Manojkumar J. “Mike” Patel is running for Mayor of Bardstown to put his experience caring for people and running a business to work for every family in our city.
Mike Patel came to Bardstown the way a lot of us did — to work hard, build something, and raise a family in a town that still feels like a town. He built a career in healthcare, working directly with patients and their families at some of the most difficult moments of their lives. And he built a small business that employs local people and keeps money in our community.
That combination — caring for people and meeting a payroll — is exactly what's missing from City Hall. Mike has balanced a budget when money was tight. He's made hard calls. He's solved problems with his own hands, not with a committee. And he's done it while treating people with dignity.
He's not a career politician, and he doesn't talk like one. He talks about the price of groceries, the rent that keeps climbing, the good jobs we're losing, and the neighbors who need a hand. That's the job he wants — to make Bardstown work for the people who live here.
Manojkumar J. Patel grew up in Campbellsville, Kentucky — a young boy with a name that his friends, his classmates, and even some of his teachers couldn't quite pronounce. So they did what small-town Kentucky has always done: they found something that fit. They called him Mike.
The name stuck. It followed him through school, through his career in healthcare, and all the way to Bardstown. Today, most people here know him simply as Mike — the neighbor who owns the hotel on Morton Avenue, who shows up when someone needs a hand, and who never asks for credit.
Whether you know him as Mike, as Manoj, or as Manojkumar — you know the man Bardstown has grown to love and respect.
He's proud of the name his parents gave him, and just as proud of the one his neighbors gave him. Both are his. Both are Kentucky. And both belong to the same man who is running to serve this city.
— Mike Patel (Manojkumar J. Patel)
In healthcare, Mike has seen firsthand what happens when a family can't afford care, can't find a provider, or can't get to an appointment. He knows access isn't abstract — it's life and death.
As a small-business owner, Mike has hired neighbors, met a payroll, and watched every dollar. He knows what government can do to help small business — and what it does to get in the way.
For years, Mike has supported local efforts to feed and care for our neighbors — the kind of work that doesn't make headlines but makes a town stronger. He's running to do more of it, out loud.
A mayor doesn't need to be a politician. A mayor needs to manage money, solve problems, and care about people. Mike has done all three.
Mike is an Electroneurodiagnostic (END) technologist — the medical professional who performs the brain-wave (EEG) and nerve tests that help doctors diagnose seizures, strokes, and brain injuries. He has spent his career at the bedside, caring for patients and their families at some of the hardest moments of their lives.
Mike is the owner and operator of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bardstown — an 80-room hotel he built on Morton Avenue that employs 25 to 35 local people. He's also Executive Vice President of MD Hospitality Group and president of Jay Hospitality Group, named for his late father.
Running a hotel means balancing a budget every single month — payroll, utilities, maintenance, and taxes. Mike has made hard calls when money was tight. He'll bring that discipline to City Hall and demand that every tax dollar be spent wisely.
Mike serves on the Bardstown–Nelson County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He donates his hotel's trolley to carry seniors and neighbors to meals and appointments, and supports local food-security and senior-care efforts — often without anyone knowing his name was behind it.
Every volunteer, every dollar, and every conversation moves this campaign forward.
Get Involved →