VIDEO: Ackerman Residents Get A Chance To Hear From Mayoral Candidates

ACKERMAN, Miss. (WCBI)- For the first time in nearly a decade, a new person will leading the town of Ackerman.

Just over a month ago, Mayor Dick Cain passed away after battling an illness.

Now, a special election is being to help fill the position

Tim Cutts, Levon Murphy Jr., Carl Phelps and Dale Reid are all running for the seat.

Though some residents may not know which candidate they’re choosing just yet, they do have an idea on what they’re looking for in the town’s next leader.

“What I’m looking for in a mayor is somebody who is honest, trustworthy, got a lot of integrity, but I’m also looking for someone who’s got their roots here and wants to be here,” said Dakota Brasher, lifelong resident of Ackerman.

“Things are different today, they can’t just sit in their office and let businesses come to them, they’re going to have to be informed,” said Deanie Graves, who’s lived in Ackerman for 33 years. “They’re going to have to go out and talk to people, they’re going to need to go to other towns and other cities to see what they’re doing so that they can maybe duplicate some of the things that those towns are doing that are growing.”

On Monday, residents had a chance to hear from all of the candidates as each one laid out their blue print and vision for the city.

“I heard a lot of our candidates talking about bringing people in, we need more people,” said John Shumaker, who’s lived in Ackerman for more than three decades. “If we get more people we’ve got to have some things that will attract them. Of course, we’ve got a good school system and we’ve got a good new hospital, and if we get more people I think we will be OK.”

Residents said they like how they town has progressed over the past few years, but they admit, there’s still room for improvement.

They’re hoping the candidate they vote for next week will help the city move and grow in the right direction.

“We need to also improve the businesses, Main Street of course, we need to pump that up, the roads, increasing the quality of our paved roads,” said Graves.

“It is a small town but it could be a hub for a few different things for when people are passing through, it would be a nice place to stop,” said Brasher. “It’s going to take some creativity and some thought processing, some brainstorming, but I say my main thing would be with a park. I think this gets a lot of younger people involved and we don’t have a lot of that now.”

Voters will head to the polls to vote for their next mayor on Tuesday December 19th.