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By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Jimmy Faircloth’s first few weeks as mayor went smoothly, but he was feeling tired, thinking maybe he should get more sleep, occasionally being short of breath or feeling just a little dizzy when he stood up too fast.
A man with a big job as comptroller at Parrish Construction Group, and another big job as a mayor who needs to steer the city in a positive direction at a time of reduced revenues, Faircloth didn’t give that much thought to the fatigue he was feeling or take it too seriously.
Fortunately for him and the city, though, he had a routine physical with his physician, Dr. Samuel Palmer, and a simple blood pressure test got taken very seriously, as nurses tried both arms and one cuff after another, trying to get some kind of reading besides “Error.”
The fact was that his blood pressure was so low – in the 30s - that it wasn’t showing up. His heart wasn’t working right. He remembers somebody asking him, “Are you sure you’re alive?” and his joking that if he wasn’t, this sure didn’t look like the afterlife.
After that he was in an ambulance, heading for the Medical Center in Macon, where a pacemaker was implanted, and his heart got back to doing the job it’s supposed to do.
That was on a Wednesday. By Monday, Faircloth was back at his job, feeling much better and ready to get back to the challenges of juggling two big jobs with two other big jobs – his commitment to his family and his church.
He doesn’t look or talk like a workaholic, though. Faircloth seems to be a naturally easy-going man who takes time management as a challenge. He has worked out a schedule that basically puts him in his city hall office starting at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and all of his city-related meetings are scheduled or by appointment. Armed with a laptop computer from Parrish, and with just two miles between his two offices, he’s ready to cope with both.
As he explains it, “I have certain things – like the payroll – that I have to do at certain times at Parrish, and other things that are flexible.”
Given that his predecessor, Jim Worrall, was retired and took the $12,000-per-year job as full time, this is a change, but Faircloth has plenty of ideas about making it work by maximizing council involvement, citizen input and good ideas from the community.
He has made some changes already – and while they might seem small at first glance – they all head in the same direction.
In the first place, he’s making sure that he and the three newcomers to City Council – William Jackson, Randall Walker and Joe Posey – are brought up to speed as soon as possible on the workings of all city departments. The mayor has changed the schedule of the city council’s informal work meetings (at which they do not vote) from a committee structure to a full-council structure.
Typically—and this week will be the start – there will be work sessions for the full council on the first and third Monday nights of each month, starting at 5 p.m. Those meetings will be for educational purposes as well as discussion, with different departments making presentations.
Then, on Tuesday nights, there will be a “pre-council” meeting at 5 p.m., followed by the regular voting meeting at 6 p.m.
“I’d like to see more citizens attending the work sessions,” Faircloth says, “because that’s where the issues are discussed. Otherwise, it could look like the votes at the council meeting are just a rubber stamp.”
He is also encouraging more citizen participation by adding a time at the end of the regular meeting for anyone to speak up. This is in addition to the traditional point near the opening of the meeting when citizens are invited to bring concerns before the council.
Faircloth has started his own tradition of bringing in local ministers to offer the invocation and citizens to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. At the second meeting he chaired, the invocation was given by the Rev. Billy Key, and the Pledge was led by C-5 Pilot, Major Kenny Richards.
He and council members are working now on some new appointments to city committees and authorities – including his own former post as a member, and chairman, of the Perry Convention and Visitors Bureau.
And, he plans to do something completely new.
“One of my goals is to get a group of people together who will meet and do nothing but brainstorm about the future of the city,” he says. “I want them to come up with ideas.”
For the immediate future, though, the main issue is the impact of the national economy at the local level.
“Revenues are down in all areas,” he explains, and that includes property taxes, available grants, building fees, hotel and motel taxes, alcohol taxes, and all the different sources the city has for its budget, which typically runs at a little over $21 million.
For the long run, he wants to expand the tax base by growing the small business base and attracting industry, but for the short term, he and the new council members are still determined to get their feet on the ground and be thoroughly informed about all city departments, projects and priorities.
He has his work cut out for him, and still – as he puts it – is going to put his family first.
He beams as he talks about his wife Patti, and his son Mitchell, 15.
“If he’s playing football, I’m going to be there,” the mayor says. “And when he’s playing tennis I’ll be there too.”
And he still is committed to giving time to his church.
So it’s a very good thing that he’s not fatigued anymore and the pacemaker is keeping his heart on the job, because this is a man with work to do.
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