by lindsey shelton

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Looking back over the decades since he became a public official nearly 25 years ago, Natchez Mayor Butch Brown can list dozens of projects with his fingerprints on them.

The construction of the Mississippi River bridge into Natchez, the bluff stabilization project, opening the Natchez Visitor Reception Center and countless others projects are on his list of achievements.

Today marks Brown’s final day in office as mayor of Natchez and the beginning of his retirement from decades of public service that includes three terms as mayor and eight years as executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and appointments to numerous federal, state and local boards.

One of the achievements of which he is most proud was the one that gave Brown his first foray into government.

In the mid-1960s, Brown was part of a group of businessmen, educators and elected officials, including former legislator and city attorney Walter Brown, Johnny Junkin and others, that worked to open a branch campus of the University of Southern Mississippi — Brown’s alma mater — in Natchez. The campus was near where the Duncan Park Golf Course is and was housed in what is now the course’s clubhouse.

“That cadre of people fought hard to expand the program at Natchez,” he said. “We went on from that effort and established the first branch campus of a senior university. Believe it or not, there were people who didn’t want us to have higher education in this community, but we fought and won.

“That immersion into that issue is what piqued my interest into other things.”

Later on, Brown said he assisted in establishment of a joint campus for Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natchez.

“That is one of the most gratifying things I have ever been a part of,” he said. “Higher education has always been a passion. Bringing those two campuses here, so people can live here and go to school here and get a degree, a master’s degree in some areas, that is important.”

In 1992, Brown was elected for his first of two consecutive terms as mayor of Natchez. After losing a bid for re-election, he was appointed MDOT executive director in 2002 and served until his departure in 2011.

Brown came out of retirement shortly after to run for mayor of Natchez, saying he saw a need to serve his city once again as mayor.

After winning the mayor’s seat handily for a third term, Brown began a campaign to get projects under way to remove dilapidated housing, pave streets and create “legacy projects” for the city’s 300th birthday celebration.

The past four years in office have perhaps been his busiest, with Brown’s efforts to construct scattered-site housing along Martin Luther King Jr., St. Catherine and other streets, opening the Natchez Regional Transit Center, eliminating utility wire clutter, expanding the Natchez Trails Project, repairing the Broadway Street railroad depot and working toward his goal of hosting a Natchez Tricentennial activity on every day of 2016.

Brown said he is also particularly proud of the city’s recent involvement in health initiatives with Humana, the Clinton Foundation and Square Roots.

The success Brown has achieved in his involvement with projects in Natchez and across the state and country has been accomplished through what he says is the key to “getting things done” — relationships.

“It’s the glue, I guess you would say, in getting projects built and put together,” Brown said. “I’ve had good relationships with legislators, officials, presidents, primarily President (Bill) Clinton, secretaries of the various divisions of governments, the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers.

“Early on, learning the ropes and establishing relationships and having people instill trust in me … they’ve all been very helpful to me along the way.”

Brown says he has surrounded himself throughout his career with smart, innovative people who have helped him build his legacy.

Perhaps the person Brown has leaned on the most, he said, is Community Development Director James Johnston who Brown says has an innate ability to understand grant writing and the ability to pool grants to creatively fund projects.

“Using multiple grants has been a strong suit of making some of these projects happen,” Brown said. “Rarely have we had a single facility that didn’t have multiple grants, and James has the talent to make that happen.”

Looking toward the future, Brown says he hopes the incoming administration and future administrations will continue what he and others started, from the expansion of the Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture and a viable recreation program to restoring the downtown depot.

“I hope this new administration will look back to the efforts we’ve made since 1992 and the progress that has resulted and take inventory of what needs to be done, and dig in and do it,” Brown said. “I hope this administration gets a vision, and they just bear down and remember that ‘no’ is just a request for more information. I firmly believe that. I’ve never been in a race with anyone or in a race to outdo anyone.

Although his many projects are personal points of pride, Brown said he hopes his legacy as a public official will be that he is remembered for the reason he worked so hard for them.

“I hope I’ll be remembered as someone who cared dearly and deeply for his community,” Brown said. “And as someone who always worked closely with the whole community, not just one part. I think you can look at my projects and see that.”