Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Dec. 23, 2024 – Mitch Johnson was elected to the Jonesboro City Council in 2004. He’s represented Jonesboro for the last 20 years, while the population has grown from about 55,000 to over 81,000.
Johnson has served on the Public Works Council Committee and Public Safety Council Committee, chairing the Public Safety Committee for the last 12 years. But, earlier this year, the 61-year-old Johnson decided to retire.
He’ll still operate as the Director of Facilities for the NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital, a position he’s held since 2008. He’ll still be the General Manager of the Northeast Arkansas District Fair, a position he’s held since 2015.
But at the end of 2024, Johnson’s term as representative of Ward 4 Position 2 will conclude. Former Fire Chief Kevin Miller, who ran unopposed in the general election, will move into the role.
“My end goal, as I get closer to retirement, is to focus on my job here (NEA Baptist),” Johnson said. “My position here has just gotten so much busier as our square footage that we’re taking care of is growing.”
Retirement from the council will give him the opportunity to spend more time with his wife of four years, Stacy.
“I’ve still got my involvement with the fair, which takes a lot of time. I felt like the council, as a whole, is still doing good for the city. But I started thinking that the ‘old mentality’ needs to go out and something new needs to come in. Fresh ideas. New leadership.”
Johnson has served on City Council for 20 years, but there are a few members who have been there longer than him. Johnson considers John Street, who’s served for 22 years, and Chris Moore, who’s served for 25 years, as friends and mentors.
“If I struggled with a decision, those were the two people I went to during my whole career,” Johnson said. “Those two guys are terrific for the city.”
JRN asked for Johnson’s thoughts about the outcome of the mayoral election.
“I’ve never seen local politics get so bad as this year. (Mayor) Copenhaver has done a terrific job. I like him, respect him. He’s got a great focus, and his heart is with the city. He was the most positive person during this campaign…I couldn’t have been.”
“One point he made was that if you bring someone fresh into this job, it’s like going backward. I believe that because somebody’s got to come in and start the learning process. It was probably two years into my first term before I was comfortable with how a lot of the city operated,” he continued.
“In the four years that he’s been mayor, I can’t think of anything he’s brought forward that I didn’t think was a good idea. He’s always thinking of things to better the city and I’ve been more than happy to help fund them and to help implement.”
Johnson readily admits that he’s easily choked up as he thinks back to his years of public service. Several times during this interview, he struggled to hold back tears.
“When I first got elected, the late Cecil Province was still on the council. Cecil told me ‘You’re a part of a big city government that takes care of everybody. You’ve got friends out there that are probably not going to be in favor of everything you do. The thing that you have to rely on is work through your thought processes, look at everything and you make the decision that you feel is the best for Jonesboro as a whole. And if you can lay down and sleep at night, then you know you’ve done the right thing.’ ”
Johnson said he’s been sleeping well, knowing that the decisions he’s made have been in the best interest of Jonesboro.
JRN asked Johnson for projects and accomplishments that he felt proud to be a part of.
“The old landfill on Strawfloor was in terrible shape,” he recalled. “There was methane gas coming up through the concrete floors of the Public Works buildings out there! Chris Moore and I were the biggest advocates to get those people out of there. Relocating them was a big accomplishment.”
He said he was proud of partnering with the Solid Waste Authority to get the landfill moved to 238 County Road 476. He added that he’s always “been big on public safety.”
“Being a part of the placement of the new fire stations was important. There were a lot of things we were able to do for the police department: buying all of the new cars, the Take Home program, updating all of their equipment…having police cars at someone’s residence across the city…some people questioned that, but I’m all for it.”
“I think, overall, working with the other council members, and helping the city grow. Maybe in years past, the growth of the city was not really a thought process of the leaders back then. But I feel now that we’ve got a lot more planned processes in place. Rezonings are more thought-out than what they were before. And that’s nothing against past leaders. I just don’t think anyone had a clue of how Jonesboro was going to ‘blow up.'”
“I’ve been blessed to sit where I am and be a part of what’s going on. I feel like it’s all been a partnership. I feel like I take a little knowledge from every person sitting there when I leave. Everybody contributes something. I don’t feel like I was a major contributor. I just feel like I was a part of something, and we accomplished a lot in the last 20 years.”
For the past 10 years, Johnson has served as the General Manager of the Northeast Arkansas District Fair. He’s actually been a part of the fair team for longer than that.
“I’ve been involved (with the fair) in some fashion for 34 years,” Johnson said proudly. But he said as he gets older, it gets harder. “It’s now five weeks of hard stuff. You’ve got to move it out, set it up, run it, tear it down and haul it all back to the warehouses and put it away. It’s not the easy process that we had when we owned the facility.”
He added that while he still enjoys working on the fair, he will step down sometime “in the near future.”
At this point, the fair operates under an annual contract for the space with the Nettleton Baptist Church. Johnson indicated that he’d like to expand the contract length. He said if he could establish a longer contract length between the church and the fair, he felt like he could walk away from it.
Overall, Johnson said he’s satisfied with his time serving the City of Jonesboro.
“I feel good about my career with the City. I’ve appreciated the support from the citizens,” he said appreciatively. “Obviously, they entrusted me to be their voice for 20 years. I hope that I’ve made them happy.”