Going into his fifth month as a member of the Jackson City Council, Kevin Parkinson believes he has a better sense of the issues the city faces.
“It’s been no secret that Jackson has struggled with infrastructure issues,” said Parkinson, who represents Ward 7. “I’ve gotten a better sense of the scope of things.
“Jackson is an old city and is large geographically. It’s faced with limited funds and limited resources. The city has to do the best it can to tackle the things that will do the most good for the greatest number of people.”
Parkinson, age 38, a former teacher and principal who works for an education nonprofit organization, was elected to his first term on the council on June 3 and took office on July 1. He replaced Virgi Lindsay, who did not seek re-election.
He grew up in a suburb of Chicago and earned his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University and his master’s degree from Columbia University. He moved to Leland in 2009 to work for Teach For America.
A former principal of Midtown Public Charter School, he now works as senior education manager at the Alliance for Decision Education. He has lived in Ward 7 since 2012.
Ward 7 is about 14 miles in length and encompasses downtown Jackson, Belhaven, Fondren, LoHo and some of south Jackson, including Battlefield Park, to the Byram city limits.
Parkinson, who works remotely for his full-time job, said he often takes his laptop and works at City Hall. That way he can take meetings over Zoom and when they’re done easily work on city business.
A council member is a part-time position, but it takes more time than 20 hours a week, he said.
“It requires a sizeable amount of time,” Parkinson said. “I’m at City Hall almost every day.”
The weekend before council meetings he devotes hours to studying the agenda and information that supports the items on the agenda, so he can be prepared for the council’s work session the day before the council meeting, he said.
One of the first things Parkinson did as a council member was to cast a vote for a budget that totals $337,462,641 for the 2026 fiscal year.
“We passed a level budget,” he said. “We’ve been limited in what we can do because the city’s audits for 2023 and 2024 have not been completed.”
The audits are necessary in order to know more about the city’s finances, he said. The 2023 audit is close to being completed, he said.
Parkinson is pleased that vacant seats on several city commissions, including the Historic Preservation Commission, have been filled.
Parkinson pushed the city to apply for a grant that would provide partial funding to remove and replace the Seminole Avenue bridge over Eubanks Creek with one designed for walkers and cyclists.
“The bridge there now is designed for vehicular traffic,” he said. “It is a heavy bridge and has big concrete slabs going into the creek that prevent water from flowing.”
Eubanks Creek floods during heavy downpours, has done so for decades and has been studied numerous times to determine improvements that could be made.
The conversion of the bridge from a vehicular one to a pedestrian one is the most recent solution put forth to reduce flooding. “A group called Fondren Forward provided some studies about this,” he said.
Parkinson voted in favor of putting a dispenser for Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication, in the Hood Building, 200 E. Capitol St.
“This is an important issue to me,” he said. “Many Jacksonians are impacted by the opioid crisis, and it is deeply personal as my own sister passed away of an overdose in early 2023.”
Parkinson began an e-newsletter as one way to communicate with constituents. He recaps council meetings in the newsletters.
About 90 percent of the calls or text messages he receives from constituents are about crime or public works issues, he said.
“I have no formal authority to direct the day-to-day operations of the city, but I try to help people navigate the system,” he said. “I’ve tried to form a partnership with the mayor’s team.”
Parkinson has visited with Lorenzo Anderson, the new director of public works who is the first one for the city in about two years. He previously served as the public works director for the city of Laurel and worked as a county engineer for Washington County.
He is pleased that the city and Hinds County are working together to repair potholes. “The city is paying for the asphalt and the county is providing the labor,” he said.
Parkinson attended one of the forums that was held for residents to learn about the search for a new Jackson chief of police and listened to comments from residents about issues such as the need for better animal control, domestic violence and traffic control.
He voted in favor of hiring the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps cities recruit and vet law enforcement leaders, at a cost of $65,000 to conduct the search. Joseph Wade, who had led the Jackson Police Department, retired on Sept. 30 after a 30-year career.
Parkinson said one reason he voted in favor of the firm is that it has a record of success and will re-do the search if the person hired to replace Wade leaves before a year is up or does not work out.
Parkinson praised his wife for being helpful and shuttling their children, ages 10, 8 and 5, to where they need to go and for picking up the slack when he is busy with city business.
He also praised Esther Urbina, the Ward 7 clerk, who provides assistance. “She knows how to navigate the system.”
