Mayoral candidates talk MSU

With municipal elections coming up Tuesday, the SDN caught up with the three mayoral candidates, Johnny Moore, Damion Poe and Lynn Spruill to discuss their views and policies on the city of Starkville's relationship with Mississippi State University.

Spruill said she would continue the city's practice of periodically meeting with MSU President Mark Keenum to discuss issues affecting both the university and the city, and said she felt the current administration was doing a decent job communicating with campus.

Spruill also discussed a possible entertainment district geared toward students, built on Highway 182 just north of the downtown area, mirroring other university towns.

“You're always looking for something that's beneficial for the city and university combined,” Spruill said.

Poe said he would also continue the meetings with Keenum. “It's just creating, building that relationship and making sure that relationship stays strong,” Poe said.

In a candidate forum held by the SDN on March 27, Poe said he was considering the possibility of people serving as liaisons between the city and university under his administration.

All three candidates also voiced support for the $27.5 million Starkville/MSU Partnership School, which will serve sixth and seventh graders in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, as well as serving as a lab for the MSU College of Education.

“I'd try to develop a closer relationship with the university through the development office, as well as the administrators and try to develop a relationship that would push not only MSU forward, but push the city forward as well.”

Moore spoke of a need to strengthen the city's relationship with the university, particularly university administrators.

“We can both benefit,” Moore said.