Jackson Chief Administrative Officer Pieter Teeuwissen resigned on good terms this week after almost a year in his position.
“Over the past year, Pieter has been an essential part of our team,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn said in a Monday press release.
Teeuwissen led efforts to balance Jackson’s budget with strategies like eliminating the parks and recreation department without layoffs or program cancellations.
“As we’ve faced budget shortfalls, Pieter has been at the table, working through the hard conversations and helping chart a responsible path forward,” the mayor said in the press release.
Teeuwissen will remain in his position through the remainder of the fiscal year until the end of September, Jackson City Council President Brian Grizzell said in a Monday press release.
“His continued leadership during this transition is critically important as the City works through the annual budget process,” Grizzell said in the press release. “His experience, institutional knowledge, and steady hand will help facilitate thoughtful deliberations and provide continuity as the administration and City Council work together to develop and adopt a fiscally responsible budget for the people of Jackson.”
Horhn: Teeuwissen’s ‘Circumstances Have Changed’
Pieter Teeuwissen’s resignation comes after his longtime law partner Anthony R. Simon died in May.
“The loss of (Teeuwissen’s) law partner earlier this year was a profound one, and I have the deepest respect for Pieter’s honesty in recognizing that his circumstances have changed,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn said in a Monday press release.
The National Conference of Bar Examiners also recently appointed Teeuwissen to their Board of Trustees.
“His recent appointment as a trustee to the National Conference of Bar Examiners speaks to the caliber of professional he is, and I know he will carry that same level of dedication into that new chapter,” Horhn said in the Monday press release.
Teeuwissen’s late law partner served on the board for 10 years prior to his death.
“While I fully respect Pieter’s decision and wish him every success in this next chapter of his distinguished career, I accept his resignation with both regret and reservation,” Jackson City Council President Brian Grizzell said in a Monday press release. “His departure represents a significant loss for the City of Jackson and for those of us who have had the privilege of working alongside him.”
Teeuwissen was not available to comment on his resignation.
Grizzell: ‘Pieter’s Career of Public Service Is Truly Remarkable’
While Pieter Teeuwissen’s work as Jackson’s Chief Administrative Officer began under Mayor John Horhn last year, it was far from the beginning of his public service career.
“Pieter’s career of public service is truly remarkable,” Jackson City Council President Brian Grizzell said in a Monday press release. “… Few public servants possess the historical perspective, professional expertise, and steady temperament that Pieter brought to every discussion and every decision.”
Teeuwissen earned his law degree at the University of Minnesota Law School in 1990 after completing a bachelor’s degree in history and political science at Tougaloo College in 1987.
Shortly after earning his degrees, Teeuwissen became a staff attorney for the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
Teeuwissen’s work for the City of Jackson began in 2004 when he became the special assistant to the city attorney in Jackson.
The Mississippi Supreme Court appointed Teeuwissen as a part-time special judge, assisting the Seventh Circuit Court of Hinds County with its criminal docket for a few months in addition to his work for the City of Jackson, in 2008.
Former Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. appointed him as the lead city attorney in 2009, shortly after his judgeship ended.
Teeuwissen soon led the city’s defense for issuing a 90-day unpaid suspension to former Jackson Police Department detective Ernest Perry for alleged fuel theft following internal affairs investigations under former police chiefs Malcolm McMillin and Rebecca Coleman.
After his stint as Jackson’s city attorney, Teeuwissen served as the attorney for the Hinds County Board of Supervisors for more than six years. He represented the county during the implementation of a 2016 Department of Justice settlement that required the county to form the Hinds County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, a board intended to speed up legal process wait times in the county.
In 2023, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves appointed Teeuwissen as a Hinds County Court Judge to fill the position Judge LaRita Cooper-Stokes left following her death. Her husband, Kenneth Stokes, represents ward 3 on the Jackson City Council.
Jackson Water Conflict
In 2019 Pieter Teeuwissen and his late law partner, Anthony R. Simon, filed a lawsuit on behalf of six Jackson residents over water billing. Their water bills ranged from $1,000 to $34,000.
The lawsuit alleged that the City knew their water-billing system was giving inaccurate bills, but it did not tell account holders.
Billing conflicts arose after the City signed a $90 million contract with Siemens Corp. for a water and sewer improvement project in 2012. Teeuwissen was serving as the Jackson City Attorney at the time.
“I sat outside the steps of city hall,” Teeuwissen said in a 2019 press conference about the lawsuit. “I didn’t even want to be there. I felt it was going to be a bad deal, and I knew they were going to task me with making sure it was legal.”
Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Tiffany Grove later disqualified Teeuwissen from the case because he was serving as the Jackson City Attorney at the time of the contract’s signing.
Conflict over disparities in water bills remains ongoing in Jackson.
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