No Representation for the Citizens

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen could be summed up with the statement made by Kent Crider, "This is OUR meeting." There was no regard for those that elected them to serve as representatives for the various wards of Lumberton. Bobby Gibson almost had a coronary trying to get the police officers to have Janie Johnson, Sylvia Griffith and others removed from the board meeting because they dared to voice their opinions about what was taking place. Just a month ago, Gibson was upset that two police officers attended a budget workshop and now he and the rest of the Goon Squad have filled the board room with police officers so that they can threaten law-abiding citizens with expulsion from the board meeting for speaking or daring to question the antics of those elected to represent the people of Lumberton.
The board did not approve to pay the claims docket because they did not want to meet with Mayor Holder to amend the budget, so the city is currently over their budget and can not pay their vendors until they meet to amend the budget. The board voted to approve the minutes from all meetings held in October after the Mayor told them of all the errors found in the set of minutes that were submitted to her for review. Also, it was noted that the minute books have not been updated since July 26, 2010. The board voted to end all water bill adjustments,despite the fact that there is an excessive amount of errors happening in the reading and/or billing of water bills and the rest of the meeting was a series of votes to override the vetoes of Mayor Holder.
Sadly, Betty Speights was terminated by the Board of Aldermen. Generally, when members of the board make motions regarding the agenda items, their motion is inaudible to the clerk as well as the audience, but Mayor Holder could hardly finish reading the sentence before Timothy Johnson, Aldermen of Ward 4, shouted out his motion to terminate Betty Speights. I don't care that they decided to terminate Betty for whatever reason they created, but how deep is that? The representative for Ward 4 wanted everyone to know, without a doubt, that he was spear-heading the move to terminate the employment of a resident of his ward. So, lets' take a moment to give Timothy Johnson a collective pat on the back for his eagerness to terminate the employment of an individual that spotted several discrepancies within the water department, that requested to meet with the aldermen on several occassions to discuss what she discovered as a deputy clerk and the employee that has more training that the deputy clerk they decided to keep on the payroll. But I am certain that Betty will be blamed for any and all errors associated with the water department for years to come.
Another interesting event that took place last night occurred when Mayor Holder addressed the board about rectifying the discrepancies in the water billing system regarding whose water is cut off and whose water is not cut off. Mayor Holder stated that she observed a selective process in choosing whose water was cut off and certain citizens, employees and elected officials benefited from this selective process. When the mayor started discussing the matter, Kent Crider, Ward 1 ,became more belligerent that usual (and I didn't' think that was possible). So his reaction led me to believe that he is one of the elected officials receiving "special" favors regarding his water bill. No wonder he has no problem voting to end water bill adjustments, he don't have to worry about his delinquent water bill. I didn't have access to the folder that Mayor Holder passed out to the aldermen b/c it contained private and/or personal information, but I am willing to bet that Kent Crider was on that list of individuals named in that packet. Please notice that I didn't say allegedly, because I would love for him to challenge me on this issue.
Crime is up in the City of Lumberton and the board is using the police department as their puppets to control citizens that take the time to attend board meetings. Two employees were terminated, so there was no need to cut the salaries of any of the remaining employees; it was just a "Johnson" swinging contest to show you that Ben Winston and his boys are in controling what takes place in this city. Ooooo, are you surprised to see his name back on this blog? Well, don't be. Several months ago, he told me that he would do what he can to make sure Tim and Bobby worked with the mayor,and recently, he made those same empty promises to the woman that cuts his hair, but we see how that's turned out.