Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies joined WKHM on Wednesday, and we asked about how things are going with finding a replacement councilperson for the Fifth Ward. The applicant deadline is Friday, and they are hoping to begin interviewing candidates next week.

“We’ll be going through the applicants and see who has the values and vision to lead the Fifth Ward and serve with the rest of the council.” Dobies said. The City Manager will be calling applicants to gauge their schedules so that a special meeting can be held to handle the business of finding a new representative. First, all the candidates need to qualify, “The City Attorney (Bethany Smith) is going through their qualifications making sure that they satisfy those preliminary requirements.” Dobies added.

We asked Mayor Dobies what he’s looking for in a councilperson, “We’ve been very purposeful about some of  the policies and programs that we’ve implemented in the past five years that are helping rebuild our city clean up our community, clean up the blight out of our neighborhoods, start to rebuild our downtown and jump start our economy. ” He’s hoping to find someone who understands that mission. He’s also looking at the human side of things, “Someone that can understand that, understand the Master Plan that we have, and the vision looking 10 years forward, and also someone who is going to be able to work well with others. I think that is just as important.”

Finally, we asked Mayor Dobies to clarify the residency rule, since there had been some speculation about Council members in the past. “You do have to live in the ward for at least 1 year prior.” he said.