Here are the Democratic candidates for the mayor’s office.
Anthony Butler
Butler is a self-described businessman and former roughneck for Diamond Offshore Drilling.
Butler did not keep a scheduled appointment to talk about his candidacy.
He has promoted his candidacy extensively on his Facebook page, through both posts and video segments, but did not place any detailed information about his positions on issues on the page.
Albert Eubanks
Eubanks, 49, a marketing and public relations practitioner and paralegal, has served for two years on the board of selectmen.
While the partisan makeup of the board can affect how board members relate to each other, ultimately “the mayor sets the tone,” Eubanks said. “You have to set a tone of cooperation, or you’re never going to get anywhere. If you get 50 percent of what you want, you’re doing good.”
Conversely, “if the tone you set is divisive, that’s what you’ll get for the rest of the term,” he said.
While Eubanks has been involved in vocal altercations in the boardroom, he said he has no concerns about not being perceived as able to promote a spirit of cooperation.
“I hope, with a new board, I can set a tone of working together,” Eubanks said. “If we can come in and talk to each other, we can get a smooth, working board.”
Eubanks points to economic development and jobs as McComb’s biggest needs to be addressed.
“Younger people are leaving because there’s no opportunity here,” he said. “What do we do to bring them back? ... We export workers. We can’t keep them without jobs.”
He means especially higher-paying jobs — “We have enough $7 jobs,” he says, meaning minimum-wage jobs that pay $7.25 per hour — but one way he proposes to improve pay is to raise the city’s minimum wage, which he believes is within the city’s authority.
“To keep workers here, we need to pay a livable wage,” he said. “Fifteen dollars (per hour) is too much, that would kill business. Maybe a happy medium would be $10.”
Eubanks said he would not look to raise the city’s tax millage, preferring instead to encourage more business development.
“If we can bring in more businesses, we can lower the millage,” he said. “Economic development is the key to everything. That can lower crime. Most people would rather have a job than look over their shoulder for the police.”
Among other ongoing issues, Eubanks said the city should continue its paving program and perhaps accelerate the pace.
“If we’re going to pave, we should pave,” he said. “By the time we finish some of these streets, others are going to be worse. It’s going to be hard to do without pushing our limit (of borrowing), but we need to get that done.”
He said a proposed agreement with Scenic Rivers Development to manage the McComb Sports Park could include a 90-day reverter clause the city could invoke at any time to take back the park’s management, but the board should “do more due diligence” on the agreement.
Otherwise, he said Scenic Rivers is a valuable vehicle for promoting regional cooperation and creating a unified voice for the region in Jackson.
Quordiniah Lockley
Lockley, 63, a teacher at South Pike, is also a former selectman, director of public works and city administrator for McComb.
He touts his experience running the city, and notes that he is familiar with the workings of all the city’s departments, including finance, contracts and legal matters.
However, “the key is good leadership, which I bring to the table,” Lockley said. “You have to talk to both sides and break down the walls between them. If you’re capable of talking to both sides, you can find solutions that satisfy both sides.”
He said some of the polarization in the community, based on issues and events arising from the board meetings, can be helped by acceptance and openness.
“It is important that each community has the opportunity to say want or need,” he said. “Also, transparency would improve and promote unity.”
He said the opportunity to work out issues in work sessions, before they arise in board meetings, could also help the board work more smoothly.
Lockley said jobs are needed in the area, and he said while large employers such as the hospital and the school district boast large workforces, “the largest workforce we have is in small businesses.”
He suggested the need for workshops on entrepreneurship and other business issues to help promote new businesses and expansions.
He especially expressed interest in technological startups and perhaps even development of a local television station.
“We need something like that to help grow our city,” he said.
On taxes, Lockley said McComb’s millage has been about the same for 15 years and should be carefully reviewed, along with the services provided and projects undertaken.
“Most people want services, and services cost,” he said. “We need to look at our millage, but do we just raise taxes without a plan? No.”
He said the city should develop a strategic plan for what it wants to provide, then levy taxes to cover the cost.
“There should be some benchmarks to say what we want to accomplish and where we want to go. We should not just raise taxes.”
Lockley opposes efforts to allow Scenic Rivers to manage the sports park, and said he would vote against an agreement to allow that if he had to break a tie. But if the board passed it, he would “go with the flow.”
“Scenic Rivers has its hands full,” he said. “They don’t need more to do. The city should just make sure the recreation director is doing his job.”
He said most of the city’s hotel tax proceeds have been devoted to the sports park since it was proposed and built, and he suggested forging an agreement among board members to spread those proceeds among the city’s various parks.
He also pledged to be available to community members and organizations who want to meet with him and to listen to all concerns.
Zach Patterson
In 2006 voters elected Patterson the city’s first black mayor, as he beat incumbent Tom Walman in the Democratic primary.
Patterson is a former U.S. Army officer with 26 years of military service, retiring as a colonel. A 1970 graduate of Higgins High School, he received a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master’s degree in public administration from Auburn University.
Had Patterson been interviewed, here are some of the questions he would have been asked:
Your campaign slogan is “Unfinished Business.” If that is the case, why did you choose not to run for re-election after your first term?
Your social media posts say that the most important thing in this election is for Democrats to stick together to defeat Republicans. Why has your relationship with Republicans changed since 2006, when as a Democratic candidate you actively solicited support from influential Republicans?
Your social media posts say you are an experienced candidate. Given that, are you willing to acknowledge that under your leadership, the city board was breaking the law when it went into executive session several times to consider pay raises for groups of employees?
During your term in office a majority of the city board turned against you, hiring a board attorney and a city administrator over your objections. Would that experience change your approach to the six selectmen if you are elected this year?
Do you think the mayor’s chats, which you held after many board meetings, helped the city’s image? If you are re-elected, would you resume the chats?
Republicans
Suzette James
James, 51, is a massage therapist at Hennington Wellness Center. She has no political experience in terms of serving in office, though she did make a couple of unsuccessful runs for office elsewhere before moving to McComb a little more than five years ago.
She said trying to keep the interests of the city at the forefront, rather than personal or single-ward concerns, could help to bring a sense of unity to the board and the community.
“I think you have to start by reminding everyone why we’re here and what the goal is,” James said. “We are ... instruments for the people we represent.
“I look for win-win situations.The only way for everybody to win is to compromise, give a little, take a little. You want nobody to leave with nothing they want.”
She said the city needs to address the need for jobs.
“We don’t need more starter jobs,” she said referring to the kinds of service industry jobs often held by high school or college students. “We need to find what is in the way of bringing in more jobs and remove those problems.”
McComb has buildings that could house more businesses, she said, but faces obstacles such as having a less educated workforce and litter along roadways that can turn off prospective business location.
McComb’s streets are a concern, as well, though she said recent paving efforts have brought definite improvements.
She said the city should perhaps look into the materials used for city streets and see if a different formulation might last longer.
“Roads don’t seem to last long here. Why?” she asked. “If you can spend $100,000 on a road that lasts four years, or $150,000 on a road that lasts 20 years ... You should go with the biggest bang for the buck.”
She also advocated for more activities for individuals and families.
“We have the sports park, and that’s great,” James said. “We should work more to find our talented people, like those who are good at music and develop more opportunities for them. I’m not saying copy ‘American Idol,’ but maybe something like that.”
James said she believes the city’s taxes are at a reasonable level, but that some tax incentives might help businesses develop in the city, such as a temporary allowance for businesses to start up in homes without jeopardizing homestead exemptions. Such a move would require an agreement with the county, and perhaps state authorization.
“We just need to find a way to jumpstart businesses,” she said.
James stated opposition to allowing Scenic Rivers to manage the sports park.
“When you talk about subcontracting ... they’re not vested in it like you are,” she said. “If you work there and a sprinkler breaks right before the weekend, you can call and get it fixed immediately. A subcontractor will say, ‘See you Monday.’ ”
She said the city should be careful about going into debt and about seeking grants for which the city would have to provide matching funds, but acknowledged “for some things, that’s all you can do.”
Tommy McKenzie
McKenzie, a 51-year-old civil engineer, has served two terms on the city board, experience he says gives him a leg up on taking over the mayor’s duties if elected.
“The learning curve for me in city business is not steep,” he said. “I understand the budgets and department inter-workings.”
He said relationships with the community can be built to “create a vision for McComb. When decisions are made based on common goals, a common vision and agreed values, unity will follow.”
McKenzie also pointed toward doing things that benefit all citizens of the city and encouraging new ideas as actions that can help bridge the divides of board members and the community.
“Lots of people are ready to get involved (in city plans, projects and activities) but they’re turned off by the board’s antics,” he said. “A good idea is colorblind.”
He said he has “no intention to raise any tax,” given the burden imposed by county and school taxes in addition to the city’s levy, but would seek to boost revenue through economic development that can boost sales tax collections, and by efforts to boost property values, which would boost collections even at the same millage rate.
“Those items will grow the city,” McKenzie said. “We’re bumping $6 million in sales taxes, which is about an all-time high, and that’s a positive for the city.”
More attention to blight and code enforcement might help to raise property values, he said, though it has not had a great effect so far.
“We have not gotten the success we wanted, but we have learned things,” he said. “Before, we had no mechanism to address this.
“It’s not about collecting fines. It’s about curb appeal and making the town more inviting.”
He said he believes the paving projects in the city were well-planned, with streets deemed to be in the worst condition paved first.
There’s a 15-year cycle set for all of the city’s streets to be repaved, financed by 10-year bonds.
“If we can raise our sales tax (revenue), we can pay off the bonds in five years,” he said.
On the sports park, McKenzie said he was skeptical of the wisdom of allowing Scenic Rivers to manage the facility, especially if the organization is also managing the Bogue Chitto Water Park and possibly Quail Hollow Golf Course, but said any agreement that might be offered would last for only one year initially if the board accepted it.
He said the organization’s efforts might be better spent serving as a voice for regional interests with legislators and agencies in Jackson.
David Stewart
Stewart, 49, is a political neophyte, but a well-known face about town who frequently attends city board meetings.
He said board members “need to work together for the good of the city,” and that he would encourage better relations among them.
“I would get them to be nicer to each other,” he said. “They should know what each other is doing.”
Bringing new businesses to town and continuing the city’s paving program are top issues for Stewart, who also proposes to ban smoking and make the city dry.
“Then we wouldn’t have people out drinking and having wrecks,” he said, though he said the loss of sales tax revenue could lead him to rethink his desire to prohibit alcohol.
He said he would accelerate the pace of paving and the borrowing to fund it while seeking any grants that might allow the city to borrow less.
Stewart called the sports park “well run,” and said he would not favor letting Scenic Rivers manage the facility.
On the issue of taxes, he said he would try to lower millage in an effort to bring more businesses to town.
He also proposes a police substation and Boys and Girls Club near Higgins Middle School, efforts to stop bullying and gun violence, a ban on saggy pants and curfew for juveniles.
