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New
Indianola mayor is definetly “up” to the job
BY robert smith, DBJ Contributing Writer
Indianola
Mayor Arthur Marble compares the process of trying to build
up his city’s economy to a ride on the front of a
speeding train.
“It’s a never-ending game. It’s like being
on the front of a train and it’s going 80 miles per
hour. You can’t let go,” Marble says, referring
to the competition for new business locations and grant
funds that is a key area of responsibility for municipal
officials.
Marble, who recently turned 52, won Indianola’s mayoralty
election in December 2001, after serving nearly 12 years
as building inspector for the community of about 12,000.
His administration is continuing to carry out a $15 million
bond issue project that began when James Hutcherson was
mayor.
The bond project addresses sewer, drainage, and street-paving
needs, Marble said, explaining that approximately 65 percent
of the project funds are being used to pay for work on the
municipal sewer system. Large volumes of water had been
seeping into the aging system, he said. The $15 million
worth of work on Indianola’s infrastructure should
take about two more years to complete, he said.
However, Marble is also working hard to help Indianola capitalize
on its portion of the Mississippi Delta’s blues heritage.
The city has submitted to the state Legislature a request
for a tourism tax, the proceeds from which could help to
finance a possible B.B. King Museum, he said. The famous
blues artist identifies Indianola as his hometown, and plays
an annual “Homecoming” concert there, which
the Chamber of Commerce sponsors. Prospects for the tourism
tax bill are good, Marble said.
In an administratively separate, but thematically related
initiative, Indianola has applied to the Mississippi Development
Authority’s Department of Community Services for a
Community Self-Help Grant that would be used to pay for
improvements to B.B. King Park on Roosevelt Street. The
proposal for this matching grant calls for a grant award
of $100,000 to the city in the expectation that Indianola
would provide $50,000 worth of in-kind services, Marble
said.
The grant would finance a pavilion, a walking trail, and
some new playground equipment, the mayor said, adding that
he hoped to hear very soon from MDA. The city would like
to make the park improvements in time for B.B. King’s
next “Homecoming” in early June. One item the
grant would not be used to buy, but which Marble has hopes
for is a life-size bronze or marble statue of Mr. King.
The statue would be placed near the entrance of the park,
and efforts to raise money for it are still in the talking
stage, Marble said.
Marble said his efforts to help Indianola further develop
its resources have led him to advocate the notion that municipal
officials throughout the Delta region should take a broader
view of their responsibilities.
“Indianola is a community that feels that it is part
of a team in the Delta. We do not mind sending our resources
to help a neighbor,” he said. Officials shouldn’t
let their competitive behavior in promoting their cities
blind them to the need for cooperative ventures, he explained.
Rather, Delta leadership should attempt to achieve the type
of success that leaders in the Tupelo and Starkville areas
have had, he said.
Marble, who is originally from Gulfport and spent nine years
in the U.S. Air Force, said his experience in the military
contributed to his view that holding public office really
ought to be about rendering service.
“I
could earn a whole lot more money in Miami (Fla.), where
my wife has had to take a job,” he said. “This
has not been about money to me.” Marble said his salary
as mayor is $38,000, and that he has several department
heads in Indianola government who make more than that. The
financial strain of putting children through college led
his wife, Pamela (the former Pamela Byas of Indianola),
to take a job in Florida, he said.
Just as being mayor is about service rather than money,
it is also about helping all the citizens rather than just
one group, Marble said. He is Indianola’s first elected
African-American mayor, and he says he greatly appreciates
that honor without being too absorbed by it. The challenge
of sitting in the executive chair is to serve residents
of the city regardless of their race, he said.
However, Marble’s philosophy of devotion to service
doesn’t mean he’s agreeable all the time. Marble
recently vetoed a hiring decision by Indianola’s aldermen,
and cited his concern about balance between executive and
legislative powers as a reason.
“I’m a firm believer that the universe balances
and comes to peace,” Marble said, “and that
same balance must exist between the legislative and the
executive.”
Marble is the father of a son and two daughters. He has
two grandchildren and a third is expected soon. Asked what
his advice would be to anyone else interested in being a
mayor, he says: “Consider deeply whether or not you’re
a true public servant.” DBJ
