In order to have happy residents within the boundaries of a municipality, there are several things that are needed.

Above and beyond running water, electricity and waste services, residents expect the roads  to be as smooth as possible.

Shortly after taking office, the current administration in Picayune choose to spend money to repave the roads.

Years later, most of the roads are in decent shape, if you overlook the cutouts that were required to fix water and sewer leaks underneath the once smooth streets.

The roads in Poplarville, however, are a different story.

Take a turn off of Main Street in the heart of the town and the suspension on your car will force you to slow down due to the state of the roads in Poplarville’s residential areas.

Not only is the asphalt plagued with potholes formed by base failures, areas without potholes feature a surface that is so uneven that to reach the speed limit will result in the need for a subsequent visit to your local mechanic.

Fortunately, this fact is not lost on Poplarville’s elected officials.

Mayor Rossie Creel said that fixing the roads has been on his radar long enough that he has already tasked the city engineer to form a priority list of the streets that need the most repair.

And he has a plan to find the funding for such a project without raising taxes on the city’s property owners.

While it’s unfortunate the residential streets in our county seat have fallen to such a state of disrepair due to years of neglect, it’s good to see that Poplarville has forward thinking elected officials who are ready to address that problem.