Crane Hill resident Kristi Creel Bain has announced that she is running for the District 4 associate commissioner’s seat on the Cullman County Commission.

A native of north Jefferson County before relocating with her family to Cullman County, Kristi is married to Michael Bain and has two children: Ethan, 21; and Jaxon, 9. She is a graduate of Gardendale High School, Jefferson State Community College, Athens State University, and The University of Alabama. She also holds certifications from the University of Alabama in Leadership and Occupational Safety, and from Auburn University in Intensive Economic Development. She is a licensed builder in the State of Alabama and certified in numerous areas as a Train the Trainer.

Kristi was a career technical teacher for 15 years, and has an extensive background in education and workforce development. She joined the staff of Wallace State Community College to teach Engineering Technologies and work with Dual Enrollment students, and later shifted to become a technical coordinator for the Alabama Community College System office in Montgomery. While in that role, Bain worked with all community colleges statewide in career technical areas, and did a review of all technical training in state incarceration locations.

In 2017, Bain accepted a position in Selma with Wallace Community College Selma as director of workforce solutions. In that role, she helped to coordinate the roles of the college, industry, and local schools to benefit the area the college serves. In March of 2018 she transitioned in her position as assistant director for North Alabama for AIDT (Alabama Industrial Development Training) under the state department of commerce. She is responsible for the management of all AIDT services in the northern Alabama region as well as overseeing the operations of the Alabama Robotics Training Park. She helps with recruitment of industries to north Alabama and management of numerous budgets related to projects incentivized by AIDT for workforce needs.

Kristi serves with numerous civic and volunteer committees to help promote self-growth and assistance in educating for the needs of workforce skills and opportunities.

“If elected to serve as commissioner for District 4, I will work with my other commissioners and local leaders to make this county the best it can be,” said Bain in a statement.

“This area is stupendous for attracting many as myself to relocate here to raise their families. I have worked for the last few years in my role with local leaders and economic developers to make sure the companies in Cullman County utilize all resources available to them. I will make sure more realize the phenomenal opportunities here to not only raise their families, but to bring their manufacturing, IT and data centers to the area. I will assist to make sure we do all possible for new entrepreneurs to recognize this as an amazing area for their new startups. I will keep pushing for additions to our healthcare resources here with the regional hospital.

“I can do all of this while protecting our existing industries and the respectful agricultural land owners, companies and resources we in Cullman are known for — from our astounding recreational venues to our marvelous small businesses we all treasure. Cullman County has, no question, so much to offer. We should be locating all avenues of revenue we have available for the taking. We have unbelievable schools and technical programs while housing a gem of a community college within our county limits. We need more jobs to keep our youth here for employment and cut down the amount of people leaving every day to work in other areas. We need to increase our attractions for our young adults to remain after graduating or to ensure their desire to return to Cullman County upon seeking education elsewhere. We need to provide services for our senior population to be taken care of and enable them to have all resources needed in their county without having to go to other counties.

“I want to help our utility companies to grow and find all resources to repair or fix our roads that are in terrible need of attention. We depend on our county workers and volunteers to keep us safe and for this they should always be taken care of with the best that is available to do their jobs. This all takes us working together to gain more revenue to do these things.

“If elected, I will work as hard as I can to promote our county, while maintaining the values and core things that made me want to relocate here. There is no reason for excuses, just time to get things done. I will have an open line of communication for any and all to assist. I pledge to be a ‘solution finder’ instead of an ‘excuse user.’”