On January 23, Louisville Mayor Will Hill traveled to Washington, DC where he met with the Mississippi delegation and attended a conference of mayors on January 24. Hill said that he was contacted the previous week concerning a potential visit with President Donald Trump at the White House, and Pascagoula Mayor Dane Maxwell made the official invitation. Maxwell was an early Trump supporter. Nine Mississippi mayors attended the conference, Hill being the only one from north Mississippi.
Hill stated that he began to reach out to the Mississippi delegation on January 23, in hopes of meeting with them on the morning of the 24th. He said, “I had some specific topics to talk about. One is an update on all of our progress with federal support. They need to hear it; they need to know, because not everything is always perceived as positive when it comes to government. The idea is when you hear government, everyone always thinks of politics, but in reality government is best when it applied in the agencies. So I’m working with the agencies; I’m not dealing with what you see on the news.”
Secondly, Hill discussed the need for public infrastructure funds, for which the City has made four applications since he has been mayor. This project has not been funded, but Hill said he feels good about the need, and wanted to get the support of the Mississippi delegation.
He added that he proudly work his ‘Taylor” pin and spoke to the delegation about the positive things happening at the Taylor Group, including moving into the defense industry.
Hill said, “I wanted to not only celebrate them being in business for 90 years, but they are American made. If we’re going to talk ‘American’ let’s do it. If we’re going to say ‘America first’ let’s be that way.” He said that he was able to express on a high level the community’s interest in seeing that Taylor’s, on a defense level has every opportunity to expand in Louisville.
In the afternoon the conference of about 100 mayors from around the country heard directly from President Trump who delivered a very positive, encouraging message which emphasized the need to clear the lines of communications between the federal and local levels and get rid of unneeded and cumbersome regulations, a message that was reiterated in the panel discussion that followed.
The group also heard from Vice-President Mike Pence who also offered a clear and encouraging message; Hill was able to speak directly with the Pence.
Hill said, “The one theme was to try to tear down barriers between federal government and local government, and let’s try to speed things up and let’s get yes’s quicker and get no’s quicker. Let’s know what we can do and what we can’t do. It was very, very clear that they wanted you to know that you could call them.”
Hill added that he was very pleased with the follow-up from the Mississippi delegation and that he was able to accomplish some good business during that one day.
