Magnolia has a new mayor

MAGNOLIA – Dawn Ward, Magnolia’s new mayor, was sworn in on Tuesday, Dec. 12. 

“I feel really blessed to be here,” said Mayor Ward. “I feel, specifically, that God led me to Magnolia. I wouldn’t say that he moved me here to be mayor… but what I do know is that I feel like he is working here.” 

While this is Ward’s first time in public office, the longtime volunteer brings a background in finance and experience as a paralegal. 

“I prayed fervently about (running for mayor) and I made the decision,” said Ward adding that she and her husband were both approached about the possibility of running for public office. 

“I am just really excited and humbled, actually, to have the opportunity.” 

“My family is from Beulaville, and my husband’s family is from Rose Hill,” said Mayor Ward, adding that Magnolia is where they have decided to retire. “It is like coming back home,” said the new mayor, who is getting ready to celebrate her 31st wedding anniversary on Dec. 26. 

“One of the things that I had an opportunity to do, was speak to a number of older lifetime residents, and universally, what I heard from them was that (Magnolia) had been a thriving town, and they were saddened by how it had kind of declined and was not thriving the way that it once did and they wanted to see that come back,” said Mayor Ward. 

The sentiment is echoed by the commissioners who have been taking steps towards that goal before she started, Ward told the Duplin Journal. “This is something that they were all already on board with.” 

Ward’s excitement for restoring Magnolia to its thriving days matches her joyful and bubbly personality. With only a few days in office, the new mayor and board of commissioners have been diligently working on numerous projects with the assistance and expertise of their Town Manager Charles ‘Twig’ Rollins. 

Mayor Ward shared that the old library building will be repurposed into a food pantry.  

They have also formed a beautification committee and have placed poinsettias in the planters in front of the old library, the post office, and the prayer garden. 

“Commissioner Wilson is actually heading that up,” said Ward. “Just these little things that we can do to show that we care about our town and that we take pride in it.” 

Getting new benches for the prayer garden is also something they are planning to do. 

“They all have been dedicated in honor or memory of someone, and so I love that kind of tradition, and that’s one of the things that I think is beautiful about Magnolia, its tradition and its history.” 

The new mayor shared that they have plans to revitalize Magnolia’s downtown. 

“Twig would be one to speak to that,” said Mayor Ward. “He has been amazing, and the commissioners and I are really excited to work with him.” 

Rollings shared that they recently had an environmental assessment done to an old building space they want to repurpose, and they are looking at turning it “into either a shared working space or a business incubator, and it will become an anchor in the downtown area,” said Rollins. 

The town manager shared that they have somebody looking at a building downtown “to bring quite substantial business and we’ve got another economic development project that would, if it comes to fruition, increase our tax base by 60%,” said Rollings. 

Mayor Ward shared that the town adopted a new town seal with a slogan that says: “The Town of Everlasting Connections.” 

“We’re on the path to making it the charming, thriving town that it was before,” said Mayor Ward. 

The Town of Magnolia now has an advisory council. 

“She has intentionally selected people that are vocal and passionate and so it is a way to get information out and receive information about things in town you wouldn’t normally get. There will be a topic for every meeting,” said Rollings, adding that they plan to do one on the police department, and one on the new park master plan, as they get started.  

The town has also upgraded the commissioners meeting room with a big screen so that people can see what the commissioners are looking at during the meetings. 

“It feels more transparent to them, so I put the agenda up there and they know where we are at on the agenda and what is coming up,” said Rollins. “We’re having great attendance to the meetings… the people want to be heard and that is a big theme among myself and the mayor and the commissioners.” 

“The citizens do have great ideas and sometimes if they don’t feel like they’re being heard they’re not going to be involved,” Rollings added. 

The town’s goal is to bring people together. “Show them “that they’ve got a say,” and empower them to take community pride.