Dr. Jesse Killingsworth, a dean at Hinds Community College, won Utica’s runoff election for mayor Tuesday.

Killingsworth received 166 votes, or 57.2 percent, defeating Clinton police officer Mark Morgan, who received 124 votes, 42.7 percent.

Killingsworth, 61, is dean of career and technical education at Hinds Community College in Utica. He is a retired sergeant major in the U.S. Army Reserve.

It will be his first public office, he said. He has been a candidate for mayor several times, including running against former Utica Mayor Charles Stokes, who resigned Jan. 1 to become Hinds County tax assessor.

Killingsworth and Morgan were the top vote-getters among five candidates in a special election Feb. 19 to replace Stokes, but neither won a majority.

Mayor Pro-Tem Lennette Watts, who is acting mayor, did not garner enough votes to participate in the runoff.

Killingsworth said his top priority as mayor will be bringing new businesses to Utica and pushing the state highway department to widen Mississippi 18 and Mississippi 27.

“I came to Utica 34 or 35 years ago and, since then, we’ve been losing businesses left and right,” including hardware and parts stores, pharmacies, medical practices and a dentist, he said.

Widening highways 18 and 27, which intersect at Utica, has been a “back-burner” proposal for too long, Killingsworth said, and will be especially important if a second nuclear station at Grand Gulf is built.

Both 18 and 27 narrow to two lanes where they pass through Utica and are not wide enough to serve as evacuation routes, he said.

Neither Killingsworth nor the city clerk know for certain when he will be sworn into office. He will serve out the remainder of Stokes’ term, which ends in 2009.

Killingsworth, who is married and has three children, said he would like to see more services for the elderly, such as assisted living or home hospice care. He said he would also like to see a recreational facility built for Utica’s youngsters.