VIDEO: Serving As Mayor In A Small Town

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI)-Several small towns such as Calhoun City, Verona, Plantersville, Smithville and Eupora will all have new mayors.

Incumbents are out and there will be new faces in city hall next month.

“A lot of people think that the mayor is like the CEO or boss of a company, and that’s just not true,” said Mayor of Eupora Dan Burchfield, who’s retiring at the end of his current term.

Burchfield has served as mayor for four years.  When asked what is it like to serve as the mayor of a small town, he described it as.

“Probably the best word that I could give is ‘interesting’,” said Burchfield.

Small town mayors have to be a jack of all trades, because the job requires them to serve in several roles.

“You end up doing a lot of helping department heads make decisions about finances and budgets, about projects, about scheduling, about how to prioritize,” Burchfield explained. “You do a lot of administrative duties of grants and things like that.”

Citizens expect the towns provide services such as road repairs and police service, so the needs are always growing without a large amount of revenue.

“The best and brightest tend to move off,” said Burchfield. “Why? Because the high paying jobs are not here, they’re some place else. The diversity of jobs is not here, it’s some place else.”

Being mayor in a small town has part time pay with full time hours.

“In Eupora the mayor makes $18,000,” the mayor said. “Our needs are such that we need a full time mayor. Our ability to say, compensate a full time mayor is not there.”

However, Burchfield said there are also several unique advantages that comes with leading a small town.

“Everybody knows everybody and so therefore if you need some help, many times all you have to do is ask,” he said.

Burchfield said small towns must do a better job of marketing themselves to attract more people.

He’s proud of his time in office, calling it an incredible ride.