By Marcus McClain
NEA Town Courier
“Together, we will.” This was the overriding theme of the year’s first chamber luncheon with Blytheville mayor Melisa Logan as the guest speaker.
Logan stated that her goal for Blytheville is to become one city with one action plan. When brainstorming the best way to express this idea, she was brought back to her time in the military in 1991. “[My drill sergeant] told me, ‘Together we will,’” Logan said.
“I remember as a soldier, we all always had to pull in the same direction. Did I agree with the direction we were pulling in? Not all the time. You have to be in the throes of war to understand it. Sometimes I felt like our missions would be so critical that we would lose people. I didn’t always want to take the mission, but guess what, I was charged to serve.”
And when searching for answers to resolve the city’s issues, she stated the first answer returned her to those three words, ‘Together we will.’
In doing so, Logan noted that she will be meeting with department heads and council members in the coming weeks to organize the city’s strategic plan. After establishing attainable goals for each department, she stated that a full state of the city address will be given at the February council meeting.
“It’s going to be our ‘23-’27 strategic plan that will take us over the next four years of my administration. You will be able to hold us accountable for the things we say we can get done,” Logan said
She continued, “I believe that our mission here as a city is straightforward. Our job as mayor and a council is to mitigate crime and instances of it. Pick up your trash, provide clean water, provide external support service like sewer and it’s also to show where, how and why your tax dollars are being spent. A balanced, transparent budget is also our job. It’s not our job to promise things that we know can’t happen in this term or ever. Our job is to be accountable, do the things we say we are going to do and do those things well.”
Speaking to the value of accountability, she added that twice a year she will host public forums to communicate with citizens.
Logan noted issues looming in the city such as potholes, infrastructure, water leaks within the city’s pool and flooding. She announced that assistance to resolve one of those issues was presented to her at the recent Municipal League Conference.
“While there, I went to the Black Mayors [Association] meeting, and the caucus said we were chosen to receive the watershed grant. So we will have a team of people in and around our city trying to address the areas that flood,” Logan said.
“Elm Street, McHaney, Dogwood, East Rose, East Cherry, I hear you. We’re coming. There were 15 cities awarded and Blytheville was number 11 on the list. They won’t get to us until quarter two of this year, but they're coming.”
Addressing housing concerns, she stated that the first goal must be dealing with the dilapidation around town. “Many of us own the homes that I’m talking about. Your house may be on my list,” Logan said. “In order to make this a real change, we’ve got to get busy and hold ourselves, friends and family accountable for the way the city looks.”
With accountability across the board between citizens and officials, Logan believes city issues can be minimized.
“So as your mayor it’s not going to always look good for me. I’m going to have to fight some hard fights. I have to prioritize the needs of the city based on our fair assessment,” Logan said.
She later continued, “We still live in the happenings of the early 90s when the base closed. We’re still living in those shadows. It’s time for us to walk ahead of those shadows. We will no longer be pre-Eaker Air Force Base. No matter how hard we try, we won’t. It’s happened. It’s time to pick up, grab ourselves by the bootstraps and move on.”
In closing she stated, “We have a lot of work to do. And I can promise you that when you wake up tomorrow, the city will be in a better place, but that would be a lie. It’s going to take time. [Jan. 23] is day 23 in my administration but I promise you since the first I have rolled up my sleeves and been hard at work to fight for this city. If we want to be beautiful again, we can.”