A public meeting held last week at the Warren County Courthouse gave Vicksburg residents curious about the recent push for a change to the River City’s form of government a chance to learn more about how the process could work.
Dr. Dallas Breen, executive director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development at Mississippi State University, was on hand to explain the forms of government currently operating in the Magnolia State, how they differ and what advantages and disadvantages each might offer Vicksburg.
“Our role and our job is to make sure everyone understands basic levels of the forms of government that are allowed, permitted by the State of Mississippi,” Breen said. “We are not here, under any circumstance, to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. We are not here to promote or advocate changes in government.”
Breen agreed to provide information for the meeting after a group of concerned citizens began a petition pushing to change the City of Vicksburg’s form of government. The petition, needing approximately 1,400 signatures to reach the 10 percent of registered voters that would constitute a ballot initiative, currently has around 800 signatures, according to group member Marilyn Terry.
“I’m a Vicksburg resident, and a native of this community, and I am deeply concerned with the current condition of the City of Vicksburg, as were many others who spent their time Thursday night discussing potential solutions to these problems,” Terry said. “Many came to the meeting unaware of how severe Vicksburg’s challenges are, but left with a much different reality. I believe many of our community’s problems are largely due to our current form of government that we’ve had in place since the 1880s. It’s holding us back in more ways than it’s pushing us forward. And, at the very least, we’re at the critical point where citizens must have a conversation about why we should either keep this form of government or change it.”
Breen said municipalities in Mississippi operate under a number of forms of government laid out in its constitution, but added Vicksburg is in a unique position.
“If you had a charter, basically before the 1890 constitution, you are allowed to keep your private charter if you so choose; you all chose to. The City of Vicksburg has a special charter. What that means is everything I tell you about the commission form is not 100 percent applicable to Vicksburg.”
The current push to change the form of government is specific. It advocates for a shift from the current form, which is similar to a “commission” form, to a “council-manager” form where voters would elect a city council. It would include a mayor and likely five council members. A city manager would then be hired by the council.
Breen said, currently, 95 percent of Mississippi’s 299 municipalities operate under the “mayor-board” form of government, where no one person – including the mayor – has more power than the other.
Breen said seven municipalities in Mississippi currently practice the “council-manager” form of government, while only two – Vicksburg and Clarksdale – operate in something close to the “commission” form.
“It’s unique,” he said. “The way it is set up, all three members vote. In a ‘strong-mayor’ and ‘weak-mayor’ system, mayors only vote in case of a tie.”
Vicksburg currently functions with a mayor and two aldermen, each with an equal vote in municipal decisions.
Also present at Thursday’s meeting was MSU professor Dr. Eddie French, who spent years as a city manager in Virginia.
“I’ll tell you what I tell my students at Mississippi State: Being a city manager is not an exact science,” French said. “You could have something work perfectly well in Vicksburg. You take it to Edwards and it blows up.”
French said a city manager would indeed be in charge of many aspects of Vicksburg’s decision-making process under the proposed “council-manager” form, but said the decision to hire and fire that manager rests with the board, ultimately making him or her beholden to the council. He also said, while most council members under the proposed system are typically part-time and command less in salary than Vicksburg’s current full-time mayor and alderman, a significant salary would be commanded by a professional city manager.
“Mississippi doesn’t use it a lot,” French said of the “council-manager” form. “It’s basically on the Gulf Coast. If it works right, you are trying to separate politics from the administration. You’re trying to get the political decision-making out. That’s what it’s supposed to be. A good city manager should be able to come in and make a decision based on cost analysis.”
Since the petition began circulating in Vicksburg, city leaders have come out largely against any change, citing difficulties making unanimous decisions with a larger council among several reasons to keep the current system.
Terry said taking the politics out of municipal decision making is exactly what the River City needs to address its current issues and was the impetus of the group pushing for a ballot initiative to allow all Vicksburg voters a chance to chime in.
“Changing the government to allow a professional to run the city would effectively create accountability for these basic community needs, including the finances of the city, better management and fair pay to our city employees, and would ensure government continuity,” she said. “The community would also be well-represented through a large council that sets the policies while one person – a professional – executes those policies.”
Breen said any change in government form does not necessarily mean a change in leadership, adding the ultimate power for effecting reform remains in the hands of voters.
“Who you all elect; who you put in office is who you want to lead,” Breen said. “The form of government – if you change – doesn’t necessarily make anything better or worse.”
Terry said the petition, which can be accessed at Levee Street Market, 1001 Levee St., is aimed at putting power into the hands of those voters.
A letter to the editor written by Terry concerning Thursday’s meeting and the proposed changes may be found at vickburgpost.com. A full video of Thursday’s remarks from Breen and French may be found on The Vicksburg Post’s Facebook page.
The petition can also be accessed by calling or texting 769-293-4622.
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