To the People of Belmont,
I would like to take this opportunity to announce my candidacy for the office of Mayor of Belmont. The decision to run has come after many hours of serious thought and prayer over the past few months. I sincerely appreciate the many people who have offered encouragement and urged me to seek this office.
Even though I know most of you I still feel the need to introduce myself for those who may be new to the community or those who, for whatever reason, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting. My family moved to Belmont when I was beginning the second grade and, with the exception of several years living near Tupelo after graduating from college, I have been here ever since. I am a proud graduate of Belmont High School, Northeast Mississippi Community College, and Mississippi State University. For the past 24 years I have been employed as an Industrial Engineer and am presently a Process Engineer for Tiffin Motorhomes in Belmont. My wife, Peggy, is a teacher at Belmont Elementary School and we have three children who are all students at Belmont Schools. I am a member of Belmont United Methodist Church where I serve as Lay Leader and am a Certified Lay Speaker in the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. I am a member of the Tishomingo County Development Foundation, immediate past chairman of the Tishomingo County Tourism Council, and a member of the Board of Directors of the North Mississippi Medical Center Iuka Hospital. I also serve on the Advisory Board for the Workforce Development Council at Northeast Mississippi Community College. For the past four years I have had the honor of serving on the Board of Aldermen for the Town of Belmont.
The past few years have been tough ones for our town with many people experiencing job losses as area businesses closed. I, myself, was among hundreds of people who had to find other employment during this time and consider myself very blessed to be working here in Belmont and not forced to drive hundreds of miles per week to work. Most experts tell us that we are in for more hard times before the economy turns around. That is one of the reasons I believe that our next mayor needs to be someone with an understanding of what businesses are seeking when they are looking to locate, relocate, or expand, and I feel that my experience would be beneficial in representing our town to the few companies who are growing as we compete with many other towns and cities for these precious jobs. In addition, I feel that our next mayor should be someone who has at least some experience in local government and understands how it works and who also knows what resources are available to help the local communities.
During the past four years I feel we have made some significant improvements in our town that I am proud to have helped bring about. Our fire department now has a paid professional chief and qualified officers who spend more time at the station so they can respond quicker to fires and other emergencies, and we are working hard to lower our rating so citizens will pay lower insurance premiums. Our police department has new patrol cars paid for without using your tax money. When the ambulance service was considering leaving Belmont, we renovated the building and negotiated a lease that will keep it here while paying for the renovations through this lease agreement. Both of our city parks have had improvements made including new playgrounds, new fences at the ball fields, picnic tables added, trees planted, and tennis courts resurfaced. We have built a new sewage lagoon that should serve us for many years and are in the planning stages of new collection lines in several parts of town. When our garbage collection contractor kept raising rates, we purchased a truck and began our own collection service and have been able to do this without raising our rates, even when the cost of fuel rose to record levels.
Four years ago I ran for alderman with no promises other than to work as hard as I could and to do what I felt was right for the town. I was overwhelmed by the vote of confidence you gave me during the election and I pray that I haven’t let you down. I love this town and as your mayor I simply promise that I will continue to do all that I can to help it grow and provide better opportunities for our people. Hopefully, I will be able to meet with each of you in person to discuss the upcoming election, but if not, I want to ask you to be sure to vote on June 2nd and I hope you will consider allowing me to help Belmont move forward.
Sincerely,
Buddy Wiltshire
First off, Haley Barbour was sworn in for his second term in office. Also, Bubba Carpenter and Mark Duvall were sworn in for
Mac McAnally won CMA musician of the year award, bringing pride to all of Belmont. 
