Three men are campaigning to be the next mayor of Metropolis.
The incumbent mayor Don Canada, city alderman Chuck Short and business owner Gregg Jeffords are all asking Metropolis residents to vote for them as the southern Illinois city’s next mayor on election day, April 1.
Canada was first elected to the mayor’s office in 2021. Prior to that, he served for six years on the city council.
At a candidate forum hosted by the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce earlier this month, Canada said he’s had a lot of experience drafting budgets and managing funds – something he said will be a vital tool for the city to have in the coming years.
“I like to work with numbers. You’re gonna have to [do that for] the next few years with government cuts coming. We don’t know where we’re gonna be at with federal grants, state grants, or whatever, so we’re gonna have to be self-sufficient to an extent,” Canada said.
Jeffords owns an insurance agency in Metropolis. He also serves on the city’s planning commission and the zoning board of appeals.
Jeffords told WKMS he became motivated to run for office when his eldest daughter told him that she didn’t know if she wanted to return to Metropolis after moving away for college. He said he wants to try and address parts of the town that have fallen into disrepair, such as vacant housing, and make the city worthwhile for businesses to invest in.
“I think that we need to clean the town up, and I think we need to probably try to start getting in things that will afford our children opportunities. That way they want to raise their families here, instead of just leave, which has been the case for a lot of people,” Jeffords said.
Short has served as an alderman representing Metropolis’s Ward 1 for the last 10 years. Prior to that, he was the city’s police chief for more than a decade.
At the Chamber’s mayoral forum, Short said he has seen numerous issues in his time on the city council that he thought needed additional attention, and said he would like to improve the city’s infrastructure.
“I would also like to see a lot of the roads and sidewalks redone,” Short said. “They haven’t seen attention in years. I think we need to set up something to where yearly, we do so many square footage of roads and sidewalks to rebuild them.”
Other contested races in Metropolis that will be on the ballot Tuesday include Alderman Ward 1 and Alderman Ward 2.
Election Day is April 1. Polls in Massac County will be open that day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can also cast ballots early in-person on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon or Monday from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. at the Massac County Clerk’s Office.
