, Clean Kingsport events, Habitat for Humanity, food banks and community kitchens, Friends in Need Health Center, Girls, Inc., Boys and Girls Club, scouting and recreational athletic programs, and Volunteer Kingsport places an average of 430 new volunteers annually.
• Local businesses provide significant human, financial and material support to projects throughout the region, balancing the lack of a community foundation.
• United Way of Greater Kingsport has raised over $2 million annually for the past 5 years to support human services agencies in the region.

Today Kingsport is facing its challenges with the strengths which led to earlier successes: a focus on planning for the future, a strong tradition of citizen volunteers, collaboration between all community organizations, and mobilization of local resources. Kingsport Tomorrow, and the agencies of United Way of Greater Kingsport provide open and effective means of including many grassroots volunteers in planning and implementation. The leadership and support of business and governmental officials has allowed citizens to determine needs and allocate resources effectively. The number of volunteers in community projects continues to grow, and neighborhoods are organizing residents to address issues of concern.

Kingsport "the best place to be!" (and why)

The board of mayor and aldermen and the city staff, working as a team, have developed a long-range strategic plan. The strategic plan's implementation is governed by ten (10) goals that support our mission of being the best place to be. The goals are:

1. Provide adequate infrastructure.
2. Provide for controlled growth.
3. Improve our commitment to service.
4. Improve communications (externally and internally),
5. Improve employee development and job satisfaction
6. Strengthen economic development opportunities.
7. Improve the city's financial position.
8. Continuously improve Kingsport's quality of life.
9. Improve administrative procedures.
10. Improve intergovernmental relations.