Contact: Zack Plair
STARKVILLE, Miss.— Mississippi State University will host six Mississippi mayors for a forum this week at The Mill at MSU Conference Center.
Forum hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday [March 29] and 8 a.m.-noon on Wednesday [March 30]. Mayors taking part in the forum, two of whom come from each of Mississippi’s three state Supreme Court districts, include Kelvin Buck of Holly Springs, Eddie Fulton of Quitman, Sally Garland of Crystal Springs, Brad Necaise of Poplarville, Steve Rosenthal of Indianola and Rex Smith of Saltillo.
In its second year, MSU’s Stennis Institute of Government is partnering with the Mississippi Municipal League to host the event focused on networking, professional development and connecting the mayors with professional resources. Each mayor will present a case study on his or her city for discussion, and they also will have the opportunity to attend panel discussions with leading experts in the fields of planning and design.
The Stennis Institute is collaborating with the Department of Landscape Architecture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as the Carl Small Town Center in the College of Architecture, Art and Design, for the event.
“One thing that stands out about these forums is that, while each community may be different, the challenges they face are very similar,” said Joe Fratesi, Stennis Institute project director.
“Many of these towns don’t have a full-time planner, architect or urban designer, so they struggle to find solutions to those type of problems. By having access to those resources here, we hope these mayors will identify opportunities available in their communities to address these challenges.”
For more information, visit http://www.sig.msstate.edu/programs/msmayorsforum/.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.