Posted on April - 19 - 2010
Obama taps former Sikeston, Mo., mayor for Delta Regional Authority post
WASHINGTON — President Obama has nominated the former mayor of Sikeston, Mo., to be the alternate federal co-chair of the Clarksdale, Miss.-based Delta Regional Authority.
The nomination of Michael Marshall, a farm manager and former president of the First State Bank and Trust in Sikeston, requires Senate confirmation. The Delta Regional Authority invests its funding to improve the economy of the 252 counties and parishes in parts of eight states, including Tennessee west of the Tennessee River, eastern Arkansas and the Delta counties of Mississippi.
The federal co-chair is currently Patrick H. ‘Pete’ Johnson, who took office in September 2001 and is expected to step down when his successor is nominated and confirmed. The rotating state co-chair is currently held by Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama.
Reached by phone this afternoon, Marshall said he was asked not to talk to the press until confirmed.
But Harvey Joe Sanner of Des Arc, Ark., a founding member of the Delta Grassroots Caucus, applauded the nomination and said it was “too long in coming.”
“As you know, we’ve been urging the administration to get somebody in both those positions,” said Sanner, referring to the federal co-chair and its alternate. “I think he’ll do a really good job.”
Sikeston city manager Doug Friend said Marshall is “one of those guys who’s never met a stranger” who “likes to get things done.” He pointed to his work as mayor establishing a land clearance program for redevelopment and expanding on the satellite campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
The White House announcement noted that Marshall spent 30 years in the banking industry and spent 13 years as a commissioner of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority. He was mayor of Sikeston from 2003 to 2009 and has also served as president of the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce.
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