On the job since July 1, Jackson Mayor John Horhn has a wide range of priorities that include efforts to right size the city budget, work with the Legislature to create a Metro Jackson Water Authority, a focus on blight elimination and attention on infrastructure improvements.
“The immediate thing I addressed was getting a police chief selected,” said Horhn, who served as a senator in the Legislature from 1993 until 2025.
RaShall M. Brackney, Ph.D., was announced on Feb. 6 as the next chief of police for the Jackson Police Department after a national search that included community input, screening and multiple rounds of interviews.
A retired veteran of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, where she served for more than 30 years in a series of command and leadership roles, Brackney later served as chief of police at George Washington University and as chief of police for the city of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Jackson City Council must confirm Brackney’s appointment.
Horhn’s to-do list also includes conquering major budget issues.
“We have a shortfall that we’re trying to get the exact numbers on,” he said. “Two years ago, the fiscal year for the city ended up with a $7 million shortfall. This past fiscal year we ended up with a $13 million shortfall.
“Our efforts are to right size the budget. We know a lot more now than we did when we first arrived at City Hall.”
An evaluation is being conducted to determine how to deal with financial matters, he said.
“We are trying to render some savings through empty positions that are not filled in various departments,” he said. “We’ll be able to save several million dollars that way.
“We’re looking for ways to generate income such as making better use of our landfill, which just became operational again; getting rid of surplus property, which would generate revenue and doing a better job of collecting traffic and misdemeanor fines.”
Also being explored is an audit of the city’s 22 cell phone towers with an eye toward possibly increasing the fees charged for their use and a survey of how many of the city’s light poles actually work.
“We’re paying a fee for those poles to Entergy whether the lights work or not,” Horhn said.
The city council adopted a flat budget for this year.
“When we arrived at City Hall, there had not been an audit done since 2022,” Horhn said. “We’ve gotten the 2023 audit done. One of our top priorities is getting the 2024 and 2025 audits done as quickly as possible. We’d like to have them done by mid-summer. The likelihood of that is remote but that’s our target.”
The mayor is also focused on working with the Legislature to create the Metro Jackson Water Authority, which would take over from JXN Water after Ted Henefin, interim third-party manager, is done with his work. He has said he plans to wind up his work in 2027.
“We’re still negotiating around the makeup of the authority,” he said. “The city is adamant that it should have the majority of appointments on the authority because we own the assets and we have to cover the debt on the water system. Any scenario without the city having the majority of seats is a deal killer.”
A bill in the Senate, if passed, would allow help with the elimination of blighted properties, a problem not just in Jackson but other cities in the state, he said.
The bill would authorize the creation of land banks by local government that could acquire and redevelop blighted or abandoned property.
Also on Hohrn’s agenda is developing “humane but workable solutions” for the city’s homeless population.
“We’ve got to do something about the homeless and unhoused population in the city,” he said. “They’re starting to affect the city’s ability to attract and retain businesses. The homeless can sometimes inhibit customers from wanting to patronize businesses because of their presence.”
A possible solution is hiring Clutch Consulting Group, based in Houston, Texas, and known for advising cities on how to use federal funding to provide housing for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
Federal funds are used to lease apartments for 12 months, utility bills are paid for people who need housing and mental health and substance abuse services are offered as well as the opportunity to reunite with families.
“From what we hear it is an effective way of providing housing for the homeless,” Hohrn said, noting that the city has some funding that could be used and is identifying other sources of funding.
The city is catching up on deferred maintenance, Horn said.
Plans are to use $14 million of its $40 million bond issue to clean out ditches and storm drains, he said. Two thousand five hundred potholes have been filled in the city with help from Hinds County and funds have been identified for major efforts with street resurfacing, he said.
As for accomplishments during his first months in office, Hohrn pointed to the National Folk Festival, which took place Nov. 7-9, 2025 in downtown Jackson and attracted 30,000 people. The festival will return this year Nov. 13-15.
“When arrived in office, $300,000 had been raised and $200,000 of that came from the city,” he said. “We had to raised $1.2 million within three months.
“We spruced up downtown quite a bit, paved, made some lighting improvements and put in some safety measures,” he said. “We didn’t have one incident over those three days.”
The city has also improved its relationships with county, state and federal governmental partners. “What that will translate into, we believe, are greater resources coming into the city for the challenges Jackson faces,” he said.
The city is trying to get the word out that it is accountable for helping citizens with services it provides.
“We’re trying to restore accountability and to impart to citizens that when you have a problem with the city it’s the city’s responsibility to address it,” he said.
Horhn, who ran for mayor four times before successfully winning the office, said the job is grueling and tough to do day-in, day-out.
“The joy comes in getting someone’s street repaired, their ditch cleaned out or a blighted property removed,” he said.
