Cathy Northington is out as Mayor John Horhn's chief of staff, and Marcus Chanay takes the job Monday, Sept. 14. A letter from Horhn obtained by WLBT confirms Northington's exit without explaining it, and it is not known whether she resigned or was let go.

The move makes Chanay the third chief of staff Horhn has picked since his term began in July 2025. Willie Bozeman, Horhn's campaign manager, held the job on an interim basis for less than six months before Northington replaced him in mid-December. Northington lasted almost nine months.

That is three chiefs in roughly 14 months, an average tenure of under five months each. Under the previous mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, chief of staff Safiya Omari held the post for most of an eight-year run.

The churn is not confined to the chief of staff's office. Chief Administrative Officer Pieter Teeuwissen announced in July that he would step down after nearly a year, and he agreed to stay only through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 to steer the city through its budget.

The timing is delicate. The council must pass a budget by Sept. 15, and the city is working through a shortfall that has put public works on the chopping block. Chanay will start the day before that deadline, and Teeuwissen, the administration's steady voice at council meetings, leaves two weeks later.

The Aug. 25 council agenda posted on jacksonms.gov still lists Northington as chief of staff and Teeuwissen as chief administrative officer, a snapshot of an administration in transition as the fiscal year closes.

Chanay brings a long run in higher education rather than city government. He spent more than a decade at Jackson State University, rising from a program development specialist to dean of student life and then vice president for student life, according to his professional biography. He later held student affairs posts at Jarvis Christian College and Lincoln University.

He is also a member of Phi Beta Sigma, the fraternity Horhn belongs to, a detail that has drawn notice in Jackson political circles. The chief of staff position is not defined in state statute for Jackson's form of government, which means Horhn can appoint Chanay outright without a City Council confirmation vote.

The question no one has answered is why the mayor's top staff keeps turning over. Horhn praised Northington as a 'proven leader' when she was hired in December, and he thanked Teeuwissen for 'charting a responsible path forward' when the CAO resigned. Neither departure has come with a public explanation beyond Teeuwissen's own account of a law partner's death and a new national appointment.

For a mayor who campaigned on repairing Jackson's reputation, the revolving door at the top of City Hall is its own kind of signal. Chanay will have a full plate from his first week: a budget to help pass, a CAO vacancy to help fill, and a water system transition plan the council has begun to press on.

Whether he lasts longer than his two predecessors will depend on what drove them out, and that remains the one detail Horhn has not put in writing.