VIDEO: First Six Months of Mayor Dumas’s Term Have Been A Success

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) – Earlier this year the residents of Eupora chose Lamar Dumas to lead the city.

Dumas is the first African-American to hold the office.

It was one of the closet elections you can have without a tie; Two votes separated Dumas and his opponent.

Regardless of the division, Dumas says the city has been cooperative with the transition, and he’s been hard at work for his city.

“I don’t realize that I am African American; I realize that I’m a citizen of the state of Mississippi, the United States, and of the city of Eupora,” said the new mayor.

Since his inauguration, Mayor Dumas has been working to make sure his city is better than he found it.

He accredits the smooth transition into office to a cooperative administration and his faith.

“I believe we’re walking on faith,” said Dumas. “We’ve been dealing with diversity and unity among the diversity, where we’re hoping to thrive and do more for the city.”

So far, his beautification projects to clean the city have been a success.

Dumas also plans to use the city’s available 173 acres for economic and development, bringing jobs and people into the city.

“…hopefully get some industry in here because we have a fantastic, in my opinion, work staff that comes from Eupora and the Webster County area that’s presently working outside of Webster County,” said Dumas.

His long-term vision for the city focuses one of the main arteries of the area and could potentially bring in revenue for the city.

“A frontage road or service road on the north side of 82 that will offer a lot of invitation for retail and industry to come here,” described Dumas. “If we feel that we can get this frontage road and some businesses and things on the side of the highway then they will not only stop there but they’ll work with us, shop with us, and then we get some revenue off that.”

With how things have been going so far, Dumas sees a bright future for his hometown.

“I think as long as we keep this attitude, our community should prosper as we go on,” said Dumas.