Jackson Free Press

Sept. 20, 2011

Greg Grimes has already dealt with a stray-cat problem this morning. He's also looking at someone's water leak. As the city of Jackson's constituent services manager, he takes complaints from residents and solves their problems.

He got the details from the resident complaining about stray cats, then talked to Animal Control. He called the resident back and explained the next steps of the plan that is going into action. He and his two staff members handle small and large complaints like this that Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. gets each day.

"The whole focus is to communicate," Grimes told the Jackson Free Press. "We follow up and let them know that the mayor hears their complaints."

Even if Grimes doesn't have an immediate solution, his office still communicates with the people who complain. While his office is separate from the city's 311 service that allows constituents to call in complaints, he does work with that office closely.

Grimes, 55, has a lot of one-on-one contact with Jackson residents at neighborhood association meetings and community clean-up projects. Grimes is organizing the Pride Ride this Saturday.

"The Pride Ride is part of Mayor Johnson's vision to take government to people," Grimes said. "We take a busload of constituents with Mayor Johnson as a tour guide on a three and one-half hour tour of Jackson. We go from the furtherest point south to the furtherest point north, exposing them to good, positive things. People in north Jackson might not have ever visited south Jackson or west Jackson."

Saturday's Pride Ride still has some seats available. Participants meet at 7:30 a.m. at Cade Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, 1000 W Ridgeway St. The bus rolls out at 8 a.m. To reserve a spot, call 601-960-1089.

As a promoter of the Mayor's Clean Team, Grimes is also encouraging the city's neighborhood associations and other organizations to plan a cleanup project for the morning of Oct. 22, Make a Difference Day.

Grimes grew up in Alexandria, La., and graduated from Grambling State University in 1977 with a degree in mass communications. He spent 31 years in the newspaper business, and he worked for Gannett Co. Inc. In 2003, the company transferred him from the Detroit Free Press in Michigan to The Clarion-Ledger. He was the state operation manager in the circulation department at the Jackson newspaper until he left in 2008.

He and his wife, Linda, decided to make Jackson home, so they stayed here. He took his job with the city in 2010. The couple has four grown children.

Grimes said he likes his work, talking to people and letting them know they are heard. "The bigger thing is to follow up," he said. "Sometimes we can address their problems quickly."

Previous Comments

ID

164999

Comment

Congratulations, Mr. Grimes! Will someone tell Mr. Frank Bluntson, President of the City Council, about Mr. Grimes' duties and responsibilities. Let him know that the City has a 311 complaint line and that Mr. Grimes works as a team-player with them. Maybe Mr. Bluntson will stop dogging the Mayor about "micro-managing" everything and use his time and energy to join the operation rather that interrupt it. The Council can not become a "bully pit" and "speaker's stump" for Mr. Bluntson to launch his campaign to run for Mayor, 2013. I'm SERIOUS!

Author

justjess

Date

2011-09-20T14:40:54-06:00