For the past month I’ve worked for our mayor. I’ve been genuinely encouraged by what I’ve seen.

Vicksburg has had good fortune because you, the voters, decided five years ago to allow George Flaggs Jr. to serve as our mayor.

He continues to bring unprecedented leadership and economic growth to our city while giving young people hope for a future right here at home.

I want you to know about a man who is rubbing elbows on an almost-daily basis with top state and federal officials, and a man who takes advantage of every opportunity to swoop in to countless meetings and gatherings to bring home all the support – and dollars – possible for the City of Vicksburg.

I’m sure you know that George Flaggs was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives for nearly 30 years. You elected – and re-elected – him many times over. But what George Flaggs did that many public servants don’t do is he took the political know-how that he gained on our votes and, upon leaving the Legislature, brought it home to help all of us.

George Flaggs came home. He learned where to go, when to go and whom to see when he got there, making a strong case for bringing to Vicksburg the highest possible amount of our state and federal tax dollars. I am witnessing him deliver on this goal every day.

That all brings me to the point of this column. You, the citizens of Vicksburg, should know what’s happening for all of us.

Mayor Flaggs was in Washington, D.C. and Quad Cities, Illinois and Iowa, last month, and I had the opportunity to witness him in action.

As I watched him preside over the Annual Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative Meeting, I noticed a trend.

Not only does nearly every elected official know and respect George Flaggs but they all ask him the same question – “how are you doing it in Vicksburg?

How are you so successful in growing your city?”

Mayor Flaggs found new ways to attract federal money for this city’s aging infrastructure: He heard ways to build up the Port of Vicksburg to help our city better capitalize on the natural-built groundwork of the river that makes the nation’s only trade surplus possible.

With the river generating nearly $500 billion in annual revenue for cities and towns adjacent or near the main channel, I’m encouraged to know we have a mayor who is willing to take action to build on our biggest economic connection to global trade opportunities.

It just makes sense.

I want you to keep one thing in mind. None of these paths could have been trekked or even approached if George Flaggs had not made the contacts, been willing and able to garner an audience with the power-makers and had not been at the table representing all of us.

Vicksburg is fortunate to have George Flaggs because George Flaggs knows what’s good for Vicksburg.

Sam Andrews is executive assistant to Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. You can reach him at sandrews@vicksburg.org or by calling