Smith claimed Steen’s vacated alderman-at-large post after Steen defeated the one-term incumbent in the District 3 supervisor race in 2011.

Smith won a runoff vote Tuesday to claim the city post with 1,177 votes to 958 for mortgage banker Wint McGee, son of Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee.

Smith, 65, will serve the remainder of Steen’s term.

“I’m tickled to death to come out on top and looking forward to come and serve the people,” said Smith, who could be sworn in before the next Board of Aldermen meeting on March 6.

Smith said he plans to run for the seat again in the 2013 municipal election, as does Wint McGee.

McGee said he felt good about winning four of six precincts.

“I have it in my blood to serve others,” said McGee, 35. “I’ll come back in less than two years and have this experience under my belt. God has big plans for me and my family.”

Jane McGee (left), mother of Ridgeland alderman candidate Wint McGee and wife of Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee, and John Taylor, friend and supporter of candidate D.I. Smith, campaign near the polling place located at Mount Charity Church on Lake Harbour Drive in Ridgeland during Tuesday's runoff election for alderman-at-large. Smith edged out his opponent to claim the seat.

Smith and McGee, both Republicans, were the top vote-getters in the Feb. 7 special election that included Alderman Brian Ramsey and local lawyer Cassandra Walter. The race went to a runoff because neither McGee nor Smith got the needed 50-percent-plus-one-vote majority to claim victory.

The alderman-at-large seat carries the same vote and $16,915.80 salary as the other six seats.

Elsewhere in the metro area, a special election will be held March 13 in Canton to fill the Ward 2 alderman seat of Billy Myers, who died of cancer last month. If needed, a runoff will take place March 27.

In Jackson’s Ward 3, lawyer LaRita Cooper-Stokes and retired schoolteacher Joyce Jackson will meet in a runoff on Feb. 28. The winner will serve for 15 months in the $25,000-a-year post.

The bill is expected to be voted on this week. Although Senate Bill 2401 is one of many proposals before the Legislature dealing with charter schools, this one has the support of Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves.

“It is my view that charter schools are not some panacea. They are not going to solve all of our educational challenges overnight,” Reeves said during a news conference Monday afternoon. “They are simply another tool in the toolbox to improve the education attainment level in Mississippi.”

Under Senate Bill 2401, charters would be authorized in the 120 districts rated successful or worse, by a seven-member board appointed by the governor and lieutenant governor, as well as state K-12 and higher education officials.

In the state’s four star districts and 28 high performing districts, any charter school request would first go to the local school board for approval before going to the state authorizing agent for approval.

Senate Bill 2401 also would allow for virtual charter schools, permit students to cross district lines, and establish a first come, first served enrollment or a lottery if demand exceeded a school’s capacity.

Those elements of the bill are being touted by some as a way of giving options other than poorly performing schools, while others say, if passed as is, Senate Bill 2401 could be disastrous.

Parents should have a choice, Reeves said. To have students trapped in poorly performing schools is “not a good way to do things,” he said.

Charter schools are publicly funded and governed under a legislative contract or a charter with the state. The schools generally have more autonomy over day-to-day decisions than traditional schools but still must meet accountability standards or risk losing their charter.

When addressing state lawmakers about charter schools in Mississippi, other education and business leaders have said they want to see the state Department of Education as the only authorizing agent. They also have stressed the need for assurance that students won’t be cherry-picked, with some even asking that parents be asked to opt-out if they don’t want their child enrolled in a charter school.  Mississippi has no charter schools.

Like traditional public schools, charter schools have had mixed success.

Charter schools “can be a lifesaver for children who are trapped in persistently underperforming schools,” Nancy Loome, executive director of The Parents’ Campaign, said in an email. “Unfortunately, that is not the focus of the Senate’s charter school bill.”

The state does not have the funding available to pay for more schools, administrators and other overhead costs in districts already performing well, Loome said.

Allowing that addition, as Senate Bill 2401 does, “would be fiscally irresponsible, and it is surprising that this push for more schools is coming from the very leaders who are calling for the consolidation of our current schools,” Loome said.

Instead, she said, the bill should target schools in underperforming districts.

Loome also questioned allowing tax dollars to follow students who cross district lines to enroll in charter schools.

“What they aren’t telling you is that local tax dollars will follow children who have never been enrolled in the local public schools,” Loome said.

Then, districts would see a decrease in funding but not enrollment, she said.

“This has the potential to devastate strong public school systems and their communities,” Loome said. “It would dilute per student funding for every school district in the state.”

The provision for virtual charter schools likely will be another sticking point.

“Anyone who has read the research on virtual charter schools should be appalled that our leaders would support allowing them into Mississippi,” Loome said. Virtual charter schools are large, for-profit businesses and “are the worst performing of every sort of school,” Loome said.

Reeves said the bill would require the public charter schools to be nonprofit organizations.

Reeves said the bar should be raised for Mississippi students. He said “successful” isn’t good enough, and noted two of those districts have no schools rated successful or better, and in 12 districts the majority of schools have low ratings.  Some parents are hopeful for more K-12 options.

“I believe in school choice, and if I want to drive my child to Brandon, Madison, Pelahatchie, if that’s my choice for my kids, I should be able to do so,” said Mary Bishop of Raymond.

Bishop said she and her husband are spending about $7,500 a year to send their children to private school. Bishop said there was a sharp drop in the quality of her local middle and high schools.

The threat of losing money may drive school officials to provide better learning opportunities for students, she said.

When Karima Hawkins of Jackson sought to transfer her children to another better performing school, she found her options limited. Of her local middle and high schools, one of each is rated successful. She and her husband have considered home schooling their children.

“I really don’t feel like any educator should give up on a child,” Hawkins said, but that’s what she thinks happened with her children.

“My heart just goes out for the children that are less fortunate because our schools are (not performing),” Hawkins said. “That says enough.”

Charter schools are needed in Jackson and in the rural areas, she said.

Hawkins also questioned building more schools instead of converting existing ones to charter schools. That would probably be cheaper, she said.

Production of the Frontier pickup and Xterra SUV will move from a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., to Canton to make room for the Tennessee plant to start domestic production of Nissan’s all-electric Leaf.  The move is expected to create about 350 new jobs, says Dan Bednarzyk, the Canton plant’s vice president of manufacturing.

Nissan says it will move production of the Frontier pickup to its Canton plan. Hiring for an additional 350 local jobs will begin this spring, and the trucks should be rolling of the line by late October or early November. The truck currently is manufactured at the automaker's Smyrna, Tenn., plant.

The hiring process will begin this spring, he said. The plant employs about 3,300 people.

Crews at the Smyrna plant will begin removing Xterra and Frontier equipment in late September to send to Canton, Bednarzyk said.  It should be installed and production of the new vehicles started by the end of October or early November.  “It will bring a lot of stability,” Bednarzyk said. “In our truck system, we’ll be doubling our output.”  The Canton plant also makes the Altima sedan, Titan pickup, Armada SUV and NV commercial van.  The two incoming brands have enjoyed generally strong sales in recent months.  The Frontier and Xterra had year-over-year sales increases in January of 35.3 and 23.9 percent, respectively.

Edmunds.com automotive website analyst Michelle Krebs says overall car, truck and SUV sales are expected to be up this year from 2011 as the economy continues a slow recovery.  But the price of gas — some analysts expect it to cost at least $4 per gallon by the start of summer driving season — will play a key role in how well trucks and SUVs like the Frontier and Xterra perform throughout the year, she said.  Bednarzyk says gas prices can cut into sales of larger trucks like the Titan while drawing interest to smaller pickups like the Frontier for buyers who still want a truck’s power but with greater fuel economy.

There could be a new version of another Canton-built vehicle, the Altima, which spent much of 2011 among the Top 5 best-selling vehicles in the country and started the new year in that same spot.  Nissan officials aren’t commenting on when a new version of the automaker’s flagship car will begin production or what it will feature that’s new or enhanced for the brand.  But on the company’s corporate website, Brian Carolin, Nissan North America’s senior vice president for sales and marketing, says the new Altima will come out “in the next few months” without elaborating on when it will be available to buyers.

“I’ve seen the product, it’s going to be a big step forward for us,” Carolin is quoted as saying on the website. “Today’s model has given us a really strong foundation; the next model is going to take us to the next level.”

Among cars, the Altima generally has been second only to the Toyota Camry, a new version of which debuted last year, in domestic sales in recent months.  But Krebs says the Altima overtaking the Camry as the nation’s top-selling car will be difficult, because sources for Camry production are more extensive than for the Altima and also because of a crowded field of new-breed cars like the Camry, Ford Fusion, Volkswagen Passat and Kia Optima.  “I’ve been referring to 2012 as The Year of the Midsized Car,” Krebs says, noting shoppers will be looking at cars that best combine exterior and interior styling, including high-tech features, with fuel efficiency.  Carolin said Altima sales growth has occurred through retaining longtime drivers and luring shoppers away from Toyota and Honda as those two companies experienced supply disruptions last spring from Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Toyota’s Blue Springs plant, meanwhile, last week started a second shift to build the Corolla, that company’s second-best-selling vehicle behind the Camry.  The plant has the capacity to build 150,000 Corollas per year.  It was operating on a single Monday-Friday shift since opening in November and restoring U.S. production of the car.  Company officials say employment at the plant is approaching their goal of 2,000 workers, who will rotate between the two shifts as the company continues toward reaching full production status.

“Adding a second shift is a significant milestone for us,” David Copenhaver, vice president of administration for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi, said in a news release.

In years past, different groups of elected officials and business leaders have made separate trips to Washington to push for separate agendas. Now, at the request of the Board of Supervisors, economic development agencies and county and municipal officials agreed to cooperate and coordinate with one another to improve business and economic development in the county.  The trip drew members of the Madison County Foundation, Madison County Business League and Madison County Economic Development Authority besides all five supervisors, the chancery clerk and the mayors of Canton and Ridgeland. Group members identified themselves as Madison Countians united for progress not as representatives of their individual organizations.

“It’s a team effort,” MCEDA director Tim Coursey said. “We are all strategic partners.”

A list of 10 projects, which all need federal funding support, was discussed before the Washington officials.   Altogether, the projects represent the need for about $100 million in federal monies.

Please click the link below to see a list of the projects.

Madison County Delegation

The Ridgeland Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday for FCCI Insurance Group in Suite 800 of the Butler Snow Building on Highway Colony Parkway.

There will be a runoff in the race for Jackson’s Ward 3 City Council seat. All 15 precincts have reported in this special election, and the wife of former councilman Kenneth Stokes, La-Rita Cooper-Stokes, is the leader with 884 votes.

Joyce Jackson picked up 477 votes — so she and Stokes will be in a runoff February 28th.

The winner will fill the seat vacated by Kenneth Stokes, who was elected to the hinds county board of supervisors.

Eleven candidates were on the ballot.

Proponents say it will prevent Attorney General Jim Hood from imposing his views on elected and appointed officials.

Now, officials need Hood’s approval to hire other lawyers. The bill would also require all outside legal contracts be filed with a state board, and require the board to approve contracts worth more than $100,000.

The vote came after long debate and a series of narrow party-line defeats for Democratic amendments.

Hood, the only remaining elected statewide Democrat, opposes the bill and says it is unconstitutional.

A previous bill, considered last week, failed after it was challenged for violating parliamentary rules.

The bill goes to the Senate.

NBC’s The Voice aired Ridgeland’s own Brian Fuente on Monday as the 28-year-old auditioned for a spot on the show, netting a slot on country musician Blake Shelton’s team.

Fuente, a graduate of Madison Central High School and Mississippi State University, now moves on to later rounds where the show’s four judges narrow down their teams from 12 to the final winner, who will be decided by audience vote.  While Fuente prepares for the show’s next step, Brandon native Skylar Laine, 18, and Vicksburg resident Ashley Proctor, 17, are in the running to advance on Fox’s long-running smash, American Idol.

With the show still airing its Hollywood week results, the fates of the two Mississippi teens could be decided tonight or Thursday night when the show airs more results.  The furthest a Mississippian has made it on Idol was to the show’s Top 13 in 2009 when Jasmine Murray of Columbus was on the air.  While Idol is in its11th season, this is The Voice’s second year.

“To be on the The Voice, in my opinion, is so different than the other reality competition shows,” Fuente said. “I never wore a number, I was never treated as a ‘contestant.’ I was treated as an artist.  “Everybody on this show is so talented, and that’s what immediately drew me to it.”  Fuente’s mother, Lisa Palmer, said her son was ecstatic to be included on Shelton’s team.  “He’s crazy about Blake Shelton and loves his music,” she said.

Back home in Ridgeland, Palmer said watching her son sing on a national stage has been a fantastic experience.  “It’s just good that America gets to see what I’ve been seeing all his life,” she said. “As any mom would say, you want your child to live out his dream.”  After college, Fuente moved to Nashville where he’s been working on songwriting for others and his new music.  “He’s put a lot of time, a lot of hard work into making this happen,” Palmer said.

“These are roads that will be done in this budget or in our four-year state aid budget,” District 3 Supervisor Gerald Steen said. “We want to keep this money on our roads and streets because they’re in terrible shape.” At the board’s disposal were $935,000 in county funds, $3.7 million in state aid funds, $1.2 million in bridge replacement funds and another $1.3 million in another state fund. Roads funded include North Old Canton Road, Rice Road, Livingston Road, Pear Orchard Road, Robinson Springs Road in addition to Spotted Acres Road, Countryside Place, Countryside Cove, and Dogwood Lane. In the past, supervisors have included projects in the road plan that ended up undone because of a lack of funding. Last year, a three-mile stretch of Stribling Road was included in the plan, but the county ran out of road money before work could start, county engineer Rudy Warnock said.

To make sure there’s enough money for each of the roads in this year’s plan, Steen asked that David Overby, the new county administrator, and Shelton Vance, the new comptroller, to verify the funding. “Make sure that we do have enough money so there are no surprises six months from now,” he said. “We want to make sure all these numbers work,” Steen said. Steen asked that the projected costs, and the fund balances, be confirmed at the next supervisors’ meeting.

After voting on the specific roads to go in the plan and the specific funding choice, the supervisors left $483,000 on the table, out of the road department’s total of $935,000. The road department money is the county’s total asphalt budget, purchasing director Hardy Crunk told the board. “You’ve got to have some left for potholes and repairs,” Crunk said. “It’s good you’re pointing that out because we’re able to spend all of it,” Steen said.

Board President John Bell Crosby said the road plan lists specific roads. “We don’t have every road in the county on the road plan. We don’t want to include all the roads like we always have. We don’t want any roads brought in later.Each supervisor proposed a list of roads in his district. All but a handful were recommended for base repairs and a new overlay of a riding surface.

The funded roads were drawn from those lists:

In District 1, Crosby proposed 14 road projects, which totaled $2,688,000 and measured a total of 15.6 miles. His list included roads maintained by the county and some in the city of Madison. Some of the roads on his list included Hoy Road, Clarkdell Road and Old Rice Road, in addition to the ones he recommended for funding.

In District 2, Supervisor Ronny Lott proposed 24 roads, with total project costs of $9,089,706 and a total length of 36.52 miles. His list included 12 streets that either run partially or fully through Madison.

In District 3, Steen proposed 10 road projects at a projected cost of $7,805,076 and 27.91 miles. His list included roads in the county and cities of Ridgeland and Madison. In addition to the ones he recommended for funding, he also listed Lake Cavalier Road, Old Agency Road and Highland Colony Parkway.

In District 4, Supervisor Karl Banks proposed nine roads with project costs totalling $10,892,000 and mileage totalling 37.4. His proposed roads included county roads and a Flora truck route. Some of the roads he proposed were Coker Road, Livingston Vernon Road, Virlilia Road and Gus Green Road.

In District 5, Supervisor Paul Griffin proposed eight roads, totalling 17.7 miles in length, and costing $2,021,602, and all in the county. Some of the roads he included were Mansell Road, Lone Pine Road and Moss Road.

During a Madison Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday, city leaders questioned a visiting Crosby about why certain Madison streets were not funded in the county road plan. Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler asked why a planned widening of Hoy Road, which the city is planning at a cost of about $3 million, was not included and why Madison Avenue improvements, required because of the new I-55 interchange, was not on the list. Two different phases of work on Hoy, the other to be done by the county, were included in proposed projects by Crosby and Lott, but Madison Avenue was not. “We asked for $3 million for asphalt,” Butler said. Crosby defended the Board of Supervisors actions. “I’m all for funding the city of Madison any way I can. If you don’t have all the funding, it’s not John Bell Crosby’s fault.”