STARKVILLE — Two Democrats qualified Thursday to challenge incumbents in primaries for separate wards.
Jimmy Joe Buckley is running for Ward 2 alderman, while Joe Evans filed to run in Ward 5. Buckley will attempt to unseat Sandra Sistrunk, while Evans is challenging first-term alderman Hamp Beatty.
Buckley, 62, is a retired electrician and veteran of the U.S. Army and Mississippi National Guard. He served in 1991 in Operation Desert Storm and retired from the military with the rank of staff sergeant.
He is a Starkville native and son of one of the first female officers hired at Starkville Police Department. He volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and has assisted with projects for the Oktibbeha County Humane Society.
As alderman, Buckley said he will strongly support law enforcement, first responders and continued improvement of parks and recreation opportunities.
He told The Dispatch he wanted to remove restrictions on businesses that are “stifling” economic development. He believes the actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic have made that worse, “sometimes unnecessarily,” referring to the temporary shutdown of non-essential businesses last spring.
“We need to make our city a friendlier place for businesses to come and establish themselves,” Buckley said. “Currently, I don’t think the city is focusing on the kinds of things that will make that impact.”
A particular “pet-peeve” for Buckley is “depleted” commercial properties in highly visible areas like Highway 12 and 182. He is also concerned about the aesthetics of downtown.
“We want to market ourselves as ‘Starkvegas,’ but when we have rundown commercial properties that ought to be made to be cleaned up, that’s not very ‘Starkvegas.'”
Downtown, he said, particularly Main Street, needs to be resurfaced and restriped.
“I bet downtown Maben looks twice as good as ours,” he said.
Joe Evans runs in Ward 5
Joe Evans, 50, teaches vocal music privately and plays local gigs professionally. He volunteers with programs at Mississippi State University, including the annual Summer Scholars theater camp.
He said he’s thought about running for office since he was a newspaper reporter covering city government 15 years ago.
Evans holds bachelor’s degrees in educational psychology and musical education, as well as a master’s in counseling, all from MSU.
As an alderman, Evans said he would seek to find ways policy can best balance between economic growth and preserving the “quintessentially Starkvillian” way of life.
“I’ve seen the board for years struggle with the basic question, ‘What is the nature of Starkville?'” Evans said. “It’s about trying to meet the needs of all Starkvillians, whether they be college students or people who have lived here 40 or 60 years.”
Part of that effort, he said, is not becoming “entrenched” as a city or “inflexible” with policies in a way that would deter opportunity.
“We need to look at our ordinances in how they will affect us in six months, as well as the impact they will have long-term,” he said.
The qualifying deadline is 5 p.m. today. Party primaries are April 6 and the general election is set for June 8.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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