Two Ward 6 residents approved for civic service
By Katherine R. Dougan
At the August 3 meeting of the Board of Aldermen, two Clinton citizens were unanimously accepted by the Board to serve as civic volunteers. Ward 6 Alderman James Lott III proposed two Ward 6 residents, Keri Herrington and Heyward Coleman Bell, to serve. Herrington will serve on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, and Bell will serve on the City’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
Herrington, the mother of seven children, homeschooled her children and served her church and community for the past fifteen years, she stated, explaining that her experience as a primary caregiver and educator for her family makes her excellent at multi-tasking. Her 2021 Summa Cum Laude graduation from Mississippi College and current enrollment at MC College of Law with a 4.0 grade point average demonstrate her ability to not only multi-task, but also exhibits a high level of organization and dedication to excellence. She received MC’s D.M. Nelson Award in 2021, an award for outstanding graduating seniors.
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She serves as director of Women’s Ministry at Vineyard Church of Jackson, where she plans and coordinates meetings, organizes service projects and orchestrates retreats throughout the year.
Responsibilities and duties of the Clinton Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee deem that the member be active in the community, anticipating community needs and issues, advocate for Parks and Recreation, and serve in an advisory capacity for parks and recreation in the city. Members must stay up-to-date on trends in parks and recreation, aid in increasing the public’s understanding of parks and recreation, and assist, plan and support projects to fund renovation and new projects within parks and recreation.
Bell is a registered architect who retired from the State of Mississippi Bureau of Building in 2020. A graduate of Mississippi State’s School of Architecture in 1985, his recent notable projects include projects at East Mississippi Community College, the MSU Engineering and Science Complex, the Mississippi Shiloh Military Monument in Shiloh, Tennessee, Veterans cemeteries in Newton and Kilmichael, and the renovation of Lamar Hall on the Ole Miss campus.
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He was the City architect in Jackson for twenty years, a position in which he provided a full scope of architectural services, including staff supervision, working with City departments and the City Council for projects, providing accounting for Federal, State and local project funding, and serving as a committee member to interview and select A/E firms for projects. Bell’s notable projects in Jackson include the Davis Planetarium, a new fire station, work at the Standard Life Building, and work at Union Station train station/Greyhound bus station/Jatran transfer facility.
Duties and responsibilities of serving on the Clinton Planning and Zoning Commission include holding meetings with regard to the City’s planning and zoning ordinances, which include applications for amendments to the Official Zoning Map, which includes applications for rezoning; reviewing all site plans for development of a single lot, which includes reviewing sketch plats; and reviewing all preliminary plats for proposed Planned Unit Developments, which includes plats for proposed conventional subdivisions.
The Planning and Zoning Commission holds regular meetings on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
For those interested in volunteering in the city, there are lots of opportunities to serve. Residents are encouraged to contact their alderperson to volunteer and find out more.
