Signatures Required

At the regularly scheduled meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, Mayor Holder informed the Board of Aldermen that she will no longer sign the checks for the City of Lumberton until the Aldermen meet with her and work on the issues that are plaguing this city. She dispersed a packet of information to each alderman that included an explanation of the law governing the issuance of warrants or checks. According to Mississippi Law 21-39-13, “the warrants or checks shall be signed by the mayor or a majority of the members of the board of aldermen, in any municipality operating under a mayor-alderman form of government.” Just recently, the mayor found out that a payroll check she had signed for Sharese Pearson was cancelled, which is confusing since our city clerk had prepared the check for the mayor’s signature. Somehow, Stephanie Mullings and Timothy Johnson made the executive decision to cancel the payroll check of Mrs. Pearson. This decision was not discussed with the mayor, who is the superintending authority of the City of Lumberton and it was not discussed and voted on by a majority of board members. At the last board meeting, the aldermen made a decision to allow Stephanie’s judgment to stop payment on the payroll check to stand without any regards to the consequences of the decision they made. Now, the bank that cashed the check is calling upon Sharese to return the monies that were issued when they cashed her payroll check and the teller that’s cashed the payroll check is facing possible termination, but the board did not want to hear those details. As a matter of fact, the board would not discuss the details of the cancelled payroll check with Sharese. But I’m certain that when the stories of the mayor’s decision to stop signing checks reach the general public, it will be an entirely different story. The mayor has told this board time and time again that there needs to be a system of checks and balance in place, but her pleas have fallen upon deaf ears. The aldermen are not interested in sitting down with the mayor to find viable solutions for the City of Lumberton. Unfortunately, there are too many that are willing to hold meetings through out the city, but will not sit and discuss these issues with the mayor. Mayor Holder said that she lacked confidence in the work that is being produced by the city clerk, but the board thinks differently. People don't understand what their responsibilities are. Everybody wants to be the superintending power of the city. Sadly, this group of aldermen has no knowledge of city government and hasn’t tried to gain any knowledge. The only people hurting in this are the citizens and employees of Lumberton. Whether the payroll checks get signed today should be a non-issue. Miss. Law 21-39-13 section 1a clearly states that the warrants or checks shall be signed by the mayor or a majority of the board of aldermen. Bobby Gibson, Kent Crider, Rebecca Hale and Timothy Johnson comprise a majority; therefore, there should be no reason for payroll to go unsigned. All of these aldermen have refused to vote on the changes regarding implementing a system of checks and balance because they said that they have complete confidence in the work of our city clerk. Today, they get the opportunity to put their bonds on the line and sign the payroll checks.