Get the Mayor to ‘Do His Job

A common refrain during the build-up to Mayor Frank Melton’s felony trials this past month was that “people should just let the mayor do his job.

Given the results of the way the mayor has “done his job,” however, we encourage Jacksonians to think of it this way: It’s time for us to get the mayor to “do his job.”

And it’s up to all of us.

The city’s budget is in deficit, violent crime is up precipitously, and morale is low in many departments throughout the city. (It’s also low among many residents who champion a growing, business-friendly, progressive Jackson.) Things aren’t getting done—including the lower crime that Mr. Melton had promised the city. Under his watch (and that of his hand-picked police chief, his former Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics deputy), violent crime was up nearly 40 percent in 2006.

Mr. Melton needs to start by putting qualified candidates in charge of city departments. The problem couldn’t stand in greater relief than with the appointment of Charles Melvin to the post of Parks and Recreation director. Unfortunately for Mr. Melvin, he was put up to replace Ramey Ford, an imminently qualified and respected leader who, when pushed out of the city job early this year, found himself almost immediately offered a better post as the director of state parks under the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Mr. Melvin, by contrast, had also worked with Mr. Melton during Melton’s short stint as the MBN director; Melton tells us Melvin’s qualifications are that he’s an athletic man and a youth coach. But those qualifications clearly aren’t good enough—a fact that was painfully clear during his confirmation, when Melvin couldn’t answer basic questions about the Parks and Recreation Department, despite his work as interim director for a number of months. The council rightly rejected him.

Mr. Melton’s response is that he’s not going to put up any more candidates for these positions. The people of Jackson should respond, with a single voice: Yes, you are.

Mr. Melton can’t simply hire people because he likes them personally or because he can control them politically. It’s time for him to find and hire qualified people who can do their jobs. And he needs to get the petty politics out of it.

So far, doing things “his way” has not gotten Jackson the results that Melton promised. It’s time for him to do things our way, in the interest of the citizens of this city, not just in the interest of his personal friends.

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