 The City | The City of Pearl, Rankin County's largest municipality, was chartered June 29, 1973 as the largest community initially incorporated in Mississippi history. Today, with almost 23,000 inhabitants, Pearl ranks as the 13th largest city in the state.
Pearl is situated across the river from Jackson, MS, the state capitol. Pearl is centrally located in the center of the state near the medical, governmental, banking, recreational, and retail centers of the state.
Pearl is continuing to grow through outstanding leadership and a pro-business environment. |
| | Transportation | Pearl is situated adjacent to the Jackson-Evers International Airport. The airport is the state’s largest and only international airport and it has 96 commercial flights daily. The Jackson-Evers Airport provides convenient passenger travel and cargo shipment worldwide. The development of the Jackson-Evers airport in Rankin County has served as a catalyst for business growth.
Pearl is an ideal location with easy access to other parts of the state and nation. Interstate 20 and Interstate 55 known as “The Crossroads of the South” intersect in western Rankin County near Pearl. Interstate 20 serves the City directly and provides an excellent transportation link to the east and the west coast. Interstate 55 provides an interstate route southward to New Orleans and northward to Memphis, St. Louis, and eventually Chicago. Highway 49 is also an important transportation route. It intersects interstate 20 in Pearl and provides a direct route to the Gulfport/Biloxi/Pascagoula MSA.
Distances to other cities in miles:
Gulfport/Biloxi 158
New Orleans 195
Memphis 217
Birmingham 233
Little Rock 348
Atlanta 383
Dallas 399
Nashville 348
Houston 442
St. Louis 500
Chicago 751 | | | Pearl's Traffic Count - Mississippi Department of Transportation |
| | Education | | The Pearl Public School District consists of five schools: Pearl Lower Elementary, Northside Elementary, Pearl Upper Elementary, Pearl Junior High, and Pearl High School. There is also an early childhood education program. Pearl Public school district provides a quality education with about 4,000 students enrolled. The Districts special education program meets the diverse needs of students through a variety of programs for the gifted, hearing/visually impaired, specific learning disabilities, and developmentally delayed. The Pearl Public school district is proud to have all of their classrooms wired for the internet. The Pearl district has excellent school teachers, with more than 65% of the district’s instructional staff having advanced degrees. They offer 6 advanced placement (AP) courses. Pearl High School earned a level 5 superior performing school classification on the state accreditation model. In addition all schools in the district met the no child left behind adequately yearly progress standard. | | | Pearl Public School District |
| | Government | The governing body is the Mayor and Alderman form, consisting of seven alderman, six of whom are elected from separate precincts or wards and one who is elected for the Municipality at Large. The Mayor, who is elected at large, and the members of the Board of Alderman are elected for concurrent four year terms.
MAYOR: Brad Rogers
ALDERMEN: District 1 - Terry Ishee
District 2 - Michael Sartor
District 3 - Becky Tullos
District 4 - Tommie Hill
District 5 - Todd Jenkins
District 6 - Gavin Gill
Aldermen at Large - John McHenry |
| | Police Departments | Established in June 1973 with six officers, we are now the tenth largest city police department in the state. All officers are equipped with modern equipment list dual-antennae radar. We furnish body armor and require its usage. We carry updated Glock .22 Semi-Automatic sidearms. Each vehicle has 800 band Primary Radios with Hi-band backup. All vehicles are furnished with traffic direction equipment and shotguns. Officers that live in the city have take home units.
Police Dept. Personnel
Chief and Operations Captain
Lieutenants in Criminal Investigation, Juvenile, and 3 Patrol Lieutenants
3 Patrol Sergeants
6 Patrolmen per shift
1 Investigator in Juvenile
2 Narcotics Investigators
1 Warrants Officer
3 Criminal Investigators
1 Criminal Interdiction Office & K-9
2 Animal Control
7 Communications Officers
3 Civilian Clerks
1 Executive Secretary
Fleet composed of:
11 unmarked vehicles
1 mobile crime lab
1 Special Response Team Van
1 Mobile Command Center
25 marked patrol units
1 prisoner transport van
1 Animal Control Vehicle | | | Pearl Police Department |
| | Fire Department | The city has experienced steady growth over the last several years. Since 1993, new business construction has grown at rate of approximately 3.1 % annually (+ or - 1.4%) worth approximately $58,776,846.00 in construction alone. The goal of the City of Pearl Fire Department is to provide all occupants of the City a well maintained, trained, and equipped fire control force to provide fire suppression, fire prevention and emergency rescue activities in an effort to reduce the loss of life and property. The Department will, to the best of its ability mitigate, prepare for, and respond to those in need of emergency assistance as a result of fire, entrapment, medical emergency or other life threatening situations.
The fire department maintains 45 fire fighters and fire officers who are diverse in their training from high angle rope rescue to underwater dive rescue. All are trained in fire suppression techniques, handling hazardous material, and emergency medical incidents. These individuals are augmented by 3 staff personnel.
The City of Pearl Fire Department currently utilizes four fire stations, which are fully operational 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The current fire flow requirement for the City of Pearl is three thousand five hundred gallons per minute with a duration (storage requirement) of three hours over and above the normal consumption requirements
Station #1
201 S. Pearson Road
Equipment
One 1992 E-One Pumper / Ladder
One 1975 Mack Pumper
One 1998 Ford Command Vehicle
One 1985 Chev. Special Response Vehicle
Two Staff vehicles
Personnel
One Fire Chief
One Deputy Chief, Training and Safety Division
One Administrative Assistant
Three Battalion Chiefs
Three Captains
Three Lieutenants
Six Firefighters
Station #2
3569 Old Brandon Road
Equipment
One 1996 E-One Pumper
Personnel
Three Captains
Three Lieutenants
Six Firefighters
Station #3
718 Old Whitfield Road
Equipment
One 1979 FMC Pumper One 1978 FMC Pumper
Personnel
Three Captains
Three Lieutenants
Three Firefighters
Station #4
5100 Hwy 80 East
Equipment
One 1976 Bean Pumper
Personnel
Three Captains
Three Lieutenants
Three Firefighters | | | Pearl Fire Department |
| | Recreation | | All of its citizens are proud of the many recreational facilities that are available for youth as well as adults. With the passage of a 2 million dollar bond issue on April of 1995 more baseball, softball, and soccer fields have been added to the Center City Pearl Complex, along with an additional nine holes to the already existing Golf Course. With these new facilities, it is estimated that over 2,000 young people will be involved in organized sports within the city. |
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