Gist Speaks at Mayoral Forum

Posted Mar 12, 2015

This afternoon, Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist spoke to a room full of college students about his past two terms as mayor and his vision for the future as part of a joint effort by the Departments of Political Science and Sociology to better inform our students and to encourage them to participate in their local community.

Mayor Gist argued that Jackson is a city on the rise. When he first took office, he was left with a $2 million shortfall and then the Great Recession hit which caused tax revenue to decline and foreclosures to rise. Yet, he argued that while Jackson has had some problems, things are improving. Due to his leadership, bond ratings have been raised twice, unemployment is down to 6.6%, and crime, which has been a problem in the past, has seen a 21% drop in the past year alone.

Gist started talking about his background about how his father and brother ran for office and how he decided that he would never run for office. But after getting a Masters in Public Administration, he worked a little while in the private sector where his organization went out of business and he eventually got a job running parks and recreation in a city in Georgia. In 1977, he came to take over the Parks and Recreation Department in Jackson. Soon thereafter, he was placed in charge of public grounds and was instrumental in building the fair ground. Later, he was placed in charge of Public Works where he supervised roads, health, and sanitation.

In 2000, he felt called to run for Mayor of Madison County and won by about 2000 votes. Reelected unopposed, he ran for Mayor of Jackson in 2007 and was easily reelected in 2011. In helping students think about who to vote for, he told them to put themselves in the shoes of a Board of Directors who was looking to replace a CEO. Would you select someone with administrative experience or go for change? And if you supported change, what counts as change and is that a good change we need?

In talking about his role as mayor, he said that he is not just concerned about Jackson alone. Jackson is important to all of Madison County and West Tennessee because people work, shop, and get medical care here but may live elsewhere. To demonstrate this, he said Jackson has 67,000 people within its borders at 6am. But by 9am, that number has almost doubled as people from all over West Tennessee are coming to Jackson for various reasons. Moreover, West Tennessee is important to recruiting industry because Jackson does not have enough workers to fill all the positions. So when he recruits industry, he is not recruiting for Jackson alone but West Tennessee. And if Jackson does well, then the rest of West Tennessee will prosper.

As we approach the election, he argued for experience and stability in government because that is necessary to recruit restaurants, hotels, and industry. He knows the people involved in these areas and can build the relationships to continue the good work that has been done the past eight years. He then talked about some of his successes. He talked about $50 million invested in Midtown with the Lift and restaurants like Rock ‘n Dough pizza. He talked about the Blue Impact program that puts officers and surveillance cameras in hot spots of crime so they can stop it before it starts. He also talked about how he gets along well with the Madison County Mayor and Commission (practically all Republicans) and that he ended the turf wars between the city and county and a new mayor would be unlikely to do it.

In the question and answer portion, he talked about infrastructure plans such as widening I-40 to six lanes through Jackson and extending Vann Drive to Campbell St. In regard to a question about the problems in East Jackson, he talked about his reforms to reduce crime and put more retail stores in East Jackson to help the economy of the area. When asked about the most important issue facing Jackson in the next 4 years, he identified two. First, he said that we need to continue to work to reduce crime. Second, we need more affordable housing to build the inner city.