Two prominent community board appointments by Clarksdale's mayor expire this spring, but Mayor Chuck Espy wants to hold an election to pick the person for these post.
Clarksdale Municipal School District board member Kenneth Gooden’s five-year term expires first at the beginning of March. Clarksdale Public Utilities board member James Hicks’ term expires at the beginning of October.
Former Mayor Bill Luckett nominated Gooden and Hicks for their seats. Current Mayor Chuck Espy has said he will hold elections to determine who serves the next five years in each of those spots. The Board of Mayor and Commissioners must approve any nomination for someone to serve on a board. Applications are due at Espy’s office by Friday, Feb. 7.
Espy plans to hold a school-wide election to determine who will hold Gooden’s seat. In that election 10th, 11th, and 12th graders will pick the district's next board member for the Mayor of Clarksdale.
When asked if he plans to run for another term, Gooden said, “I haven’t really decided yet.”
Gooden is also unsure if the process to determine who will serve on the board is the correct way to go.
“I guess the best way to answer that is the mayor has a right to propose anything that he wants to in that regard,” Gooden said. “People have that right, so he does have that have that right. We’ll see how it goes.”
Gooden said he does not plan to talk to Espy about the process.
He is also unsure how he would campaign to students if he decided to run for another term.
“It’s still a work in progress for me, so we’ll see the process in everything,” Gooden said.
