District 2

Update on County Government from
District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson

At the first meeting of the current Board of Supervisors on January 5, 2004, a number of positive steps were taken to bring professionalism to Madison County’s government. First and foremost, we hired a professional county administrator in Donnie Caughman and an experienced auditor and CPA as comptroller in Mark Houston. Also at our first meeting, the Board passed my motion for the County to immediately drop its lawsuit opposing the City of Madison’s annexation proposal. It was just plain wrong for the County to force the citizens of the City of Madison to pay county taxes to sue themselves.

Also at my urging in early 2004, the Board of Supervisors voted to sell the Madison County Cultural Center to the City of Madison. The Cultural Center, which has been renamed the Madison Square Center for the Arts, had been a neglected political football for far too long. The Arts Center, I’m happy to report, is now being properly managed and cared for by the City of Madison.

The primary goals I am currently concentrating on as your District 2 Supervisor are promoting open government, fighting crime and protecting our citizens by providing the manpower and equipment needs of the Sheriff’s Department, and working with the cities of Madison and Ridgeland to improve traffic flow and road conditions in the southern part of Madison County, an area that had been neglected by county government for far too long.

Since I took office as District 2 Supervisor in January 2004, over $300,000 in traffic flow and road improvements have been completed by the County within the cities of Madison and Ridgeland.

The first major traffic improvement project undertaken in south Madison County was the construction of a bridge over Brashears Creek, connecting Ridgecrest Drive in Madison to McClellan Street in Ridgeland. The quick completion of this project provided a much-needed alternate route from Old Canton Road to Highway 51.

New bridge over Brashears Creek
 
Another important road project completed early this year was the reworking of Magnolia Street from Madison Avenue south to the Ridgeland city limits. The Magnolia Street project is a prime example of the new spirit of cooperation between the County and the cities of south Madison County. County Road Department crews leveled Magnolia Street and improved its base at a cost of approximately $115,000. The City of Madison then applied a new layer of asphalt. Magnolia Street is now much smoother and safer, and provides a convenient alternate route when traveling south from the downtown area of Madison to Ridgeland or vice versa.
 
This past summer the County re-surfaced heavily-traveled Madison Avenue from Highway 51 all the way east to its terminus at Rice Road near Madison Avenue Upper and Lower Elementary Schools. The cost of this project was approximately $120,000. In the planning stages for the near future is a project to resurface another segment of Madison Avenue, beginning at Liberty Park and going west to Highland Colony Parkway.

Recently resurfaced Madison Avenue
 
As a fiscal conservative, I am especially pleased that the Board of Supervisors was able to cut property taxes by 1.5 mills while at the same time developing a budget for the current fiscal year that provides the needed funds for law enforcement and additional traffic and road improvements in south Madison County.


About Tim Johnson

     Tim Johnson represents District 2 on the Madison County Board of Supervisors. District 2 is comprised of the bulk of the City of Madison and roughly that part of the City of Ridgeland bounded on the west by Highway 51, on the south by Lake Harbour Drive, and on the east by the Natchez Trace.
     A Republican and a common-sense fiscal conservative, Johnson’s elected public service began in 1993 when he won a seat on the City of Madison Board of Aldermen, representing the citizens of Ward 3. As a Madison Alderman, Johnson proposed and voted to reduce his and the other aldermen’s salary so that the City would have the necessary funds to hire a much-needed additional policeman.
     In 1996, Johnson was elected to the State Senate from District 19. At the end of his first year of service in the State Senate, Johnson was named Freshman Legislator of the Year. Following the federally-mandated redistricting of the Legislature in conjunction with the 2000 Census, Johnson was elected District 2 Supervisor in 2003.
     Johnson is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. He is a member of Highlands Presbyterian Church (PCA).