Mayor Scott Conger delivers ‘State of the City’ address
JACKSON, Tenn. — “2023 was a demanding year. It was full of challenges, but I’m thankful and grateful on how we worked together every single day on every single challenge,” City of Jackson Mayor Scott Conger stated.
Tuesday morning, Mayor Scott Conger addressed Jackson residents in his State of the City address. In it, he highlighted last year’s achievements made by city government, emergency services, and more.
Most importantly, he spoke about the future: things to focus on, improvements, and new ideas.
As for the Jackson Police Department, Mayor Conger says Chief Thom Corley aims to focus on the “three C’s” of policing.
“Community policing, collaborative policing, and constitutional policing,” Conger said. “Our police officers are going to be in your community getting to know you and your neighbors. They’re going to work with other law enforcement agencies and protect people’s rights.”
Mayor Conger says a goal for the Jackson Police Department is to increase officer training and education. Along with these goals, JPD increased its starting pay from $35,000 in 2019 to $50,000 this year. Mayor Conger says two months ago, they approved a contract with an architectural firm to begin creating a new public safety complex.
“We owe it to those officers and fire department officials who put their lives on the line to come to work every day and give them a decent place to do their jobs,” said Conger.
The mayor plans to finish a project started six years ago — the new animal care facility — as well as continue work on a new men’s homeless shelter.
For years, the city has focused on bringing jobs to Jackson, but a shortage of housing is affecting Jackson’s ability for people to relocate here. To help solve this problem, the mayor has created a housing commission.
“For every ten new jobs created in the State of Tennessee, we’re only building six new homes, leaving a significant gap in the housing supply. Our objective is to work with our state legislators to implement effective incentives that promote the development of workforce housing,” Conger said.
Finally, Mayor Conger said the city will show a renewed commitment to the arts and local artists in Jackson.
“We have to make sure we have a home-grown music and arts scene,” Conger said.
This is only a few of the many things Mayor Conger mentioned in the State of the City address.
Click here to see the full video released by the Mayor’s Office.
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