city council

Following Tuesday’s elections in Meridian, campaigns are dissolving, yard signs are coming down and three new representatives are getting ready to join the city council.

Incumbents George Thomas of Ward 1 and Kim Houston of Ward 4 faced no opposition for their seats and will be joined July 5 by new members Tyrone Johnson of Ward 2, Fannie Johnson of Ward 3 and Weston Lindemann of Ward 5. 

The council members come with a variety of backgrounds and experience. Thomas has served on the council since before Lindemann, the youngest representative, was born, and, with Fannie Johnson and Tyrone Johnson joining Houston on the board, Meridian is seeing the first majority African-American council in the city’s history. 

Fannie Johnson

To Fannie Johnson, any differences in their backgrounds show that each candidate had the respect of the voters, regardless of race or age.

“To me, it’s the combination of what we bring to the table. We all bring something different to the table individually, but together we’re going to be a force that’s reckoned with,” Fannie Johnson said. “Lindemann and I probably have nothing in common, but we can sit down and talk about the issues that need to be done. We’re all different but in the end we have the same goal: making every citizen of Meridian’s quality of life as good as we can.”

Fannie Johnson, the executive director for L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, said she looks forward to using her council position to channel her passion for service and help the city’s needy, especially the homeless and elderly. 

She said she’d like to develop a mentoring program that pairs the youth with the area’s elderly. Senior citizens get someone to help them around the house and the youth get a role model.

“I think we lose a lot of the stories,” Fannie Johnson said, remembering the stories her grandparents shared. “I miss that. And I think that some of our kids don’t have that and some of our older people don’t have the kids to talk to… I want to get this younger person helping and this older person helping them. And then the whole community gets better.”

She said she hopes Meridian children will realize the appeal of Meridian through the various community programs she has planned.

“I want our kids to know there’s a future right here in Meridian. You don’t have to necessarily leave – you can get your degree here, you can get a good job here and you can get your home here. You can get a good life here,” Fannie Johnson said, recalling her experiences traveling and living all over the world.

“We know each other, we love each other (here)… I know, probably better than anyone, how good the people of Meridian are because L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen wouldn’t exist (without them). I can get on the phone and say, ‘A homeless person needs some shoes’ and I’ll get those shoes in the same day,” Fannie Johnson said.

Fannie Johnson has already started preparing for her role, using lessons in grant writing for L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen and also applying them to the city. She said she might have to give up a few community positions – not because of time commitment but because she didn’t want to cross any lines or make someone uncomfortable with her position.

“I don’t plan on giving up anything (more). There’s 24 hours in a day and even if I slept eight hours, which I don’t do most of the time, there’s still 16 hours, seven days a week,” Fannie Johnson said. “So I plan on adding stuff. I like a full plate.”

Weston Lindemann

Lindemann, 20, said he doesn’t anticipate conflicts with his schedule, despite juggling classes part time at Millsaps College in the fall in addition to his council duties.

“Taking two classes a semester is only going to help in terms of innovative things and critical thinking skills that you sometimes lose years after college,” Lindemann said.

Lindemann said his age shows that young people, millennials specifically, can make a difference. Mostly, Lindemann emphasized he will be an involved council representative who will listen to the residents of Ward 5.

“I want to be more than a councilman twice a month. I want to engaged in every neighborhood and community across Ward 5,” Lindemann said. “(For example,) down the road from my house is an abandoned sock factory. Well, what can we turn that into?… I want to hear the people’s voice and then really make it happen.”

Tyrone Johnson

Similar to Lindemann, Tyrone Johnson said he feels optimistic about the work the council will be able to achieve. 

“Throughout the campaign, we built relationships,” he said. “I think (the teamwork) is going to be really good for Meridian.”

For Tyrone Johnson, one of the most important issues across the city, but specifically in Ward 2, is sewage.

“We have a lot of sewage issues. I know it’s across the city but here in Ward 2 it’s causing some damages to homes,” Tyrone Johnson said. “I’m a maintenance man and so I think preventative maintenance is very important. So these are the issues that I want to try to fix.”

Kim Houston 

Tyrone Johnson and Lindemann both mentioned the potential to accomplish more in this upcoming term than the previous term, citing a joint campaign as the “Democratic Five.”

All five of the campaign’s  candidates – Mayor Percy Bland, Tyrone Johnson, Fannie Johnson, Houston and Lindemann – won their seats, raising concerns that the council would bend to the mayor’s office without questioning his recommendations.

But Houston, starting her second term, says the council will continue to provide checks and balances without “rubber stamping.”

“We’re still going to hold the administration accountable, we’re still going to have checks and balances and we’re still going to try to work with the administration to move forward together. Because if we can move forward together it’s going to help the entire city,” Houston said. “It won’t be so much that anybody is rubber stamping anything but it’ll be a matter of having that open dialogue and everybody just trying to work together to do the best we can for the city.”

Houston anticipates the new council members will need more time to set the budget than in past years to ensure they understand the process and have time to study it. 

“I still have a little more learning to do myself but serving as president this past year as taught me a lot. I look forward to sharing that with the new council,” Houston said.

The Mississippi Municipal League will hold its annual conference in July, providing training and classes to newly-elected officials, and Houston said each of the new members told her they’d marked their calendars. 

“We need to try to all work together toward the betterment of the entire city. Even though each of us represents a segment of the city, if we all work together the whole city can get better. If we’re all pulling the same way, the whole city can prosper,” Houston said. 

George Thomas 

For Thomas, who’s served on the council since the mid-80s, the body should focus on public safety, infrastructure, economic development and public education.

“As you help one of those you help the other three,” Thomas said. “There’s a learning curve though – there’s no doubt about that. When you serve in public office, there’s a learning curve for what your role is.”

Thomas said the council has three roles: setting policy, deciding the budget and hiring the city’s auditor. One of the biggest challenges the incoming council members will face is setting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Over the next few months, the council will allocate money to various city departments and estimate incoming revenue for the next year.

“I think that biggest challenge for me when I first got on the council was trying to understand the difference between the council’s role and the administration’s role,” Thomas said. “We set the policy and the administration’s role is to carry it out.”

Thomas will be the lone Republican on the council, but emphasizes that party affiliations are set aside once the council gets to work. 

“Once you get on the council, party doesn’t make any difference,” he said. “You’re a member of the city council whether you’re a Democrat, Libertarian or Independent. What you do out in the community, that’s up to you. But when you’re on the council, your job is to be a council person.”

Thomas is optimistic about the new council.

“New people always bring new ideas and new ways of doing things,” Thomas said. “I think they’re good people. Three good people. They’re all energetic and want to do a good job and I think they will.”