Issues

Criminal justice reform, blight, economic mobility, and education have proven to be major concerns amongst Shelby County residents. Melvin Burgess seeks to lead reforms with community-driven solutions, unparalleled experience, and bold leadership. Policies that Melvin Burgess will work alongside community and government to implement include:

Criminal Justice Reform

As Shelby County Mayor, Melvin Burgess intends to address crime by ensuring that the resources are available to properly prevent, respond to, and hold accountable those that threaten our communities.

Resources: Fund a new Shelby County Jail. Ensure county law-enforcement and courts are fully funded, so those that are responsible for our criminal justice system can keep our communities safe.
Collaboration: Create new frameworks for law enforcement to cooperate and strengthen existing networks; including at the municipal, county, state, and federal levels. Hire a Law Enforcement Liaison from the community to oversee improvements.
Community: Inform on the parameters of county government, empower and support neighborhoods to develop community support and response mechanisms to conditions that are averse to
crime and criminal activity. Ensure community resiliency against crime.

Thriving Communities

As Shelby County Mayor, Melvin Burgess intends to address declining neighborhoods by rebuilding neglected community assets, supporting property owners and residents in enhancing their properties, and through curating favorable conditions for development and redevelopment.

Infrastructure: Ensure that public infrastructure from roads to streetlights to sidewalks and parks exist wherever needed, existing infrastructure is maintained and up to date to support today’s
neighborhoods, and that planning is in place to prepare for future
needs.
Code Enforcement: Collaborate with neighborhood and community stakeholders to identify, address, and support a high standard of property maintenance in all Shelby County Communities. We will
ensure resources exist to help standardize all properties whose owners are making best faith efforts to follow code while supporting efforts to hold accountable derelict and negligent owners of blighted properties.
Property Tax Enforcement: Many blighted properties are tax delinquent. As Mayor, Melvin Burgess will make sure that resources are available to help owners pay property taxes- including, but not limited, to fully-funded tax relief options and wherever appropriate, tax freeze and abatements. Burgess will ensure that property tax
enforcement exists amongst solvent delinquent owners who do not otherwise qualify for abatements or freezes so that community revitalization efforts can be fully funded.
Beautification: Will utilize volunteer paid inmate labor from Shelby County Division of Corrections to pick up litter and otherwise remedy blighted infrastructure and properties. Will create a temporary employment labor program for persons needing work (such as unemployed, underemployed, re-entry populations, and at-need persons) to assist in building an army to solve Shelby County’s blight concerns.

Economic Mobility

Melvin Burgess will build an economic development framework to create the right conditions for jobs, development, and economic activity driven by community members and assisted by government.

Community Benefit: No incentives without community benefit. Ensure that community benefit agreements exist amongst businesses that receive any public assistance. Assure community
benefit through community input in the incentive process
Reform of Economic Incentives: Ensuring that efforts to audit all economic incentives are supported and well-resourced. Businesses
receiving public incentives need to be held accountable to the promises they made to Shelby County Residents.
Accountability: Ensure provisions exist to reclaim any public incentives from businesses that fail to keep their word. Whenever a business fails to meet community benefit promises, your Shelby
County Government has resources and can recover any investments made in unkept promises.
Neighborhood and Community Decision-Making: Ensure neighborhood stakeholders and community members are able to have a say in government investment through participatory budgeting and neighborhood development corporations, as well as
through local IDB’s in each community. Greater participation in having CRA Community Advisory Boards.

Education

Re-establish the office of Shelby County Education Liaison to ensure connectivity between county government that funds schools and the
school systems and families. Office of Education Liaison will be responsible for ensuring that county government curates a responsive and accountable public school framework to support both families, educators, and pupils.

Make certain that the most successful school districts in Shelby County are collaborating with the most at-need to ensure that best practices and resources are shared Countywide and wherever
possible.
Emphasize work with lower-performing school districts and constituents to ensure that local control is maintained while constituents’ voices
are heard.
Work with State government to encourage a local solution that comes from community members and neighborhood leaders to the issues affecting our schools
Advocate for increased funding and greater resources from new and existing sources
Look across our county, state, and nation for best practices to share with Shelby County’s school districts.