Russ Salsman

Russ spent over 25 years as chief operating officer in several governmental agencies. He was Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Brereton Jones, Chief of Staff for the Jefferson Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, Executive Director of the Office of Employment & Training (which houses all of the Federal Unemployment Insurance and Workforce development services for the Commonwealth of Kentucky).

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More recently, there served 8 years as Chief of Staff to the Department for Local Government. In this role he built and maintained strong relationships with the 120 County Judge Executives in Kentucky as well as numerous mayors, and local and state officials. He also worked in legislative affairs, particularly on those bills that affect local communities.

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In his capacity as Chief of Staff, Russ helped write legislation such as House Bill 1 in 2014, the Special Districts Legislation. While this bill was neither supported nor opposed by Governor Beshear, Russ was asked by the sponsors to assist in the development to insure that local communities and the Department were represented. He cites his major accomplishment on this bill as successfully fending off attempts to make the legislation burdensome or costly to fiscal courts. 

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Additionally, Russ has been heavily involved in numerous local funding initiatives from the Coal Severance Tax to the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority. He successfully worked to secure multiple funding sources for numerous local initiatives.