Virginia native Frank Friedman was recently elected as Lexington’s newest mayor.
“Having moved here between first and second grade, I had been exposed to Lexington and I certainly fell in love with it,” Friedman said. “My native home is Blacksburg, VA. But Lexington has always felt right and been wonderful.”
After living in Lexington since he was young and serving on Lexington City Council as an adult, Friedman has developed a firm understanding of what drives the city and what its people want.
“I really enjoy being involved and active in the community from a professional as well as civic stand point,” he said.
Eight years of serving on Lexington City Council and seven years of serving on the Lexington School board have helped teach Friedman the leadership qualities essential for a good mayor. Additionally, his involvement with the Stonewall Jackson Hospital, the YMCA of Rockbridge and constant attendance of Lexington Presbyterian Church have helped him get to know Lexington’s citizens and leaders.
When former mayor Mimi Elrod announced that she was retiring, Friedman decided that he wanted to run for mayor.
“I think that Mayor Elrod has done a fine job, but in the burning in my belly I wanted to have the chance to at least pursue the opportunity to be mayor,” he said.
While there was no specific epiphany or lightning bolt moment where Friedman realized that he wanted to be Lexington’s new mayor, he recognized that he had the skill set to be able to provide leadership and help council be as effective as they can possibly be.
Lexington City Manager Noah Simon considers Friedman to be a worthy candidate for the role.
“It’s great that a friend, neighbor and council member is now mayor and I am looking forward to working with him and the entire council,” Simon said.
Simon, Friedman and the whole council work closely together as a team in order to adequately serve Lexington.
“Ideally we all work together as a team on every front to accomplish our goals,” Friedman said.
One of Friedman’s main goals as newly elected mayor is to help citizens truly understand Lexington government.
“Conceptually what some people don’t understand is that, for example, in Atlanta I believe you have a strong mayor form of government,” he explained. “Here we have a strong city manager form of government.”
Friedman wants his citizens to grasp that Lexington’s government is a team effort. As mayor, he is responsible for “leading council meetings, setting agendas, and cutting ribbons,” but is the city manager who is in charge of the day-to-day operations.
Simon’s main goal as city manager is to improve Lexington’s economy.
“I want to grow the tax base and a community that supports and incubates small business to make Lexington a destination place that families want to be,” Simon said.
Friedman agrees that helping Lexington’s economy is of the utmost importance, and ensures that his position as the Vice president and Financial Advisor of Cornerstone Bank will not hinder his new role as mayor.
“I do not see a conflict of interest with working at Cornerstone and serving as mayor or currently serving as council,” he said. “There are times when there are things that come before council that there is a conflict of interest with Cornerstone and I rely on the city manager and the city attorney to help fully understand and vet that so that I can participate when appropriate.”
Friedman plans to balance his responsibilities at Cornerstone with his mayoral duties, and, of course, his three children.
“Family and faith come, in my opinion, absolutely first,” he said.
Friedman frequents the Lexington Presbyterian Church and is active in his children’s lives, but is not worried about balancing his responsibilities as a father, banker, and mayor.
“I don’t worry about it because I have found zero productivity from worrying,” he said. “I somewhat embrace the Chuck Yeager philosophy of ‘bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell.’”
This positive attitude, along with Friedman’s well-rounded lifestyle, have garnered positive results from Lexington citizens about his recent election.
“Friends, family, and neighbors have been very kind and congratulatory,” Friedman said. “So very, very positive.”
Washington and Lee students Sarah Arrington and Olivia Hunter were excited to see Friedman elected and to learn more about Lexington’s representatives.
“I didn’t know much about the two candidates but I got the chance to speak with Mr. Friedman while waiting in line to vote,” Arrington said. “It helped me get a better idea of who would be representing Lexington, and made me feel confident in Lexington’s city government.”
Hunter voted for Friedman because she “appreciated his values, team mentality, and leadership skills,” and she was very happy to see him elected.
Friedman is excited too and he is eager for the chance to make positive strides for the community.
