The votes were not all unanimous, but Vicksburg has a new police chief, fire chief, city attorney and municipal court judge following much-anticipated appointments made by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Friday.

While North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield sat in silence during Tuesday’s meeting as differing nominations by Mayor Paul Winfield and South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman died on the table without a second — on Friday, he seconded all of Winfield’s appointments without comment.

Former Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Lt. Walter Armstrong will lead the police department, while the board selected Charles Atkins Jr. as fire chief, Lee Davis Thames Jr. as city attorney and Nancy Thomas as municipal court judge. All are new to administrative roles at City Hall, except Thomas, who was city attorney from 1997 through Friday. None of their salaries was set Friday, but Winfield said that will likely be done sometime next week after meeting with Human Resources Director Lamar Horton.

“I feel that most of us in this room are vindicated right now because we did vote for change,” lifelong Vicksburg resident Clint Young told the board.

Young had readied a petition with about 100 signatures of citizens who wanted to see former police chief Tommy Moffett fired, but did not submit it to the board, as the personnel changes were made prior to his place on the agenda. He told the mayor and aldermen the new faces are welcome, but added voters will not be satisfied until real improvements are made in the police department and others.

“We are going to keep your feet to the fire,” said Young, one of about 70 who attended the 10 a.m. board meeting. “We want to thank you for what you have done today, and we’ll be watching you.”

Also appointed Friday were Allen Derivaux for municipal court judge pro tem, while Kenneth Daniels and Mark Hales were selected as new deputy fire chiefs in charge of EMS services and fire response, respectively. Bobby Robinson was reappointed as city prosecuting attorney. On Tuesday, Winfield had nominated Derivaux for the municipal court judge spot, but on Friday he changed his nomination to Thomas — who was unanimously approved.

“We recognized that Mrs. Thomas has a great value that she brings to the city, and has the expertise that I believe the citizens deserve. The people wanted some substantive changes, and I think we’ve given them that,” said Winfield, who had pledged to replace Moffett and make changes in the municipal court during his campaign.

The nine appointed Friday — as well as nine reappointments in the city clerk’s office and municipal court approved by the board on Tuesday — were jointly sworn in by Winfield at a 1 p.m. reconvening of the board.

The city’s new police chief, Armstrong, is a Batesville native and 25-year MHP veteran. He has lived in the county for more than a decade, but said he will now be looking for a home inside the city limits. The city charter requires the police chief to live in the city, and gives outside hires 180 days to relocate.

“My top priority is going to be addressing the violent crime in Vicksburg. Violent crimes have spiked in recent years, and we really need to take a look at what we can do differently to change that,” said Armstrong shortly before taking the oath of office. “My second priority will be staffing. We need more police officers on our streets and in our communities.”

Moffett, who had led the department since 2001 and is a former 16-year chief of the Biloxi Police Department, said Friday he was disappointed — but not surprised — by the board’s decision.   

“I can truly say as (Armstrong) takes the reins, the department is in better shape then when I took the reins eight years ago,” said Moffett, who cut the department’s ranks from over 100 officers to about 65 when he took over, had in recent years staffed an average of 75 officers and continually maintained the department was doing more professional work with fewer officers. “I’m willing to help him in any way I can as he takes over, and I wish him the best of luck.”

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, who along with Armstrong is among a limited number of law enforcement professionals in the country to have graduated from the FBI National Academy, said he looks forward to working with the new police chief.

“I’ve known chief Armstrong for many years, and I look forward to meeting with him to discuss items that are of interest to both the city and county,” Pace said.

The fate of Deputy Police Chief Richard O’Bannon, who also came to Vicksburg from Biloxi, is still uncertain. Winfield has said he has no preference for who takes the No. 2 job in the department, and offered no nominations Tuesday or Friday. During both meetings, Beauman moved to reappoint O’Bannon, but could not get a second.

“What I would recommend we do is consult with the new chief and allow him to come forward with a recommendation, whoever it is, even if it’s the current deputy chief,” Winfield said.  

The mayor and aldermen are required by the city charter to select a number of “corporate officers” at the outset of each new term, with a majority vote of the three-member board required to fill the positions. Winfield was sworn in as mayor July 1 after beating two-time incumbent Laurence Leyens in the June 2 election with 61.6 percent of the vote. Mayfield and Beauman ran unopposed in the election, and are serving their second and third terms, respectively.

The charter does not require the appointments be made at the new board’s first meeting — which was Tuesday — but that’s typically when it’s done. Prior to Winfield taking office, Mayfield had called for a 30-day moratorium on all appointments to provide for thorough assessments of each incumbent and candidate.

Beauman, who had said since the election he would not vote for any changes in lead personnel, kept to his word once again Friday and voted “nay” to appoint Armstrong, Atkins, Thames, Daniels and Hales.

While Mayfield did not feel inclined to explain his decisions during the meeting Friday, afterward he said none of the decisions were easy, but all were made after meeting all of the candidates, reviewing each department and hearing from hundreds of citizens.

“I refrained from voting on Tuesday because I was uncomfortable with making any of these decisions without doing all of my homework,” he said. “I took a lot of undue heat for trying to do what’s right, and that bothers me — that the community wanted me to just take these peoples’ jobs without giving them a fair review. My heart goes out to all of those we had to terminate today, and I expect very big things from those we appointed.”

Winfield said a review of the city’s organizational chart is under way, and additional changes to non-appointed department heads and employees will come over the next two to three months.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com