OurTown39042web

Our utility bill (not simply a “water” bill as it
includes garbage pickup, local sewer, sewer
treatment, and admin.) also includes adjustments
for the new West Rankin Utility Authority
waste-water treatment plant in Richland. At the
end of 2020, Brandon will no longer send sewer to
the Savannah Street plant in Jackson for treatment.
This $90M facility will stabilize our treatment
costs, long term, and put us in charge of our own
rates and economic future for the first time since
the 1980s.
While the last decade saw many accomplishments
in Brandon (such as the creation of first
municipal EMS district in the state to improve
our ambulance service, the GIS location of
infrastructure assets, increasing employee
compensation, mapping and condition grading
of all city streets, building three new fire stations,
resurrecting city parks and playgrounds,
resurfacing 27 miles of our 93 miles of city streets,
the I-20 Exit 56 on-ramp improvements, the
addition of four lanes to Hwy 471, 824 new
homes built at an average construction cost of
$253,667, and many other improvements),
perhaps one of the most important accomplishments
was the planning for the next decade.
In 2020, we will complete a citywide street
inspection to include storm drain conditions. We
will release a street specific, multiyear plan to
begin street resurfacing in 2021 budgeting
$1,000,000 annually for improvements and will
finalize a citywide sewer line improvement plan
that will initiate a sewer line rehabilitation project
to address unseen decay in our aged sewer lines.
Two new 500,000 gallon water tanks will come
online this fall, while locations for four new water
wells have been identified. A modern police
station will be constructed beside City Hall to
include a new courtroom, an expanded dispatch
communication center and a stormproof
information technology vault. The existing
police department will be modernized to be a
free standing senior center with safe and covered
parking, renovated fire stations will lower our
fire rating to a Class 3 for further fire insurance
savings, and many more community needs will
be met throughout the year. These initiatives can
be accomplished because in the 2010 decade we
used responsible, fiscal discipline to reduce our
long-term debt.
But more than anything else, I’d like to offer
my heartfelt thanks to you for choosing to make
Brandon, Mississippi, your home. If there is
ever anything that I can do for you, please don’t
hesitate to reach out to me. And if you are
considering moving to Brandon, within this
edition you will find a lot of contact information
concerning our schools, city and county
government, as well as where you can get
assistance, if needed. We’d love to call you
neighbor and look forward to the many years
to come of calling Brandon home.
Mayor Butch Lee
39042 Our Town • 7