It’s time for Jackson to change its form of government.
As stated on the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website:
Municipal government, as outlined in Mississippi Title 21 may be structured under different types of municipal government:
Mayor-council governments – Voters elect a mayor and a city council, usually referred to as the board of aldermen. The number of aldermen varies from five to seven depending on the population of the city. Aldermen are elected from geographic districts called wards. Depending on the powers granted the mayor, mayor-council governments are described as either a weak mayor type or a strong mayor type. The weak mayor-council form is the most widely adopted in Mississippi. Voters elect the mayor and aldermen who together decide whether other officials such as the city clerk or tax collector are elected or appointed. The mayor shares administrative powers with the aldermen including budget preparation. In the strong mayor-council form, the mayor has the power to hire and fire city employees and has a larger role in budget preparation. Under both forms, the mayor presides over council meetings and has veto power over council actions.
Commission governments – Voters elect a mayor and at least two commissioners. The mayor presides over commission meetings but has no veto power. The mayor is the official representative of the city and administers major municipal departments while individual commissioners head other specific departments. The commissioners are elected from different wards and the mayor is elected at-large. (Jackson changed from a commission to a strong mayor-council form of government in 1985.)
Council-manager governments – Voters elect a mayor and council which, in turn, hire a city manager. The mayor presides over council meetings and represents the city. The council is the policy-making body for the municipality while the manager handles the day-to-day operations including the hiring/firing of city employees, budget preparation, and fiscal management. The city manager attends council meetings but does not have a vote.
Mississippi Title 21 classifies municipalities into three types based on population: Cities are over 2,000 people; towns over 200; villages under 200. “Municipal corporations” can only be created in towns and cities.
Section 21-9-3 states: “The manner of effecting the change in the government of any such city from the form of government under which it is operating to the council-manager plan of government shall be as follows:
“One or more petitions, similar in form and substance, addressed to the mayor, praying that an election be held to determine whether or not such city shall abandon its existing form of government and become organized under a council-manager plan of government, signed by at least ten percent (10%) of the qualified electors of such city, shall be filed with the city clerk, who shall within ten (10) days thereafter check the signatures thereto with the registration books of the city and attach thereto his certificate showing the total number of qualified electors in said city, and the total number of signatures to said petitions and deliver the same to the mayor.”
Once the signatures are verified by the city clerk an election to change the form of government must be held within 60 days.
I would argue that the current strong mayor-council form of government is not working in Jackson, given the water disaster, the loss in population, the high crime rate, the trash controversy, the dilapidated streets and more.
If something’s not working, change it. We’ve given this existing form of city government 38 years to prove itself. It has failed. Let’s go to a council-manager form.
Our last several mayors simply did not have the professional skill set to run a major city, especially one facing multiple challenges. We need a pro, not an amateur. The city council needs to be able to hire a professional city manager to run our city properly.
Look at how Ted Henifin has rapidly turned around our water situation. Henifin wasn’t elected. He was appointed by a federal judge. That separation from political pressure has given him the space to turnaround the water department.
In contrast, look at the continuing incompetence of the current mayoral administration. Pete Perry, a member of Jackson’s one percent sales tax infrastructure commission, points out that the city is having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in change orders on street projects because they aren’t paying contractors. The problem is not that the city doesn’t have the money, Perry says, it’s that they can’t process the payments due to bureaucratic incompetence. The contractors have to delay work until they get paid, causing chaos and construction change order fees.
Perry noted that the water crisis could have been avoided if the city hadn’t sent the water plant pumps off for repair to a company to which it owed money. The company refused to make the repairs until it had been paid, which the city couldn’t figure out how to do. Meanwhile, citizens had no water.
When MEMA took over, it promptly paid the repair company, which quickly repaired the pumps and shipped them back to Jackson, Perry said.
This is the type of incompetence that a professional city manager could avoid.
No doubt, a city manager would feel political pressure from the city council. But at least there would be some level of immunity. A strong city manager would be able to operate more independently than a mayor who is directly elected. This buffer from direct political pressure combined with professional qualifications could be a significant improvement from the status quo.
A professional manager would also work more closely with the city council, avoiding the current standoff between the council and the mayor.
