Jackson Free Press

When the smoke settled after the two-alarm blaze at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum on Nov. 13, one thing became clear: The Jackson Fire Department garnered high praise for keeping the conflagration from being a lot worse by containing it quickly.

Cindy Hyde-Smith, the state's commissioner of agriculture and commerce, which runs the museum, credited JFD for responding promptly and bringing the fire under control and saving multiple other historic structures from ruin, even though several buildings and thousands of dollars worth of equipment was destroyed.

"We are incredibly grateful for the Jackson Fire Department and their extraordinary efforts to extinguish and control the fire throughout the night assuring that no more history was destroyed," Hyde-Smith said in a statement.

With the exception of one worker who had a minor injury, no one was badly hurt during the fire whose cause remains unknown although investigators have ruled out arson. The fire also followed a little over one year after a fire ripped through the historic Hinds County Armory at the Fairgrounds, which Hyde-Smith's state agency also manages.

Jackson officials point to both incidents as reasons the Legislature should either provide the capital an appropriation for police and fire protection of state buildings or allow a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes whereby the state pays a nominal fee to the city to offset the fact that state agencies do not pay property taxes.

The state has always been cool to both proposals, reasoning that just the presence of state agencies—and therefore workers—is enough benefit to Jackson by providing sales tax revenue the city would not otherwise receive.

City Council President and Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps argues that state buildings require resources that city could be using elsewhere.

"What if there were two more house fires on the other side of town?" Stamps said the day after the Ag Museum fire. "We have to keep all of Jackson safe."

In recent years, Jackson lawmakers have repeatedly sponsored legislation to give the city a boost for the drain the state can be on city resources, but the proposals rarely make it out of committee. Last year, while the Legislature ignored Jackson's request for police and protection resources, lawmakers did earmark $500,000 for a yet-to-be-completed crime study.

Jackson Ward 6 Councilman Tyrone Hendrix, who chairs the city's legislative committee, said the council and Mayor Tony Yarber's administration are working on nailing down the city's legislative agenda for the 2015 session, but that more resources for infrastructure to public safety will likely be a part of it.

"We have to look at this like a partnership (with the state)," he said. "We're not coming with our hands out."

One of the city's most pressing orders of business will first be to hire a lobbyist. The council previously rejected Yarber's nomination of Hayes Dent Public Strategies, which has strong ties to the Republican establishment that historically has been frosty to Jackson's legislative requests.

Mayoral spokeswoman Shelia Byrd said that, within the month, Yarber plans to again nominate a lobbying firm and have the council approve the city's legislative agenda.