With McComb’s general election quickly approaching, a change at the top is the only certainty.
Two candidates are vying to win the mayoral seat that Mayor Zach Patterson relinquished by not filing for a re-election bid.
With the incumbent out of the picture, Democratic candidate either Warren Ellis Gilmore or Republican Whitney Rawlings — both former city selectmen — will win the position in the city’s general election on Dec. 6.
City primary elections will be Nov. 1 with runoffs, if needed, set for Nov. 8.
But because both mayoral candidates are unopposed within their parties, the primaries will not apply in the mayor’s race.
Four years ago, with no Republican opposition, Patterson won the race by defeating former Mayor Tom Walman in the Democratic primaries.
The next mayor will have a numerous issues to tackle in the city, including the possibility of reinstating the motel tax, the future of the Department of Community Relations and Tourism, a five-year street repair plan, proposed frontage roads flanking Interstate 55, the role of the civil service commission, the future of the McComb Sports Park, plans for the mayor’s city-owned car and the mayor’s supervisory powers over city employees, which the current board stripped in 2009.
Warren Ellis Gilmore
Warren Ellis Gilmore is a self-labeled freelancing political consultant. He left McComb in 1981, but returned in 1992, and has lived here ever since. He is married to Lynn D. Gilmore, who recently ended her own bid for selectman at-large.
He served a term as Ward 5 selectman from 2003 to 2006.
Gilmore admitted he has he played the roles of both firestarter and peacebroker in the past. He added that the inside view he gained in office taught him that although board members will not always agree, the group has to work toward a common goal.
“What better person to call for peace than a person who, in the past, knew how to break it?,” Gilmore said. “Who can better tell people to lay weapons down than the person who, in the past, told them to pick them up? I have a true sense of what both sides are.”
Gilmore said he isn’t afraid to touch on uncomfortable issues, either.
“We are not going to play this race card. Period. Absolutely none,” Gilmore said, referring to multiple racial allegations Patterson issued to his detractors. “For one, it’s just wrong. Period. And I’m not going down that road. And quite frankly, it doesn’t work anymore.”
Gilmore also said he does not plan to request the next board to return the mayor’s supervisory powers, and he challenges Rawlings to take the same stand.
“I challenge my opponent not to bring up or support reverting back on anything this current board has done as it relates to the power of the mayor,” Gilmore said. “I pledge, I will not ask for any power returned to me. It’s an equal board. Though the mayor is chair of the board ... we don’t anoint kings.”
On a related note, Gilmore believes the city does not need a new charter because the majority the current charter works.
Though Gilmore and Rawlings may have opposing views on some issues, Gilmore is complimentary of his opponent, saying “we are not in any way, shape, form or fashion enemies.”
Gilmore said the current board and mayor showed him “what not to do,” and the new administration should strive to “broker peace and harmony,” stabilize the city’s finances, cut waste and continue the city’s growth.
“There are principles of a rule of conduct that we need to reinstitute to bring back civility to this process,” Gilmore said. “What has left us is we have lost our manners ... and we have lost the etiquette of how to treat each other.”
He also wants a greater emphasis placed on education to increase the city’s marketability.
“We have to invest in our people,” Gilmore said. “As long as you’re educated, we’re going to be able to use you here.”
Gilmore said the current board should get the ball rolling on the proposed five-year street repair plan, and said street repairs are critical for the city’s growth.
He also supports the frontage roads, and believes the project will be beneficial to the city by attracting travelers.
Regarding Patterson’s idea to expand the civil service commission to a five-person with a representative from each ward, Gilmore said the commission will work “if you leave it alone.”
Regarding the tourism and community relations department, Gilmore said the tourism role should be separate from community relations, with tourism linked under a common banner with economic development.
“I have a definite plan to restructure the department that I think everybody can live with,” Gilmore said. “I think it’ll bring all these forces that are at odds (together).”
He does want the city to continue its efforts to revive the tax.
Additionally, the candidate said the city should consider pursuing its own economic development.
Gilmore said the sports park it “kind of morphed into something else,” but could still realize its aspirations.
Gilmore does not plan to use the mayor’s car, and, if elected, he is considering “donating it to the police department or just using it as a service vehicle.”
Whitney Rawlings
Whitney Rawlings has owned and run Rawlings Brokerage Co. for 35 years. Though born in Jackson, his family moved to McComb before his first birthday, and he has lived in McComb ever since. His wife, Carol, is a retired schoolteacher.
Rawlings served two consecutive terms as Ward 2 selectman from 1995 and 2002.
Rawlings was the first of the two candidates to declare for mayor, filing his qualifying papers more than a year ago.
“I made that decision because I realized that city hall was broken,” Rawlings said. “I believed that new leadership was going to be required. I care deeply about the city of McComb.”
To fix City Hall, Rawlings said, the new board “must be committed to working together for the good of McComb. That’s where we’ll start, and prove to the city that we can work together.
“If I were mayor, I would hope I would have an elected board of selectmen that would be willing to sit around the table, have good discussion and listen to what the other person’s got to say, knowing that what they think and say matters as much as what I think and have to say.”
The candidate said the new board has to prove it understands the city’s finances and improve its financial health. He noted that the city wrote a $500,000 check from its general fund to go toward the new library when he was on the board.
He also stressed the importance of creating jobs and expanding the tax base. And if the board is doing the right things, Rawlings said, developers will see opportunity in McComb.
“I view that as a strength I can bring to the table,” Rawlings said. “I believe I can go out into the city and visit and talk with people and make things happen for our city development-wise.”
He said the board must earn the the trust of the citizens, and he implored the city to “start concentrating as a city on what we have in common.”
Regarding mayoral power, Rawlings said he is comfortable with the mayor’s limited powers as defined in the charter, and he does not believe the city needs a new charter.
He did not directly respond to Gilmore’s challenge, but reiterated his understanding of the position’s limited power, saying “limited powers, weak mayor. It wasn’t a problem then. It’s not a problem today.”
Like Gilmore, Rawlings is complimentary of his opponent. When he decided to run for the office, he ran the idea by Gilmore and his wife, Lynn, “because I respected their opinion, and I wanted them to know what I was going to do.”
Rawlings acknowledged the city is in dire need of street repairs, and it will have to budget carefully and set priorities to make a dent in the problem.
He supports the notion of the frontage roads, adding that the city draws from a 50-mile radius, and the trade area can support further development.
“You make an investment in a frontage road, and buildings go up,” Rawlings said. “This city will have to get better, and that’s growth, or we’ll ultimately continue in a state of decline, and that’s unacceptable.”
Rawlings believes the civil service commission does not need expansion.
He supports the motel tax, but said funding the department if the tax is not revived will be a hard sell.
“If I’m short policemen or firemen, and I can’t afford to fully staff — what are your priorities?” Rawlings asked.
Regarding the sports park, Rawlings said the facility can realize its potential in time, and the city may complete the facility in-house, but the city has other priorities first.
“Get that in place, I believe the recreation staff can really have a positive income stream there,” Rawlings said.
Should he win, Rawlings plans to use his own vehicle. Asked if he would give up the mayor’s car, he replied, “First day.”
