Meet Ben Carver

After four terms as Ward 1 Starkville alderman, Ben Carver threw his hat in for District 1 Oktibbeha County Supervisor in 2023. He won the seat in a runoff election and is now in the unique position of having served in both city and county elected positions. Reporter Abigail Sipe Rochester talked to Carver in late March.

What drew you into politics? 

I started off my career playing baseball at Delta State, and then I got an offer on the Mississippi State campus, so I was a governmental training specialist for the Center for Governmental Training Technology (with the Mississippi State Extension Service). And I worked with a gentleman named P.C. McLaurin, who was a former alderman and a gentleman who was also a former alderman named Sumner Davis.

So, I just sat around and learned from those guys and the center for governmental training and technology was in the Mississippi State Extension Service. I (completed contract work) for the office of Homeland Security, and I just traveled. My claim to fame is that I’ve traveled to all 297 municipalities and towns in the state of Mississippi conducting Homeland Security training, emergency management, and I just fell in love with elected officials and what they do and how they contribute to society. 

You recently moved from the Board of Aldermen to the Board of Supervisors. What was the appeal of the county seat over staying as an alderman? 

When I obtained my master’s of public policy and administration, I had a county government basis. I’ve always been drawn to that through my previous work with all the 82 counties. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed being around those individuals I saw statewide, and just learning from them how every county differentiates their style. 

In Mississippi, you’ve got 44 counties that operate under the unit system. That’s basically a road manager and delegating authority that way. And then 38 are on a beat system. And I’m really drawn to the unit system and how we operate here in Oktibbeha County. I think it’s efficient and effective. 

I feel like my work was done with the city. I had a very successful 14 years. Got a lot of good things done. I think Kim Moreland will just pick up the baton and run with it. Some of those things we have to restructure. I was consistent for four terms.

Were there any skills you learned in your time as an alderman that you hope helps you as a supervisor now? 

Absolutely. One was just delegation of authority, being able to trust your department heads and managers. Giving them the ability to have some flexibility. It’s a professional level career, and sometimes, especially in our form of county government, it’s being able to task and to move on and stay at policy level instead of getting down in the weeds every day. 

Second was just budgeting. How to look long term and see where we want to be as a county. And then obviously, my kind of role on the board now is also making those relationships with the statewide elected officials – your state reps and your state senators. We’re trying to find funding sources and there’s lots of federal money and state money out there. I’m just trying to … get some of that here in Oktibbeha County.

What barriers do you see for the county right now and how do you plan to overcome those? 

Most of it’s funding. … Just last week, we delegated most of our ARPA funds, which is the American Rescue Plan Act for COVID funds. That was huge because we got a lot of equipment needs that the county has been needing for two or three years, which is probably our most pressing thing. We got motor graders bought, the rollers and sweepers, all the things that maintain the county roads, we’ve got all those purchased. So, over the next couple years, you should see improvements in road conditions out in the county. 

Next is staffing. In my personal opinion, we need an HR person, a manager. Right now, our county administrator and her staff kind of just handle the onboard process when somebody comes on. But I think it’s time. The county’s growing. We need an HR person. I think we really need a designated IT person. At the current time, the (Golden Triangle) Planning and Development District handles all of our telecommunications, all of our video conferencing, all our recording of the meetings and things like that. And I’d rather have an internal person I could speak to on a daily basis in the office. 

Lastly, looking at some type of animal control person or ordinance. When I was campaigning, I ran across four or five vicious dogs. And really, that’s something that since I’ve been in the seat, I’ve realized how much of a problem sometimes the feral dogs are out in the county. 

How do you measure success for yourself as a public representative?

Getting re-elected. (He laughed.) It’s very hard for a Republican sometimes to get elected in this county. It’s a blue county in all your presidential elections, so majority Democrat. However, you have something they call political baggage, due to the nature of the executive level decision making that we make on a daily basis, you’re going to make somebody mad, whether it be a zoning issue or a regulation or something like that. I’m OK with that. 

But people know for the most part that if I’ve made a decision, I’ve reached out and gotten a lot of counsel and gotten other people’s opinions, and I’m just trying to do the right thing for the county or the city. So I’ve had people from both political parties over the years say, ‘Man, you know, you’re pretty consistent in how you vote and how you think.’ And I try to vote on my faith and my family and my convictions. You put those three together and you get a pretty consistent voting record. 

INTERVIEW BY ABIGAIL SIPE ROCHESTER

PHOTO BY GADE CHAMBLEE