Huntington Mayor Steve Williams returned to campus for Coffee with the Mayor the second time this semester.

Students could drink coffee and ask the mayor questions from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at Marshall University’s Memorial Student Center.

The event exists to provide an informal setting to talk to Williams.

Kevin Dennison, Marshall graduate, said he thinks Coffee with the Mayor serves as a great opportunity for Williams to network and meet new people.

Williams talked with several students just to get to know them and try to show them they are valued community members.

“The mayor would give you the shirt off his back,” Dennison said. “The mayor has a complete understanding of Marshall graduates and what they may face in the job market. It is a great networking opportunity to see the mayor and those who come to see him.”

Williams said he wants to come to campus at least once a month to show he is available to students. Williams said he wants students to know these meetings do help.

Williams said the extra lighting on streets near campus is a direct result of meetings with students to increase safety.

Also, after talking to students about rental properties near campus, Williams had inspectors check the properties for safety issues.

“When students are in Huntington, they are residents,” Williams said. “I am here to serve them and hear their concerns. No two meetings here are ever alike.”

With the anniversary of the Marshall University Thundering Herd plane crash approaching, Williams said while the city was taken to its knees in 1970, it found a way to move forward.

Williams remembers the team with a picture of the 1970 Thundering Herd team behind his desk, the same photograph on stage during his inaugural speech.

“Everything we do is in their honor,” Williams said. “Our city was broken, but we were survivors.”

John Cole Glover can be contacted at [email protected].