The 2017 municipal election season is less than one week away.
Qualification for municipal posts begins Tuesday and will be open until 5 p.m. on March 3.
Candidates can register to run at the city registrar’s office at 1621 Main St.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, candidates must be registered voters in the municipality in which they’re running to qualify for a municipal election. Candidates must also have never been convicted of bribery, perjury or any other “infamous crime” punishable by confinement in the penitentiary; not have been convicted of a felony in federal court after Dec. 8, 1992 or of a crime in another state, which is a felony in Mississippi after Dec. 8, 1992.
Municipal party primary elections will be held on May 2 with runoffs on May 16, if necessary. General elections will be held on June 6.
An election will be held for each of Columbus’ six city council seats and the mayor’s office. All incumbents have indicated they plan to seek re-election.
So far, no citizens have publicly announced their intent to challenge any of the incumbents.
Mayor Robert Smith, who has previously indicated his intention to run, reaffirmed to The Dispatch on Wednesday he will seek his third full term.
Smith took office in Oct. 2006 to serve a partial term after former mayor Jeffrey Rupp vacated the position. He has since served two full terms.
Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor will also seek his third full term. Taylor served a partial term when he replaced Smith as the Ward 1 representative after Smith won the mayor’s office.
“I want the people to know that I appreciate their confidence in me, and I look forward to serving them again,” Taylor said.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, Ward 3’s Charlie Box and Ward 6’s Bill Gavin will all seek a third term to their seats. All have represented their wards on the council since 2009.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people, and I want to run,” Box said. “It takes a little while to get your feet on the ground, so I feel like I’ve got something to offer.”
Gavin, for his part, concurred with Box, adding he wants to continue working on issues, such as community safety and infrastructure improvements, that face the city.
“I’ve got some things going on that I would like to see finished in the next term,” he said. “It’s a never-ending process.”
Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner will run for his second term in office. Turner won election in 2013. Turner said he feels he still has work to finish — pointing to projects such as the Seventh Avenue drainage improvement project — while he’s on the council.
“I need to complete that before I can say I did anything,” Turner said.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said he will run for his first full term.
Jones won the Ward 5 seat in March to serve the remainder of former councilman Kabir Karriem’s term. Karriem left the council at the end of 2015 to begin serving as the Democratic representative for District 43 in the Mississippi House of Representatives.
“I think I need a full term to finish some of the things I wanted to get done,” Jones said. “I think I’ve started off pretty good and want to continue to serve people.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.