In a city with historic, persisting challenges – from infrastructure woes to a dwindling tax base – how do you measure the success of a new mayor’s first 100 days in office?

“Whether we get things done,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn said after his State of the City address Tuesday. “ I think there’s a visible difference in how the city is starting to look. Things are cleaner. They’re not totally where we want to be by far, but we’re starting to see signs that the city is pushing itself up. Our homicide rate is down. It’s not down to where we want it to be, but it’s 40% down from this time last year. We have investors that are looking at Jackson in ways that they haven’t looked at it before.”

In his speech at the downtown Mississippi Museum of Art garden, Horhn praised his “crackerjack staff” and the work of his appointments to several task forces formed at the start of his administration. He touted the $125 million secured for road resurfacing and the work that began Monday to fix water leaks at the Jackson Zoo. 

“ We must right size Jackson for today. This city was built for a quarter of a million people, but it’s home to 144,000 citizens now. That gives us open space, and that’s an opportunity,” Horhn said, citing 325 blight elimination cases the city has worked on in recent months. “ I believe it’s time we reimagine our vacant and dilapidated spaces as opportunities.”

Horhn, a Democrat, promised during his mayoral campaign to return basic functionality to city services. Robert Gibbs, one of Horhn’s major supporters and the chair of his transition team, told Mississippi Today shortly before Horhn took office that evidence of the mayor’s abilities would come by way of cleared up rights-of-way and filled potholes.

“We gotta clean up the city. I think that’s something we can do in 30 days,” Gibbs said in June.

He cited cutting back trees and vegetation that hang over neighborhoods and block stop signs, making for hazardous intersections, and efforts to fill potholes within 72 hours of them being reported.

“I think if people see basic services restored, their confidence that we’re going to do the bigger projects will happen,” Gibbs said. “But those are some things that we can tackle. Now, what I don’t know is do we have the tools to do it?”

Since Horhn took office, the city has filled more than 4,000 potholes, an average of 38 each day, and made about 1,800 patches to streets, according to figures Chief Administrative Officer Pieter Teeuwissen provided Mississippi Today. This does not reflect a concerted escalation in street repairs. The city was filling an average of 40 potholes a day in the three months before Horhn took office, according to Teeuwissen’s numbers.

To aid this work, the city recently secured the funds from a $40 million bond issue, which WLBT reported had been in the works for nearly two years, to repair ditches, drainage, streets and bridges.

But deploying city crews to fix roadways is just a sliver of what’s on Horhn’s plate. He’s also had crises to manage. In his first month in office, the federally-appointed third-party manager of the city’s water system, JXN Water, began shutting off water to apartment complexes with past due bills, displacing families. 

Horhn formed a Housing Task Force to study solutions to this and other housing dilemmas across the city. 

 ”No landlord should put a family in harm’s way or cut off basic services,” Horhn said. “We’re committed to making sure residents of Jackson have access to water and a safe home, and we’re taking actions to support them and encourage all landlords to do right by their tenants.”

Meanwhile, Horhn and city leaders have worked to oppose a rate hike for water customers that JXN Water says is necessary to bring financial stability to the utility. 

In Horhn’s second month, Jackson Police Department’s chief stepped down, prompting a national search to replace him, which hasn’t yet been completed. 

“It became clear that time isn’t the measure that matters most. The process is. What counts is getting this decision right, not getting it fast,” Horhn said. 

Horhn also reinstituted the Jackson Civil Service Commission, a group that ensures fair hiring practices and which had been inactive for some time.

Horhn, who previously served in the state Senate, has made inroads with state leaders. In both legislative chambers, lawmakers are convening to study policy proposals to improve Jackson. In Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s recent announcement of a new Senate committee focused on economic development in Jackson, he described the city as “entering a new chapter” after having battled with the previous administration.

 Hosemann’s announcement “represents an important step forward for both Jackson and the state of Mississippi,” Horhn said. “I want to thank him and our state senators, along with Speaker (Jason) White and members of the house for their leadership, their willingness to support the potential that exists in Jackson, Mississippi.”

Also, Horhn said in his address, the state’s economic development agency Mississippi Development Authority has for the first time assigned a dedicated project officer to Jackson, meaning “ we’re gonna have someone on the ground, part of our team, whose sole job is to ensure that opportunity doesn’t pass our city by.”

“ This kind of partnership is what progress looks like, city and state working hand-in-hand to deliver results for the people of Jackson,” Horhn said. 

The Jackson City Council, which gained three new members in July, has worked in conjunction with the new administration, including confirming Horhn’s nine cabinet appointments, reinstating a generally ineffectual youth curfew, adopting a resolution supporting the city taking back control of its water system and passing a roughly flat budget of $337 million.

While Horhn hopes to advance larger projects on Jackson’s horizon, such as the Pearl River flood control project, which is expected to spawn economic development and has raised talks of a potential casino, he’s also ushering in progress on existing projects, like the museum trail connection to downtown, or launching new, smaller-scale efforts like a volunteer clean-up effort called CleanJXN Gateway Beautification Day, which took place Saturday. 

What’s next? Horhn cited an in-the-works market value analysis “to take a clear-eyed look at where we are today,” including assessing the city’s assets, the conditions of its housing stock, schools, roads, and water and sewer, which he said will be used as the foundation of a citywide comprehensive plan.

“ There is an old saying that he who fails to plan plans to fail. Jackson must plan. Not out of a fear of failure, but out of a deep belief in our future,” Horhn said.