Owensboro native Paul Finley returned to his hometown to headline Thursday’s Rooster Booster breakfast, delivering a message on collaboration, communication, and long-term vision — values he credits for transforming Madison, Alabama, where he’s served as mayor for more than a decade. Finley was honored with a key to the city by Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson following his address.
Finley said his remarks carried lessons that Owensboro can apply as it continues to evolve.
“I’m absolutely so proud to be here in the Greater Owensboro Chamber,” Finley told attendees after accepting the honorary key. “I’m a little bit nervous because I’m back in Owensboro, the city that I was born, the city where my immediate family, my mama, my sister and her family, my brother, his family still live.”
Finley, who has served as mayor of Madison since 2008 (with a brief hiatus from 2012-2016), shared insights from his experience leading one of Alabama’s fastest-growing cities.
Madison, now Alabama’s ninth-largest city with approximately 62,000 residents, sits adjacent to Huntsville, which recently became the state’s largest city. This positioning has created both challenges and opportunities that Finley believes hold lessons for Owensboro.
“As we talk about community engagement and working together, boy, you better be working together if you’re surrounded by them,” Finley said of Madison’s relationship with Huntsville.
When Finley first took office in 2008, relations between Madison and Huntsville were strained following a failed annexation attempt in 1986. Recognizing the counterproductive nature of this rivalry, Finley initiated a symbolic “burying of the hatchet” with Huntsville’s mayor.
“We literally buried a hatchet,” Finley said. “Our community saw we were going to work together, but more importantly, we then collaboratively went down to Montgomery and asked for some of that state money.”
This united approach yielded immediate results, with three road projects receiving funding because state officials could support the entire region rather than choosing between competing municipalities.
Finley emphasized that building trust between communities creates opportunities that benefit everyone. He highlighted how this approach prevented competition between Madison and Huntsville when attracting a minor league baseball team to the region.
“The baseball team was going to use the two cities against each other to get the best possible deal,” Finley recalled. Instead, the mayors collaborated, resulting in Madison securing the Rocket City Trash Pandas while Huntsville developed its own entertainment venue.
Education has been another cornerstone of Madison’s growth strategy. Under Finley’s leadership, the city has built five new schools since 2008 and will open its 12th school next year. This required creative financing, including securing interest-free federal bonds and asking residents to increase their property taxes.
“Seventy-three percent of the people said do it,” Finley noted about the tax increase vote in 2019, which funded three new schools. “Our community invested in ourselves because we partnered with the school system.”
The Madison school system is now ranked as the top system in Alabama and among the top 50 nationwide.
“It is a top 50 school system in the nation,” Finley said. “Parents who have their kids there don’t come to a city council meeting and tell you what they feel — they have a slideshow about four slides long and tell you what facts you need to know.”
Finley also detailed initiatives to increase citizen engagement, including establishing open office hours, creating a civic awareness academy, and founding a nonprofit to support city projects. The nonprofit has raised millions for community facilities, including $1 million for an inclusive playground and $3 million toward an $11 million community center.
To improve internal communication, Finley instituted a weekly message sharing departmental accomplishments, which is now distributed to the public. He also hosts an annual “State of the City” celebration that’s open to all residents.
A 1980s graduate of Murray State University with a marketing degree, Finley has balanced his public service with family life. He proudly spoke of his three sons — Tyler, who works with the International Space Station at Redstone Arsenal; Kyle, an emergency room doctor at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham; and Tanner, who played college basketball at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
Finley closed his presentation by emphasizing the importance of teamwork, selflessness, and understanding community roots.
“I simply don’t think you can understand how proud I am to be here, how proud I am of your community, but also how proud I am to connect my community to yours,” Finley said. “As I grew, I recognized roots are critical, team is critical, and we better be working together.”
