Coleman and council members assume roles
Newly-elected Rosedale mayor, Jack Coleman, and four City Council members were sworn in at a ceremony held at the town’s courthouse on Sunday, December 29, at 3:00 p.m. with approximately 250 people in attendance. The candidates all were victorious in a special election held on December 9.
Coleman, a local businessman and Rosedale native, will serve his first term along with three new City Council members: for Council Ward 1, Lezedric Walker; for Council Ward 2, Kierre Scott; and for Council Ward 3 member, Jonathan Moore. Council Ward 3 member, Douglas Kelly, was re-elected to his position.
All candidates were administered their oaths of office by Circuit Judge Linda Coleman, with Coleman’s hand resting on the Bible of his great-grandfather, Lee Jackson, during his swearing in.
“Rosedale has a special or private charter from the State of Mississippi,” explained Coleman, about why the ceremony was held on a Sunday. “This is a special law just written for Rosedale. So, we have our elections every four years on the second Monday in December. We take office on January 1. We chose to have our inauguration on Sunday, December 29, in the middle of the afternoon so that it would be most accessible to our constituents.”
When asked what the day’s experience meant to him, Coleman answered, “The inauguration was the culmination of the intense campaign that had started back in mid-October. I campaigned door-to-door and it was one of the most satisfying experiences in my life. I heard first-hand the hopes and dreams of the people for a better town. I heard their criticisms of the prior government, and I was very pleased to receive overwhelming support for me to be their mayor and for the agenda that I have set forth. So, the inauguration was the coming together of a very happy citizenry that wants major change in Rosedale, and we will deliver it for them.”
Coleman said he has laid out a comprehensive plan to address the needs of the people of Rosedale that have been neglected for so long. “We will get started on that path with our first Mayor-Council Meeting on January 7th,” he said. “In fact, my first act as mayor was to lay out a clear agenda for action for that meeting.”
Several issues are uppermost in the new mayor’s mind as he assumes office.
“Most importantly, we will focus on improving the level of healthcare available in Rosedale by pushing to reopen our hospital and establish a rural critical access clinic,” said Coleman. “There is a critical need for a hospital emergency room here because of the more than 5,000 people in western Bolivar County, and because of the more than 30,000 middle age to older visitors that we anticipate from the cruise boats to Rosedale’s Terrene Landing each year and the tens of thousands of additional tourists that we will soon be visiting private companies here. Also because of the more than 600 industrial jobs in Rosedale, many of which are dangerous.”
Coleman continued, “We also have critical needs to upgrade our city water pipes and system, to upgrade our city fire response capabilities, to create recreational opportunities such as improving our city park for youth activities and creating walking/biking trails, to improve the Great River Road State Park and more fully integrate it into the other activities of the City, and to continue to improve sidewalks, streetlights, and other public infrastructure.”