From the city’s drainage issues to annexing portions of Lowndes County, newly re-elected Columbus Mayor Robert Smith has “a lot on his plate” for the upcoming term.

Although Smith and the six members of the 2009-2013 Columbus City Council will not take office until early next month, the Democratic mayor already is making plans for the new term.

Smith in 2006 overwhelmingly was elected the city’s first black mayor after former mayor Jeffrey Rupp left the position to take a job at Mississippi State University. Earlier this month, Smith soundly defeated independent mayoral candidate Thom Geiger to claim a second term as the city’s mayor.

Smith on Thursday took time to share his thoughts on the myriad issues facing him as he prepares to take office for his second term.

Looking back on your more than two years as the city’s mayor, is there anything you wish you had done differently?

I don’t have any regrets. It’s been a challenging and demanding job, but I’ve enjoyed the job and enjoyed working with the citizens. I look forward to the next four years being an exciting four years.

As far as the next four years, once the council is sworn in, I have planned a work session to discuss the financial stability, annexation and seeking grants for low- to moderate-income homes. We want to continue to have a good working relationship with the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors, the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, the city school system, the Columbus Housing Authority and all the other entities that are pertinent to the city of Columbus.

Is there anything you and the council were unable to complete during the last few years that you would like to finish in the upcoming term?

Well, one of the major priorities is drainage problems. From a drainage standpoint, it will take about $100 million to correct all the problems. So, you have to do it in increments. We have some very serious drainage problems in East Columbus and in the Masonic Subdivision, but through working with our congressmen and senators, they have been able to get the ball rolling on this.

With the way the economy is now, we also need to focus on financial stability. People are very concerned about where we are from a financial standpoint. This year compared to last year, we are better off now as far as our general fund, which is good. Columbus has been blessed so far. Of course, the bottom may drop out tomorrow, but we are in good standing today.

In addition to that, we are going to have to be concerned about the sportsplex. We had a joint meeting this Wednesday with the city and the recreation authority and we made a decision there about which one we wanted to pursue. We owed it to the citizens and taxpayers to at least make a decision on purchasing the property.

Annexation is going to be a priority as well. You always want to make sure you can provide services to the areas you annex. The most reasonable place we could annex would be out in East Columbus from Highway 50 and Highway 12 to Sand Road and everything to the left of Lehmberg Road. Along South Lehmberg, we want to take in areas like Cypress Park all the way down to Yorkville Road. By taking all those areas in, it would expand our tax base and allow us to provide services more cheaply.

Another focus will be to reduce crime. We want to make sure the citizens feel they are protected and can walk the streets and sit on their porches and feel safe.

You mentioned earlier a desire to continue working with the Board of Supervisors. Do you feel the relationship between the city and county is good right now?

I’ve felt we’ve had a good working relationship with the county for the past few years. We’ve done more interlocal agreements and more projects during the last few years than the previous city council did for years.

Next month, you will begin serving with the city’s first majority-African American City Council. How do you feel this will shape the city’s government over the next four years?

It’s a change, and a lot of times people resent change. But as long as the change is for the betterment of the city, there’s no problem. It is historic. I look forward to working with them. I had a great working relationship when it was just the opposite, and I think we are going to do things positive and work as a team to be inclusive to everybody.

Do you think any of the city’s goals will change with the new council?

During the work session I have scheduled, we will take a day to bring all the council abreast of the projects that are already under way and the things we would like to see done to better the city. The four new councilmen have already been stopping by, attending meetings and dropping by in an effort to get up to speed before they take office.

Every four years, the mayor and City Council has a chance to renew or terminate the city department heads’ contracts and make changes they feel necessary. Do you think there will be any department head changes coming up once the new council is sworn in?

I don’t know how the new council is thinking. From my perspective, I would hope that when the new council comes in they would get a chance to know the department heads before they decide to make any drastic changes. I would hope the new council will not come in and make any drastic changes.

From my standpoint, I will not recommend any drastic changes regarding department heads.

Since the national economy is in rough shape right now, do you think there will be any cuts or changes in any of the city’s services or departments?

So far, we’ve held our own. I mentioned earlier that we are in better standing now than we were at this time last year even though our tax collections have been a little lower than they have been in the past. Everybody is affected by the economy, but my hat is off to the department heads. We have been frugal in our spending, and have not done any unnecessary spending. That’s the way we hope to continue doing things.

As far as employee layoffs, I do not foresee us having to do any of that. Three or four months down the road, you never know. But I don’t foresee any.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the Columbus Municipal School District privatizing its food and bus service. Has the city considered outsourcing any of its services as a way to possibly save money?

We discussed privatizing the public works department about a year and a half ago. We had one company out of Alabama show some interest in doing that. But after they came in and evaluated what we had, they didn’t see a big advantage in savings. Most of the time private companies make money through attrition. When people retire or resign, they just add more work to the employees who are already there. We discussed it, and the council as a whole decided it was in the best interest of the city to continue working the way they were.

Some city department heads have faced challenges over the past few years. (Columbus Chief Operating Officer) David Armstrong recently was suspended without pay, and at least one candidate during the municipal election questioned whether the city needs a COO to function. Does Armstrong have your full support, and, in general, do you see that position remaining in the city long term?

It’s easy to sit in the stands and coach. As far as David goes, yes, he is a very valuable asset to the city. As far as his suspension, we have taken care of that situation and resolved it and David is doing an outstanding job. I have assigned David to spend more time with (Public Works Director) Mike Pratt, so he is more involved with the city’s day-to-day activities a lot more than he was in the past. Instead of just being an administrator in City Hall, now about 85 percent of his time is spent checking on projects, from beginning to end, that need to be completed. He really has a good idea of what each different department head is doing within their respectiv

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