Johnny Timmons, Chuck Williams re-appointed to lead city of Tupelo departments
Aug. 3—TUPELO — Two longtime city employees will continue to lead important municipal departments.
The Tupelo City Council on Tuesday night confirmed the re-appointment of Chuck Williams as the director of the city's Public Works Department and the re-appointment of Johnny Timmons as the director of Tupelo Water and Light, the city's utility department.
Williams is a native of Tupelo who began his career in the Public Works Department in 1993 as a traffic control technician in the paint department. After holding various positions with the city, he became a supervisor in Public Works in 2008.
He remained a supervisor of various divisions in the department until he became the interim director of Public Works in Aug. 2013. He became the permanent director of the department in Dec. 2013 after he was confirmed by the City Council.
"It's an honor to be chosen again and reappointed," Williams said. "I'm just here to serve Tupelo."
The Public Works Department oversees filling potholes, conducting some maintenance work to city streets and maintains drainage systems in town.
Timmons is a native of Tupelo and has been an employee of Tupelo Water and Light since 1974. Timmons has been a meter reader, groundman, lineman and assistant to the manager. Timmons became the director of the utility department around 26 years ago.
"I want to thank the mayor for the opportunity because we've got a lot of good things going on," Timmons said.
Tupelo Water and Light is responsible for providing electricity and water to commercial and residential buildings in the Tupelo city limits.
This is Jordan's third round of department head appointees. Last month, he appointed Tanner Newman as Development Services director, Ben Logan as the city attorney, Don Lewis as the chief operations officer, Kim Hanna as the chief financial officer, Neal McCoy as the director of the Conventional and Visitors Bureau and Kizzy Guy as the director of Human Resources.
Whenever a mayor appoints someone to lead a city department, he or she must be confirmed by the Tupelo City Council. However, the mayor is not required to seek council approval to terminate a department head's employment.