Rachel Niceley of Strawberry Plains Announces Candidacy for Jefferson County Mayor

Rachel Niceley, Candidate For Jefferson County, TN Mayor

Rachel Niceley of Strawberry Plains announces her candidacy for Jefferson County Mayor in the Republican Primary on May 1st. Rachel is the youngest daughter of Sen. Frank and Cyndie Niceley and sister to former County Commissioner Anna Niceley-Barreiro. Her main platform points include reducing Jefferson County’s debt, making county government more transparent and accessible, respecting private property rights, and focusing on the strengths of Jefferson County to encourage an industry that is complementary to the county and the people.

Rachel believes that if the State of Tennessee has been successful by lowering taxes, reducing regulations, attracting new businesses, lowering per capita debt, raising their bond rating to the highest score, all while balancing their budget and having a surplus of money in their rainy-day fund- then so can Jefferson County. Rachel’s number one pledge is that she will not support raising taxes over the next four years.

Encouraging the community, being more visible, approachable, and truly listening to the residents of Jefferson County are positive qualities that Rachel Niceley hopes to bring to the Mayoral office.

This summer she will have completed her Master of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship from Carson-Newman University. For those not familiar with this program Carson-Newman designed it for “individuals called to serve others through social enterprise and churches, and other faith-based community organizations that address root causes of poverty and related ills and that empower people to help themselves.” The program consists of half MBA classes and half Social Justice.

Rachel Niceley has a degree in Business Management from Tusculum College. Before that, she studied International Business at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO and the University of North Carolina, Asheville. She also studied multi-cultural communication during a semester abroad in Costa Rica. She has continued these studies through personal travel to Nicaragua, Mexico, France, Spain, and Portugal. In late March she will be visiting Cuba on a person to person cultural exchange Visa to learn about Cuba’s food sovereignty and food security.

Past community involvement includes volunteering to teach ESL and VBS at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, Centro de Hispanico, Nourish Knoxville and is a member of the Alliance for Better Nonprofits in Knoxville, TN.

Rachel Niceley is 37 years old, has three children ages 9,7, and 1 and lives on her family farm in Strawberry Plains where she is actively involved in the equestrian program and enjoys promoting endangered livestock breeds. Rachel is a sixth generation Jefferson Countian.