New Marion County mayor promotes cooperation

photo Kimball mayor David Jackson reads statement about his resignation at the Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 meeting of the Kimball Board of Mayor and Alderman. Jackson was elected Marion County's new mayor in August.
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JASPER, Tenn. - There is a tradition of deep-rooted rivalries and downright mistrust across Marion County, and cooperation among the various local governments hasn't always been popular.

New County Mayor David Jackson is trying to change that.

Jackson has been attending every city meeting across the county since he took office Sept. 1 in an effort to promote teamwork.

"We want to work with the city councils to try and move this county forward," he said. "We're going to work together from one end [of the county] to the other. This county has the opportunity to grow, but only if people work together."

South Pittsburg, Tenn., Mayor Jane Dawkins said she appreciates Jackson's efforts to encourage countywide collaboration.

"[Jackson] and I have worked together with him as the mayor of Kimball for a good while," she said.

As mayor of Kimball, Jackson was "very helpful and very generous" when South Pittsburg was dealing with the aftermath of a flash flood in July 2013, Dawkins said.

"That certainly will not be forgotten by our people," she said.

Jasper Mayor Paul Evans said former County Mayor John Graham started a program in which all of the cities' mayors meet four times a year with the county mayor, which Jackson plans to continue.

"We sit around and talk to see how we can work with each other and help each other," he said. "I think that's a good starting point right there, and I look forward to working with Jackson as county mayor."

Jackson said one of his top goals is to lay a foundation to recruit more industry to the area.

Recently, the state sent four requests for proposals from businesses looking for new locations, but Jackson said Marion "didn't really have any properties that met the criteria."

"There's a lot of things that we really don't have done that could make us viable to get industry in here," he said.

Some initial work would include completing geotechnical and environmental studies on certain properties that could support new industry, he said.

The potential projects sent by the state come to county leaders with little more information than the company's list of needs.

"We don't know who they are or what they manufacture," Jackson said. "You really don't get into that until you get the opportunity to locate them here. We're going to work together to be a better place to attract these industries."

Jackson said he would try to attend at least one or two city meetings per year in each municipality to be more available to city leaders and county residents and continue the trend toward cooperation.

"We'll welcome [citizens'] calls or they can come by and see us," he said. "We're all from different parts of the county, but at the end of the day, we're all from Marion County."

Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.

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