Johnny Anderson’s retirement from the City Board to be honored at public reception

New Albany Alderman Johnny Anderson has represented Ward 2 on the city board for 24 of the last 28 years. He decided not to seek a seventh term.
Alderman Anderson will be honored at reception tomorrow, Thursday, May 20, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Magnolia Civic Center. The public is invited.

“I really enjoyed my service on the board,” Anderson told NEMiss.News. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to serve, but all good things must come to an end.”
Anderson said some candidates in this year’s election had sought his advice. “I have told them my philosophy is that it’s better to just sit and learn. I hope it will resonate with them.”

Johnny Anderson’s has been an always well-informed voice of reason during his six terms on the city board. His departure is a source of concern to many he has worked with and to numerous New Albany citizens, many of whom do not live in Ward 2.

Anderson was first elected to serve Ward 2 on the board of alderman in 1993 and served for 12 years, three consecutive terms. He did not seek re-election in 2005 because of a possible conflict of interest in his then employment as human resources officer in the state department of mental health.

He went to work for Toyota as a human resources manager in 2008 and ran and was elected to the city board again in 2009. He has served continuously since then.

The city of New Albany has enjoyed substantial progress during the nearly three decades Anderson’s service has spanned.

A few years ago, Anderson prepared a statement and a list of some of those accomplishments; he recently updated the list, which is attached below.

In that statement Anderson said, “Some have said we have done nothing to stay ahead, have wasted your tax dollars, do not know where to find funds, have no real vision, etc. What have we done since 1993 you might ask?”

He cited about 40 items including: expanding the natural gas system and customer base; rehabilitation of the northside sewer system, Bratton Road water well and Glenfield water tank; PUL Wellspring and Megasite (including recruiting Toyota plant and several related manufacturing operations); downtown architectural and historical survey; Main Street program; acquisition of Rescue One truck and other upgrades in the fire department; a 2% tourism tax; new $13-million waste water treatment facility, now under construction north of the city; adoption of “New Albany NEXT” comprehensive plan; approved replacing streetlights with LED system; acquired Fred’s and WIC building and received bids to create Lights, Gas and Water, police department and municipal court offices. See complete document attached below).

Johnny Anderson grew up in rural Union County near the New Albany airport and graduated from Myrtle High School. He “married a city (New Albany) girl” and moved to New Albany in 1975.

Anderson worked for the New Albany recreation department from 1975 to 1983. During that time, he also attended the University of Mississippi and graduated with a degree in recreational leadership in 1980.

He worked as the parks and recreation director for the city of Ripley for three years.

He then got into the human resources field, working at Benchcraft from 1986 to 2001.

Following his work for the State of Mississippi, he worked as a human resources manager at Toyota from 2008 to 2016, including recruitment and training for that work force, the biggest new addition to the North Mississippi economy in several decades.

He worked in human resources for VIP Cinema Seating and became Human Resources Manager for Albany Industries in 2020, where he is still employed. Altogether he has worked in human resources for 36 years.

Anderson is married to the former Beverly Robbins. Their son, Rob Anderson, and his wife Izalda have three daughters. Their daughter, Katie, is married to Joseph Jarvis and they have a son and daughter.

Anderson’s full list: NEMiss.News Johnny Anderson’s list of City of New Albany accomplishment