City

Community

Improving Quality of Life for All 

• • ‘First and foremost, we have wonderful leaders in place whom I intend to support and appreciate including Chandra Fontenot Broomfield, Director of the Department of Therapeutic Recreation, Adam Wade and the Parks and Rec Department, and Roy Edwards in his role with Community Development. I will oversee the crafting of a Clinton Community Wellbeing Index to measure what matters to the community and use our data to make positive improvements to help more people live better, longer, and establish well-being measurement and optimization as an integrated part of Clinton culture going forward.’ 

Connected and Loving Community 

• • ‘As Mayor, I will dependably stand behind the community values of ‘Connection,’ ‘Collaboration,’ and ‘Celebration.’ We will run the city with the well-being of the community first and foremost. I will support Mark Jones in his current efforts to connect Clinton through email and social media and invite citizens to be more engaged in civic projects. Being connected through modern technology will allow more residents an opportunity to find meaningful ways to contribute to our city. As we work together and accomplish great things, we will celebrate together and increase our connection and care for one another.’ 

Thriving Business Networks 

• • ‘I will coordinate with the chamber to better promote our existing local businesses. We must work to let local residents know of the products and services available in our city, encourage, and incentivize local shopping.  There are readily available programs that I will evaluate with the chamber to increase local purchasing such as shopyoursook.com to aggregate the products of local Clinton businesses into one place online.’

Community Forums to Creating Our Future Together

• • ‘I am committed to a Clinton with thriving civic engagement! I’m passionate about organizing regular community forums to better understand the priorities, needs, and struggles of the community, present ideas to the community to receive authentic feedback from all groups and interests in Clinton, and determine together the Clinton we want to live in and leave for the next generation.’

Smart Growth

Local Economic Development

• • ‘As Mayor I will prioritize local economic development by keeping a sufficient budget for professional services regarding economic growth and fund critical studies related to best practices in local economic development. I will present a community plan to introduce state of the art competition and entertainment venues, attracting more metro-area and regional events to our city.’ 

Local Real Estate Development

• • ‘I will present potential options to the Board for increased housing supply in Clinton while maintaining the integrity of Clinton’s character. We will modernize zoning codes and adapt to existing resources (Multi-use). We will identify infill areas in Clinton’s aging neighborhoods that would be suited for smaller, quality homes to be added. I will encourage new construction on all of the vacant lots in existing neighborhoods as well as put a plan in action to attend to all deteriorating vacant homes in Clinton. I will provide a plan for infrastructure investment to encourage more housing starts.  Wise city investments will attract further development.’ 

Support Local Small Businesses 

• • ‘I will support local entrepreneurs’ pursuits by obtaining and providing critical market data to assist them in obtaining loans and opening businesses in Clinton. We will support the creation, modification and adoption of ordinances that result in lower barriers to entry for local food entrepreneurs. These may include: corner stores, accessory commercial units, food trucks, street carts and farmers markets. We will further encourage and provide reasonable guidelines to promote multiple uses for small space options such as pop-up shops, mobile businesses and shared markets.’

Industrial Economic Development

• • ‘I will maintain active relationships with our industrial park businesses to know their needs and potential expansion plans. For example, we will be in close communication with Continental Tire to understand their needs for growth. I will work closely with the Mississippi Development Authority staff to know who is interested in the metro area and present Clinton as the best option. I will directly seek relations with expanding companies to invite them to Clinton.’

Ensuring Best Education for Children & Adults 

• • ‘I will maintain effective and strategic communication and collaboration with the School Board on a frequent basis. The city administration will partner with schools, libraries and associations to better promote in-town opportunities for learning experiences.’

Invest in Improved Parking

• • ‘We need to create shared public parking options around commercial areas to permit more walkable and quaint development to occur. We will also design for on-street and immediate off-street parking to avoid large parking lots and create a more pleasant experience for residents.’

Strengthening Local Hallmarks

• • ‘I will support Main Street Director Tara Lytal and Towne Depot Director Anna Boyd Hawks to continue their excellent service to ensure spaces in Clinton that attract attention and engagement. I will support Marsha Barham, Director of the Clinton Visitor Center to attract more visitors, share Clinton’s story with tourists, and explore an RV / campground to retain more tourists in Clinton.’ 

Safety

Support Chief Ford Hayman & Criminal Justice Staff

• • ‘I will fully support Chief Ford Hayman and our criminal justice staff (courts) so they are able to maintain and complement current operations that have earned Clinton’s rank as a top tier safest community in the state.’

Champion Community Participation in Public Safety

• • ‘I will champion an increase in community support options to complement our public safety efforts. One example of this is to increase enrollment in the volunteer police program 10% a year for the next 4 years, adding 20 plus trained volunteer officers to the force. Another example is increasing the number of reserve offices from 7 to 10 in the next 24 months. Further, community events that bring citizens and officers together to meet, form relationships and discuss safety needs, improve the cohesion of the city’s safety efforts.’

Create and Facilitate a Community Public Safety Board  

• • ‘I will call together local citizens with public safety backgrounds and expertise (criminal justice experts, experienced prosecutors, public defenders, community watch volunteers, retired and active law enforcement officers) willing to volunteer time in counsel with Chief Haymond’s staff and Members of the Board of Alderman to maintain a public dialogue that ongoingly ascertains police and citizen interventions to create the safest Clinton possible as well aid the police in emergency situations.’ 

Supporting Officer Training, Career Path Development, Lifestyle & Recognition 

• • ‘I will support investing in a broader quality of life experience for law enforcement personnel, retaining officers between promotions and making Clinton a competitive option for more reasons than just pay. I will provide an exceptional professional training path for increased quality of performance and career path development. One example of this is the Peace Officer Wellness, Empathy & Resilience (POWER), a training program developed to improve physical, emotional, and mental health; boost team and individual performance; and support community relations. I will also help create options for additional income for officers and insure reasonable work schedules through volunteer supplementation.’ 

Critical Clinton Emergency Planning

• • ‘I will work with public safety agencies to ensure Clinton has a coherent emergency plan with appropriate budgets, assignments and resources needed to mitigate the negative impact of a gas shortage, tornado, ice storm, food insecurity, extended power outage and more.’ 

Maintain Fire Safety

• • ‘I will work closely with Fire Chief Blackledge to ensure his departments are empowered and equipped. I am committed to our fire department staff in having the training they need to excel and the quality of life benefits they need to be retained and effective. We’ll always maintain a fire safety rating that benefits our citizens’ private insurance savings. We will review Fire Codes to ensure they are effective for community safety and not overly burdensome on our businesses. And, since most Fire Department calls are medical and non-fire issues, we will make sure that staff are effectively trained and equipped for those community interventions.’ 

Infrastructure

Prioritize Road-Improvement, Maintenance & Optimized Traffic Flow 

• • ‘I will ensure we have the budget to improve and maintain our road surfaces as well as expand lanes on Northside, Pinehaven and Springridge based upon projected growth. Upgrading road surface maintenance practices, better equipping and training our public works team and improving light signaling will all further enhance Clinton road travel.’ 

Leave Clinton More Walkable, Joggable & Strollerable

• • ‘55% of those surveyed in Clinton said they would walk to commercial areas if additional trails and sidewalks were installed. I will commence a comprehensive review of the challenges and opportunities to increase Clinton’s walkability and systematically create improvements throughout my terms to ensure walking near streets is safe, parks are increasingly accessible and recreation is enhanced through multi-use trails throughout Clinton.’ 

Golf Cart Friendly Clinton

• • ‘Golf cart use can increase safety, reduce impact on roads, increase local retail and improve community connection. Having championed the Clinton Golf Cart initiative as Alderman, I’m ready to take it to the next level as Mayor which will include: general golf cart promotion, improve strategic crossings that connect golf-cart friendly areas and establish a Community Golf-Cart Association to perpetually improve accessibility, training, promotion and a Clinton golf cart culture.’ 

Bike Friendly Clinton

• • ‘52% of Clinton residents surveyed said they would utilize biking as a mode of transportation if sufficient bike lanes were installed. I’ve been passionate, about and actively working towards, maximizing bike accessibility and culture in Clinton for the last 12 years. My next steps as Mayor will be to: create smart routing of bike traffic with signage, striping and wayfinding markers, bring in biking events to Clinton, conduct a study to better understand challenges and opportunities and attract related businesses and service providers.’ 

Technologically Upgrade Clinton 

• • ‘As Alderman, I voted for and supported the ‘Fiber to the Home’ internet initiative. As Mayor, I will see that our city benefits from smart technology tools and training in all departments to ensure the city runs more efficiently and effectively than ever. We will better utilize social media technology to more effectively invite citizens to engage in civic as well as recreational and business related activities.’ 

Advanced Energy Systems

• • ‘I will ensure we are ready to take advantage of smart energy grants and community programs. We will locate more smart chargers for electric vehicles throughout our city. We will provide the needed incentives to builders, developers, and existing home owners to engage in better energy options.’

Support Public Works Director Phillip Lilley and Entire Department

• • ‘I will immediately recommend to the board additional staffing for public works and implement employee appreciation events for the staff.’

Evaluate Best Use of $5.51 Million in Covid Recovery Funds 

• • ‘Funds can be used to support households, small businesses, impacted industries, essential workers, and the communities hardest hit by the crisis. Funds can also be used to make necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. Once in office, I am committed to doing an in-depth review of city needs and opportunities and direct these funds towards maximum short and long-term benefit.’