Washburn reflects on past 8 years in office

Jeff and Jennifer Washburn

story by Senior Investigative Reporter Shannon Taylor

Jeff Washburn was mayor of Dresden for the past eight years from 2014 to 2022. During that time period he stated that he had a good eight years as mayor. “We’ve accomplished a lot of things-we’ve made improvements to the park and civic center. We’ve also improved our water and sewer system with the floating wetlands sewage treatment system which saved the city a lot of money and we were actually one of the first in the nation to do that.”

Washburn stated that he was proud of the balanced budgets without any tax increases during his tenure and that water rates have remained low. He also said he was proud of the city working to install the fiber broadband internet service to every house in the city of Dresden and every business. “We were able to pay off all of the debt that was in existence when I came into office-$913,000 was the debt that was owed when I took office-and we paid every bit of it off.”

The only debt that remains for the city now was for the fire engine that was damaged in the tornado. The city owes approximately $150,000 total. “It’s certainly manageable to pay without any strain on the budget.”

When the Press asked if Washburn planned to stay involved with the city business, he said that he planned on “taking a backseat for a while, but if asked to participate, I certainly would, but it’s Mark Maddox’s show now and if he wants my advice, I’ll be glad to give it to him, otherwise I’m just going to sit back and enjoy life.”

Washburn said that he was winding down his law practice and only practicing three days a week and working part-time for the public defender’s office doing juvenile court work, but that he was now in a position where he could enjoy life more. Washburn stated that he does not plan on completely retiring. “I don’t see that in my future-I don’t want to be one of those people that hang up their hat and go home and prepare to die. I’m going to remain active.”

Washburn spoke on the election results this month and stated that he was “a bit surprised” regarding the election results. Mark Maddox defeated Washburn with a total of 358 votes. “The people spoke, and they wanted change, and they brought about change.” Washburn stated that he has asked to swear Maddox and the alderman in. “I technically didn’t have to do it-the city judge could do it-but I wanted to. The former mayor swore me in, and I appreciated the fact that he did, and I’d like to do the same and give my seal of approval to them as well.”

As for the new alderman elected, Washburn stated that he thought Dale Hutcherson was going to make a good alderman. “He’s conscientious about our community. I think he’ll do a good job.” As for Curtis Doran, Washburn said that he was on the Iris Festival Committee and that he had been actively involved in the city’s park program. “He has been an active participant in our community for some time as well and cares very much for what’s going on in our city.”

Washburn said that he and his wife, Jennifer, plan on doing some traveling-maybe even going to Europe. “I couldn’t do that as a mayor, but I can certainly do that now.”

Washburn wanted everyone to know that “It’s been my pleasure serving as mayor for the last eight years and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to do that.”