Mayor Robert Smith said if he were king for a day, he would improve the city’s infrastructure.
The difficulty of being mayor, not king, is the mayor has to have the votes and the money to get it done, Smith said. However, he pledged his No. 1 goal as mayor is improvements in street paving and storm drainage, water and sewer lines.
Smith’s comments came Tuesday at the Rotary Club’s weekly meeting at the Columbus Country Club. He was answering a question posed by Roger Truesdale.
The city works closely with the Mississippi University for Women, he said.
“I appreciate his interest on the infrastructure,” said Nora Miller, vice president for finance and administration at The W. “He’s got his priorities in the right place.”
City Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong said Thursday the city and university worked together on street paving and sidewalks.
The mayor said the city paved 60 streets with bond money during the just ended fiscal year.
Armstrong said the city spent $2 million on street paving and will spend $1.8 million more on paving in this fiscal year.
Smith said he offered councilmen for each of the city’s six wards an equal share of the $2 million to make street improvements in their wards.
Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem chose to spend the money on sidewalks, curbs and decorative lighting.
During the meeting, Karriem was not named but referred to by a description of his ward. During the question period, someone asked whether using that money for items other than street paving would affect paving in the ward.
Smith said he let councilmen make their own decisions with their share of the money.
“Whether I agreed with that or not, I didn’t argue with them,” he said, adding the other five councilmen wanted street paving.
Karriem said Wednesday he was curious why his projects were singled out for discussion. Nevertheless, Seventh Avenue North is a historical part of town that’s been neglected. He and 400 to 500 of his constituents want to start a revitalization project in their neighborhood that would make it as attractive as downtown, other neighborhoods, the soccer complex and Riverwalk.
“That’s the out-of-the-box thinking I think the city needs,” he said, adding that other councilmen could propose similar projects in their wards.
An artist’s conception depicts brick intersections and crosswalks, decorative metal lampposts, and new curb and sidewalk construction.
Public appearance was one of the charges to City Council when he was elected, he said. Making this state-recognized entertainment district attractive is part of that effort.
“If it’s good for Ward 5, it’s good for the city of Columbus,” Karriem said.
The work began Wednesday, he said, and paving is still slated for the ward when the next round of paving money is available in February.
Columbus Light and Water replaced storm drainage, sewer and water lines, some of which were 85 to 90 years old, in the just ended fiscal year, Smith reported.
The mayor covered other topics in round-robin fashion:
n Turning lanes and new traffic signals will be installed on several city roads beginning this month.
n Sales-tax revenues for the just ended fiscal year were $400,000 more than the previous fiscal year.
n New businesses slated to open in the next two months include Chick-Fil-A, Bojangles, two Dollar General stores and Tractor Supply Co. Other businesses coming to the city include a new Courtyard by Marriott hotel and Umi’s, a Japanese steakhouse.
n The downtown soccer park — a joint effort with Lowndes County — is 50 percent finished with a tentative opening in August 2012. When built, the city will be one of four in the state able to host tournaments.
The owner of Reed’s department store on Highway 45 North said Smith is a good and strong mayor. “He hit most of the points that I wanted answered,” Lex Jackson said.
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