Grantham and Smith vie for Saltillo mayor
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Apr. 2—SALTILLO — Voters will decide who they want to lead the city of Saltillo — two-term incumbent mayor Rex Smith or first-term alderman Copey Grantham — when they go to the polls next Tuesday.
The voters will also pare down the list of 14 candidates vying to sit on the city's board of aldermen down to just five who will serve until 2025. All the candidates qualified as Republicans.
Both mayoral candidates agree that infrastructure — particularly sewer and water improvements — should be high on the list for Saltillo's administration in the next four years.
Grantham wants to make sure the Sand Creek Regional Waste Water plant gets up and running at full capacity. He would also like to see the city replace its aging residential water meters. He said the city's current meters are inaccurate and usually show the customer used less water than they actually did. That problem is more important now that the city is purchasing water.
Smith said he would continue to search for funding to install a larger water line on the east side of town. He would also like to see major improvements at the W.K. Webb Sportsplex as well as a new, more centrally located fire department. That would cut down on response times to the west side of town.
Both candidates say they are looking forward to completing the lighting of the Highway 145 corridor and a Mississippi Department of Transportation project that will provide a center turn lane on Highway 145 from the Natchez Trace Parkway all the way north to the McDonald's area.
Although both candidates share some common ground, there are some differences between the 63-year-old Smith and the 36-year-old Grantham when it comes to the city's digital and online presence.
The city's website has been mothballed for quite some time and was only recently updated with new information on the current aldermen and department heads. The section where the minutes from board meetings are archived has not been updated since May 2017.
"The presence is there, but the way we use it could be improved," Smith said. "We certainly need to update the website more often. I would like to see our minutes loaded onto the website after the minutes are approved by the board."
Smith said he asked about broadcasting the city's regular meetings live during his first term, but the board was not interested at that time. He noted that whether the meeting was recorded and uploaded, or broadcast live, would have to be approved by the board of aldermen.
"No board member has mentioned the idea in the last four years, so it appeared there was no interest," Smith said.
Grantham, on the other hand, is ready to push forward with the concept.
"I want to livestream all board meetings," Grantham said. "We have a $7.5 million budget. I think the citizens should know how we are spending their money.
"I also plan to have a Virtual Friday, to go live on line once a month to give updates and answer questions," he said.
To reach more citizens and further the sense of transparency, Grantham said he'd like the board to return to having two regularly scheduled meetings every month, instead of one regular meeting and a handful of called special meetings.
Grantham has been critical of Smith's decision to close the lobby of city hall during the pandemic and force people to do all business over the phone or in the drive-thru window. Smith countered that he, the city clerk and the zoning officer never turned anyone away and would meet in person with anyone who requested it.
"We reopened the doors when the Governor relaxed the COVID regulations," Smith said. "It is great to be back fully open."
In part because of the pandemic, the city now accepts utility payments online. Even with a convenience fee added for using a card, Smith said the online service is being used a lot and seems to be popular with our customers.
If elected, Grantham would try to expand the service the to include accepting debit and credit cards inside city hall and in the court system.
With Grantham giving up his seat on the board to run for mayor, Saltillo will have at least one new alderman or alderwoman next week. The people running are Brandon Bailey, Scottie Clark (i), Ron Cottom, George "Dinky" Crowder, Donald Cullum (i), Gene Echols, Terry Glidewell (i), Scott Knight, Bill Monaghan, Brian Morgan, Brandon Sanders, Craig Sanders (i), Dylan Whitt and Sonya Hill Witcher.
Residents can vote for up to five candidates.
