City officials release annual report

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Jan. 28, 2004
City officials thumbed through 20-page bound copies of Meridian's 2003 annual report Tuesday as they met to reflect on the past year of city business.
Mayor John Robert Smith and city department heads each stood in front of city councilmen and gave their report for 2003.
In his report, Smith compared the city to a family, saying, "In times of stress and tragedy, we respond to each other with love and compassion because we know each other and we genuinely care about each other."
City leaders boasted about several downtown development projects, including construction of the Riley Education and Performing Arts Center and downtown parking garage.
They also thanked the community for the way it responded to the Lockheed Martin shootings in July when a lone gunman walked into the plant and opened fire on fellow employees.
Copies of the report, which are also used throughout the year as a marketing tool for the city, are available at City Hall.
Maureen Lofton, the city's assistant for governmental affairs, organizes and edits the annual report. Smith said he talked with Lofton shortly after he was elected mayor about his idea for producing the reports.