Only small in stature

Only small in stature

Mayor Bill Johnson

My memories of Mayor Bill Johnson

By Ralph Hardin

Evening Times Editor I came along a little late in the game. Although I’ve lived in Crittenden County virtually my entire life, I have to admit I never really paid that much attention to the regular day-today of the West Memphis city government. It just seemed like Keith Ingram was always mayor, I guess.

But in 2010,1 started working here at the Times, and the biggest part of my assigned duties included doing just that — paying attention to, and reporting on, the regular day-to-day goings-on of the West Memphis city government.

It was then that I first had the opportunity to meet Mayor Bill Johnson and see him in action.

Now at the time, he was already into the back half of what would wind up being a 20-year stretch as the leader of the largest municipality in Crittenden County.

Full disclosure: I had heard his name a few times and read it in the paper, but could not have picked his face out of a stack of local leaders’ pictures.

He immediately struck me as someone who commanded respect — a pretty good trick for a little fellow. I say that as someone who stands almost 5-foot-8 with shoes on myself. And I certainly mean no disrespect, because while he may have struck me as small in stature, he certainly cast a long shadow.

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The man knew his business. He handled the affairs of my first-ever city council meeting with efficiency and poise, even when issues were brought forth that were no doubt not easy to discuss and administrate. There was a lot going on in the fall of 2010. Longtime residents will remember that this was only a few months removed from the shooting deaths of two West Memphis police officers, Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans, and only a couple of years removed from the shooting death of Deaunta Farrow, a 12-year-old West Memphis boy by another WMPD officer. Some councilmen were very concerned about the WMPD having begun carrying AR-15s. Another councilman, Marco McClendon was facing domestic violence charges. There was strife in the Fire Department over claims of racial inequality. The city was in the midst of a recession that was affecting the entire nation and the threat of job cuts was looming in every department in the city.

But in that meeting and in every meeting I covered following that first one, Johnson always spoke surely and clearly. For him, it seemed, job one was putting the people of West Memphis first and then worrying about the rest later.

And the city never did have to lay off employees, or cut city services, or raise utility rates to make it work. Legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry was once quoted as saying, “Leadership is having your people look at you and gain confidence.” And Johnson put exactly that image forth at every opportunity. And when the economy did pick back up, he and the council came through with raises for their employees, and he allowed department heads to spend money where it was needed. And the city has seen several new businesses and industry in his tenure, even here in the last few years.

My personal favorite story involving Mayor Johnson involves my son, Buzz. When he was a ninth-grader at West Junior High (this would have been 2011,1 believe) the West Memphis Chamber of Commerce’s Junior Leadership group visited City Hall as part of the program, spending a day with the mayor, city clerk, city attorney, city engineer and other department heads. That afternoon, I show up to the City Council meeting only to find that my son had been elected “Mayor for the Day” by his classmates. At the end of the meeting, he got to sit in Mayor Johnson’s chair in the council chambers and accept the “motion to adjourn” from one of the council members.

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It’s in the official minutes from the council meeting and everything. And even though my son spent 7,299 fewer days as mayor than Bill Johnson, I’ll definitely remember that one.

When I became editor here at the Times in 2014, my interactions with Mayor Johnson were dramatically reduced. It became someone else’s job to follow the West Memphis city government beat, but I would run into him from time to time at community events. He still always had that air of authority about him and always looked like, well, a mayor.

And while he won’t be mayor any more come Jan. 1, his influence will be felt in the community for years.

Small in stature, perhaps, but leaving very big shoes to fill.