Editor’s note: The Dispatch is touring all five Lowndes County districts with their respective supervisor. The goal is to highlight each region’s unique aspects and challenges, and how that region’s supervisor approaches the job. We are publishing each district’s story on five straight Mondays. Today, we present District 4.
District 4 runs the gamut of every socioeconomic class and many of the residences Jeff Smith represents have varying needs, regardless of income or background.
The two most basic and dire concerns — drainage and road deterioration — are split by the Tennessee Tombigbee River. On the east side of the river, drainage is the primary issue. During a recent tour of his district with The Dispatch, Smith pinpointed and surgically detailed the most pressing of them, many of which are in or near Southside in the city limits as well as areas in East Columbus that the city recently annexed. West of the river, Smith has the most gravel roads of any Lowndes County district.
Smith is also adamant about providing recreational opportunities for people in more isolated areas of his district. There are areas like the Concord community on Hughes Road. A playground and park are already in place there to serve the community, but a community center is also in the works. Then there’s an ongoing project for a new baseball field in Plum Grove.
Fire protection is one of a few objectives Smith is behind in the Crawford area. The old fire station near the community center and park has been demolished to make way for a new four-bay building there. Smith is also seeking funding to renovate the gymnasium behind the community center.
Simply put, Smith admits there are a lot of things he wants to address to improve the quality of life in District 4.
“My district is diverse in that I have a mixture of rich, middle income and poor,” he said. “Because of that, needs in those particular areas vary. I always come to my board with something. It’s my responsibility to share with my colleagues those things that have been shared with me. I try to get my colleagues to ride with me and see some of the issues that I have to address so they don’t think I’m just coming in there and bombarding the board every meeting with this, that and the other. I know sometimes it seems that way, but it’s not my desire.”
Demographically, District 4 has by far the highest minority population of the county’s five. More than 82 percent of its 11,489 residents are black. Just over 16 percent of them are white. Other minorities make up the remaining 1.5 percent.
District 4 is the second largest district in the county based on square mileage. It has the most roads in the county except for District 1.
Its area is sprawling, its boundaries oddly shaped. It takes up all of south and southwest Lowndes County, including Crawford and Plum Grove as well as a portion of extreme southeastern Lowndes County just above the Noxubee County line.
In or near the city limits, his focus is on drainage improvements including the Deerfield, Barclay and First Colony subdivisions off South Lehmberg Road, Swedenburg Road and Highway 69. Addressing the latter of those two involves getting board approval to have Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District clean ditches in those areas. Since the Deerfield subdivision was included in the city’s annexation, his work to improve drainage there has been passed on to the city, although Smith said he’s still in communication with public works crews and receiving progress updates regularly. Four of the eight property owners who are most affected must sign temporary easements for the drainage work to begin, four of which Smith said have agreed.
Another recent development in the Deerfield subdivision is the placement of speed bumps on Read Drive, Brooks Drive and Deerfield Drive. Smith said he received about 75 signatures from residents of the area asking the county to prevent motorists from speeding as a safety measure.
“We were trying to protect the interests of the people that live in that community,” Smith said.
One accomplishment for which Smith is proud is his role in the water extension into Frisco Road, Christian Circle and East Railroad Drive. More than 30 residences in those areas that previously relied on quickly-drying wells for water. They’re now customers of East Lowndes Water Association. A grant from the Mississippi Development Authority changed that.
“That in and of itself is a great feat,” Smith said.
Smith said he’s also pleased with commitments to build a baseball field in Plum Grove (dirt and seed work is complete and construction of a fence around the area is next on the to-do list) and a future community center for the Concord community next to the park there. Smith said if county funds are sufficient next year, supervisors will provide Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority the funding needed to begin work on that facility.
“It’s a pretty populated community that ties District 3 and 4 together,” Smith said. “They have no public facility for community functions. There was a need.”
Several of the roughly 600 people in Plum Grove are youth and need a near-by recreational area, he added.
“Plum Grove is a part of Lowndes County and a viable part of this community,” Smith said. “It’s very important for them that this park is completed because a lot of things can be done out there with our youth and the community as a whole with that park that right now they don’t have the capacity to do.”
Several of District 4’s roads west of the river, such as Tarleton Road, deteriorate more quickly than your average thoroughfare due to the contents of the soil, Smith said, which creates a unique challenge for him and county road crews in making sure they’re kept in working condition.
Making sure at least one road in Crawford is on the work list each year for the county’s four-year road plan is also something Smith says he makes sure to do. That scratches the surface of Crawford’s many needs, a town he admits needs “a shot of hope.”
One of his priorities in providing that starts back at the site of the community center there, which opened in 2012. The playground and ball park there have been necessary amenities provided in recent years, but the community gym behind the center is showing signs of age and disrepair. Smith said he’s in the process of seeking state funds that might help the county renovate the building.
Behind that building is a two-acre wooded area sandwiched by two residential areas. In the long term, Smith said he plans to seek grant funding that could help get the ball rolling on building some new, affordable homes with walking access to the park and gym.
“My desire is to turn this into the centerpiece that gives some momentum to the town of Crawford,” Smith said. “If people see investment, they’ll be willing to invest themselves, but you’ve got to see change to want to be a part of change.
“It’s a challenge,” Smith adds, “but you can’t be afraid to try if you want to be successful. It’s not going to fix itself.”
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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