211: Kathy O'Nan: Beyond the Tornado: Presence, Pressure, and the Power of Local Leadership

Show Notes: Kathy O'Nan: Beyond the Tornado: Presence, Pressure, and the Power of Local Leadership

Episode 211 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Zencity

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Overview

In this powerful episode, Seth Winterhalter sits down with Kathy O’Nan, Mayor of Mayfield, Kentucky, a retired teacher turned public servant whose life was forever changed on December 10, 2021, when a catastrophic EF-4 tornado ripped through the heart of her city.

What followed was a story of leadership under fire, community resilience, and a fierce refusal to give up. Kathy shares the emotional and practical realities of leading in the wake of unimaginable loss from navigating FEMA and state recovery funds to helping her community rebuild trust, homes, and hope. With raw honesty and quiet strength, she reflects on the importance of presence in a crisis, the unseen emotional toll of leadership, and how her background as an educator became an unexpected asset in the highest-stakes moment of her life.

This isn’t just a story of tragedy; it’s a masterclass in local leadership, civic love, and the long, hard road of recovery.

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Episode Highlights:

• “Right now, you just be here.”
  What a retired firefighter told Kathy in the fire station hours after the tornado and why presence matters more than action in leadership.

• The First Hours After Impact
  How Mayfield’s emergency response unfolded, and why agriculture workers cleared the first roads when no one else could.

• A Teacher at the Helm
  Why Kathy’s decades in the classroom prepared her to speak in national press conferences and hold a city’s hope together.

• The Power of Local Ties
  How former students—now police officers, fire chiefs, and city attorneys—are helping rebuild the community they once sat in class to serve.

• Sticky Notes & a Front Porch Vision
  How Mayfield crowdsourced its recovery plan and why rebuilding isn’t just about buildings, but belonging.

• A Ten-Year Journey
  What Kathy has learned about sustaining leadership, avoiding burnout, and choosing to run for reelection in the face of exhaustion.

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Connect with Kathy O'Nan

City of Mayfield: www.mayfieldky.gov

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About Our Sponsor: Zencity

This episode of The HaltingWinter Podcast is made possible by Zencity—a trusted partner to hundreds of local governments around the world.

Zencity is a software that enables local government leaders to gather, understand, and act on resident feedback, going beyond the "same ten people" to actually reach residents where they're at, and incorporate that feedback into decisions large and small. To learn more about how Zencity is helping turn data into action and insight into impact:

Learn more at Zencity.io

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Connect with Seth Winterhalter:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sethwinterhalter
Website: www.HaltingWinter.com

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About HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions

At HaltingWinter, we help local government leaders build thriving teams and resilient workplace cultures through keynotes, workshops, and leadership development programs rooted in the ABCs of Impactful Municipal Leadership. 

Learn more at HaltingWinter.com

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Seth's Upcoming Keynotes:

2025 Kentucky League of Cities Annual Conference & Expo
September 23-26 | Owensboro, KY
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ELGL 2025 Conference | Camp Govlife
October 1-3 | Santa Rose, CA
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2025 Kansas City/County Management Association Annual Conference
December 3-5 | Manhattan, KS
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