Starkville mayoral candidates Johnny Moore, Damion Poe and Lynn Spruill all say they’ll keep their future City Hall office door open to the public if elected and pledged to remain accessible to the community during the Monday’s first public forum of this year’s municipal election cycle.
All three Democrats laid out their platforms and visions for the city in front of a crowd of about 100 people gathered Tuesday at the Greensboro Center. Starkville Daily News sponsored the event.
For the most part, the aspiring mayors stuck to their general messages and perceptions of city government – all three agreed tending to jobs, infrastructure and partnerships are high-priority items on their agendas – while mostly avoiding calls for new policies or delving into their intricacies.
Moore and Spruill, however, did diverge in a policy approach when addressing how to step up efforts to improve Starkville’s water, sewer and road infrastructure: Moore suggested loosening regulations on developers to help grow the city’s tax base – Starkville is “growing in spite of itself,” he said – and provide more funds for infrastructure in the future. Spruill said the city has to aggressively fund maintenance efforts now if residents want to see a direct impact.
Poe wants to develop an arts district as a community development initiative to draw in more tourism dollars and suggested Mississippi State University students pay a “fair tax” to help supplement infrastructure streams they’re not directly paying through millage levied on personal property. While he did not specifically outline what the tax would be during the forum, afterward he pointed to a post on his campaign website stating a fuel tax could capture additional monies since most college students’ car tags are not registered in Oktibbeha County.
Candidates address party affiliations
Both Poe and Spruill made non-partisan overtures when the three candidates were asked why they are running as Democrats, while Moore highlighted his family’s connection with the Democratic Party.
A first-time candidate, Poe said party affiliation was a non-issue for him, as plans to serve Starkville as a whole instead of a specific political bloc of voters.
“Honestly, I could have run as a Democrat; I could have run as a Republican; I could have run as an independent. I have the same goals and the same drive,” he said. “At the end of the day, the mayor serves Starkville.”
While acknowledging her political leanings fall in line more with the Democratic Party than the GOP, Spruill said local elections should be non-partisan affairs.
“There’s nothing Republican or Democrat about fixing your streets, about keeping your police in place, about safety, about fire, about administration, about sanitation,” she said.
Moore, the son of former Democratic State Sen. John Paul Moore, recounted post-college financial struggles he and his wife endured, including their time of living in government housing and standing “in the cheese line on Whitfield Street” waiting to receive formula and diapers.
“That sounds like a really bad time, but you know what? My wife and I, we look back at that as times we remember the most because when you struggle, it brings you closer together and makes you a better person,” he said. “I feel like that aligns me more with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.”
The election
The May 2 Democratic Primary will decide Starkville’s the mayor’s race after no Republicans or independents qualified for the race.
Moore, 56, has practice law in Starkville for three decades and owns Moore Law Office. He is a Mississippi State University graduate and went on to receive his law degree from the University of Mississippi.
Poe, 26, is a Sitel human resources recruiter who previously served in a human resources capacity with the Mississippi Army National Guard.
Spruill, 64, served as Starkville’s chief administrative officer under the administrations of Mayor Parker Wiseman and former Mayor Dan Camp. She also served as the mayor of Addison, Texas, from 1988-93.
A runoff election will be held May 16 if a candidate fails to get more than 50 percent of the vote.
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Voter Education Initiative will host a second mayoral candidate forum at 6 p.m. on April 10 at the Greensboro Center.
Similar events for aldermen races will be held on April 3 (Wards 1 and 2) and April 19 (Wards 4, 5 and 7) at the same time and location.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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