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Jackson mayor excited for city
"It goes back to what we've been planning for the last three administrations," he said. "Jackson didn't get to where it is today because of what we've done in the last three months." Focus on infrastructure Since Allied Paper was recruited in 1964, the three administrations of Mayors James Arrington, Norma Beard and Long have "continued to improve the infrastructure (and) get the water system where it needs to be." There has been an emphasis on improving the roads, the fire and police departments and public works. Long is particularly proud of the city's water system. "We've got the biggest water system in Southwest Alabama - with the exception of Mobile," he said. "We built a brand new water treatment plant in 2001. We currently provide water for the outlying little systems. We produce and sell about 2,000 gallons a day. We can upgrade to 7,000 with minimum costs. We can provide this whole county if it came down to it."
Certainly ThyssenKrupp brings in a considerable opportunity with 2,700 full time jobs, 30 minutes away, the mayor said. "We want to get a lot of those employees living in the city of Jackson. We want to get three or four of those suppliers." Long has been working with Richard Sullivan of Sullivan-St. Clair, a marketing firm from Mobile. "He's developing a marketing plan for us. He's in direct communication with the TK officials. It gives us a tremendous insight on what's going on." (Sullivan-St. Clair is also working with the Clarke County and the Twin Rivers development effort.)
Of course, one of the newest successes in Jackson is the 50,000 square foot expansion of the New Era Cap Company plant. Long hopes the initial addition of 40 new employees will grow to as much as 150. The fact that New Era exists in Jackson came from fast work of area officials in 2000 when Vanity Fair announced it was leaving. "Mayor Beard, the city council, the county commission and the state worked hand in hand," Long said. "Before Vanity Fair moved out of that building, we had New Era committed to it." The City of Jackson also plans to build a spec building for industrial recruitment. U.S. Representative Jo Bonner got a $250,000 appropriation passed through the House, he said, but it will have to be considered in a House-Senate conference. From Mississippi Long will begin his eighth year as mayor on Oct. 1. He is a former city councilman. Born in Biloxi, Miss., he married a hometown Jackson girl (Susan Bolen) in 1964. The couple returned to Jackson in 1979 to care for her ailing mother. He was elected to the city council in 1984. After moving his residence from District 2 to 3, he didn't run in 1988, but ran again in 1992 for District 3. He was elected mayor in 2000. The mayor currently serves on the Tombigbee Waterway committee and was recently named to the Region Six committee of Governor Riley's new Alabama Rural Action Commission. How soon will citizens in Jackson be able to feel the first major impact of the TK plant? "Thirty days," Long said. (He couldn't give any other details.) "I think you'll see some announcements that the only way they could have happened is because of TK." A report from the University of South Alabama predicted that Clarke County would receive $20,000 in additional tax revenues, Long said. The mayor believes the benefit will be much larger than that. The mayor of Jackson is a part-time position. Long plans to run again for the position next year with the election the fourth Tuesday in August. He is retiring from the Boise Cascade paper mill in October 2008. "I'll be in essence a full-time mayor for the City of Jackson if I'm reelected. We (the council) addressed that issue this year (expanding the job to full time). If I happen to get reelected next time, they can see what a fulltime mayor can do, and then they can decide. When I ran against Mayor Beard, one of her key points was (the city) needs a full-time mayor," he said. "How right she was, especially with all the county economic development organizations….I can't tell you how many hours I spend in those kinds of meetings. And with TK, it's even more." Not many naysayers, mayor says "…We don't have a lot of naysayers (in the community)," the mayor said. "…I really think they are happy. Just look at (the new) Walgreens, that old armory that was there was an eyesore. …They travel to Mobile to do a lot of things that they need to do. We don't want them to do that. We want to provide the things up here in Jackson and Clarke County." …We need another grocery store," he said. "That is the number one issue in Jackson, Alabama. If you want to say what are they bugging the council about? Another grocery store. "…I sent three councilmen down to the Alabama Grocers Association (meeting in Destin, Fla.). (Pic-N-Save) got real upset that the City of Jackson was talking to Brunos and all these grocery stores. He came in here and said 'what's going on? Are you trying to get rid of Pic-N-Save?' I said 'no, we'd love for Pic-NSave to stay and be successful.' We're trying to make the citizens of Jackson happy." Brunos is still paying a lease on the building in Jackson, and the mayor said they would be back to look and see if it is feasible. With the grocery store issue as an example, the citizens are going to tell you when they're not happy, he said. "Politicians are politicians. It's easy to say well that doesn't matter to me, but if you know you have to go to the polls again next time and you've got to count on these people to elect you, it does matter. Praise for city council …I think we've got a tremendous council. They represent their districts great. They keep open ears….I allow my council people to be the eyes and ears for the mayor….I want them to go out in their districts and hear things. If they've got a project that they're interested in doing, I want them to be responsible for it. …I think seven people out there trying to figure out what we need to do is better than one." As Mayor Long considers the building blocks for a modern city, he again mentioned the water system. When Hurricane Ivan knocked out power in 2004, the main complaint he heard was being without water for two days. "Tempers were boiling," Long said, "and people were not happy. Now, we've got generators on all the water treatment pumps…and the water treatment facility itself. …We have generators on the police department, city hall, fire department and everything that is needed in an emergency." "…You've got to build a quality city….anybody can allow trailer parks and RV's and all kinds of things," he said. "…We're not going to go out and build trailer parks for the 29,000 construction workers (expected to build the TK site). We've got private investors that are (planning) apartment houses and buying houses. Space in Jackson is limited because it is so hilly." Expansion of city in plans Are there plans for expansion of the city limits? "Yes there is. We know we've got to go up Highway 43….We'll probably go out toward Chastain Hill….That is definitely something we will bring up if not before the next election at least after the election. It's got to be done. "…You want to have a zoning ordinance that says what are you going to do in these sections of your town. What's going to be residential? What's going to be commercial? "Back in 1994, we got the first comprehensive zoning ordinance…. Working with Goodwin, Mills and Cawood, we're going to review that….We're about two months into that. We've got a meeting with them next week." Are you addressing how the developments from TK could bring more traffic to Jackson? "We continue to talk to Jerry Holt at the ALDOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) division in Grove Hill," the mayor said. One of the problems they are addressing is the need for a turn lane at the New Era plant, from West Point Drive all the way to the Don's Body Shop. "You've got to continue to work with ALDOT at the district and the Montgomery level (on Highways 43 and 177)." How do you keep the look of the older city with new developments? Long said the Highway 43 bypass saved many older parts of the city. When the bypass came, some businesses were encouraged to move which left a void downtown. "You've got to continue to work on that," he said. "There are grants through ALDOT and the federal ICE-T program to improve downtown." There is a new grant project for downtown beginning next year. "It's not something that happens by itself. You've got to have downtown committees. You've got to have historical societies." There is also the challenge of working with property owners who live out of town, he said. An example was the Salvation Army building. "It was under a trust through a bank down in Mobile. It took us months to finally get them to agree to paint the building. Those kind of things are the issues. "The in-town people are very proactive about making the city look better. The downtown committee does a great job. We're looking at putting a park where the old chamber of commerce building was (at Church and Forest Avenues)." There is also a non-profit committee raising money for a Pine City community park on nine acres near New Era (donated by the city). The cost of that project is from $300,000 to $500,000. Citizens must be involved
Mayor Long feels the best way to keep a hometown feel for a growing city is keeping the citizens involved. "It's amazing what citizens can do when they start from the grassroots," he said. "…That's the kind of entrepreneurship we've got to have from our citizens."
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