LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Among all of the candidates for mayor in Louisville, only one is currently a mayor: Jeffersontown mayor Bill Dieruf.

Dieruf has been the mayor of Jeffersontown for the last 11 years, and also ran a hardware store in town.    

“And the advantage of a hardware store coming into politics, you realize that whether the person needed a five cent nut or a $30,000 Bobcat, when they came in, they had a problem, and they wanted it resolved right then,” he said. “And no matter how big of a problem it was, it was important to them. And in government, we’ve done that here.”

Dieruf is seeking the Republican nomination to become Louisville’s next mayor, and he said he wants to bring together all of the Louisville Metro.

“We’re never going to win a company or a person to move here if we’re infighting,” he said. “We have to be able to take what we have and make it better.”

Dieruf said he supports House Bill 314, which the legislature passed to allow for the creation of new cities within Jefferson County, but he also said residents of the city need to be focused on 

“If a person wants to form a city — say, PRP (Pleasure Ridge Park), Fairdale, — it’s because they are not receiving the services they were promised during [the] merger,” Dieruf said. “As the next mayor, that will be there, but it won’t be needed because I will provide the services, because I realize the services that are needed out and about.”

Dieruf also led the Jefferson County League of Cities and the Kentucky League of Cities.  

“I understand what it means to work together as a unit,” he said.

Dieruf plans to bring along Jeffersontown’s current police chief, Rick Sanders, to lead his efforts on crime in the city, although not necessarily as LMPD chief.

“I’m not going to promise anybody a job in any position,” he said. “The jobs that will be downtown will all be reviewed, because as I did when I moved here — moved into this position as mayor here — there were a lot of people who were good at their job, but they weren’t allowed to do their job properly.”

Sanders served as Kentucky State Police commissioner from 2016 to 2019, and was a DEA agent for more than two decades.

“So when we talk about what we’re going to do in downtown Louisville, we’re already doing it here,” Dieruf said. “And we’re changing it and adjusting it and making it better every day.”

Dieruf said they can bring more credibility back to the city in order to recruit more officers, which in turn will make downtown Louisville a more appealing place, along with several other initiatives he plans to pursue, like improving the roads downtown and building more housing there.

“We have an image problem right now,” Dieruf said. “It takes a mayor that can be proud of the city to show the city it’s a place to where you want to come, whether it’s downtown or any other part of the county.”

And along with his plans to cut down on the bureaucracy businesses face, Dieruf said he has the best sales pitch to become Louisville’s next mayor.

Dieruf is one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for mayor in Louisville. Eight people will appear on the Democratic ballot.