Meet Ward 1 Alderman candidate Ben Carver
The Primary Municipal Election for the Starkville Board of Aldermen is approaching swiftly with a date set for Tuesday, April 6. One of the few days left for early voting is tomorrow, March 27 from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. at City Hall.
Ward 1 candidate Ben Carver, a Starkville native, is running unopposed this year, and he is ready for the bright future of Starkville. Carver has been an Alderman since 2009 and has been a part of many projects in making Starkville a better place.
“One thing we’ve done is transform the infrastructure and modify a lot of the city facilities, and we’ve made bike and pedestrian accessibility a priority,” Carver said. “We’ve had about 19 miles of new bike lanes, paths, sidewalks and another mile and a half of bike and pedestrian paths scheduled some time in the future.”
Over the next four years, Carver would like to see growth in as many forms as possible in Starkville. While the population has increased and new things are being done to support that like the new substation with Starkville Utilities, Carver would also like to focus on bringing new jobs into the city to help with economic growth.
“We need more economic stability and that’s about getting more jobs just across the board. There are not a lot of manufacturing jobs here which is something Starkville is lacking and something I want to work on,” Carver said. “North Star is a big deal, but we’ve got to start getting serious about getting more manufacturing jobs out at the Industrial Park.”
On the other hand, Carver is not blind to the fact that there are people in the city who are not as well off and many can lose sight of that. There are people in Starkville who face food insecurity and homelessness.
“Everyone thinks Starkville has a lot of prosperity, which it does, but there are some socioeconomic issues here that would blow your mind,” Carver said. “I didn’t know that until a few years ago when I started my job with Northeast Exterminators. When supplies and resources show up, and then they’re exhausted you really start to realize the type of need that’s out there.”
Voting day for the primary election is Tuesday, April 6 and the general election will be Tuesday, June 8. There are two days left to vote early in the primaries: Saturday, March 27 and Saturday, April 3. Voting begins at 8 a.m. till 12 p.m. for early voting.