Inside his office, Wayman Newell keeps framed photos of road projects from his 12 years as a Lauderdale County supervisor for District 2.

The Republican who retired from McGregor Printing in 2000 said road crews have put up eight new bridges and paved 16 dirt roads during his time in office.

More than 30 other roads in his district have been resurfaced, he said.

“I am happy that we’ve been able, in my opinion, to move Lauderdale County forward,” Newell said. 

Supervisors have been working to recruit industry, one of the biggest challenges for the county, according to Newell.

“We solicited our state senator, Mr. Gregg Snowden, and the lieutenant governor in helping us get some money to clean off the industrial park on 20 and 59,” Newell said.

Newell is also hoping the new courthouse project at the site of the old Village Fair Mall will bring in tax revenue for the county. 

“We can sell some property to some investors that want it or some individuals that want to put a business down there and so forth and we can recoup money for what we paid for it,” he said. 

Democrat Craig Houston is challenging Newell in the District 2 race. 

The independent insurance agent ran for the seat in 2015 and said one reason he is running again is that he hasn’t seen progress. 

“I don’t think we really have any vision or any new vision,” Houston said. “I think it’s the same old antiquated ideas and so we’re not moving forward.”

According to Houston, one of the biggest challenges in the county is a decreasing population. 

“We’ve got to address losing our most valuable resource, which is people, and also the lack of economic development is hurting us,” he said. 

If elected, Houston said he would focus on road and bridge maintenance, improving citizens’ quality of life and pushing harder for economic development. 

“We need to work closely with city and county government, not just in Lauderdale County. We also need to work with Kemper County, Newton County, Clarke County, Choctaw County, Alabama, seeing it as a regional thing,” Houston said.

County supervisors in Mississippi serve four year terms. The annual salary for a Lauderdale County supervisor is approximately $44,700.