Money To Burn

Apparently, the City of Lumberton has money to burn . . . Last night, Mayor Holder was absent and Team Stephanie was on a spending spree. Chief Fortenberry was basically pleading with the board to allow his officers to get their necessary training and the board could care less. The officers need this training to keep their certification, but the board would not approve the hours needed for this certification process. As a matter of fact, two officers attended the training, but they did not get paid. But it’s not because of a lack of finance on the part of the City of Lumberton. Last night, Stephanie presented paperwork that apparently showed the board of aldermen how much money they saved since they made budget cuts back in November. This paperwork was used to support a raise for Deputy Clerk, Susan Guidry (but I guess there wasn’t quite enough savings for Shares Pearson or Mayor Holder) but there was also enough money to hire another public works employee and to restore the public works department to their original salary prior to the budget cuts (but there wasn’t enough money to spread any of the new found wealth with the police department.) If you pay attention, you will learn something. One thing Joe Montgomery said was you never give a reason when terminating an employee, but when it came to Betty Speights, they said they were terminating her due to budget constraints. I guess they could just come out and say we’re terminating you for uncovering the fraudulent activities that are taking place at city hall so they said it was due to budget constraints. They are so mangled in their deceptive tactics that they don’t realize that they’re actually making Betty’s EEOC case better and better. Stephanie produces a chart that outlines the city’s growth in the budget; the clerk that was fired due to budget constraints re-applies for the job and is not given the position (I wonder why? Because she wasn’t fired because of budget constraints, she was fired because of the information she uncovered.) But it’s gotten to the point that Stephanie wants everyone to know that she’s the one pulling the strings, that she’s making the shots. That’s why the agenda stated “hire Lacy Lawler at the recommendation of the city clerk.” I don’t know what she has on the aldermen, but she apparently knows where the bodies are buried and they don’t want her to reveal the location. What I don’t understand is how can you say the budget is in great condition, but you can’t hire the person you fired due to budget constraints, but you have enough money to hire three new workers for the public works department, you have enough money to give Sue a raise, you have enough money to restore the cuts that were made in the public works department, you have enough money to send the city clerk to a non-mandatory meeting on the cost that will cost a total of $644.90 so the clerk can attend a silent auction, they even have enough money to pay for a deadbolt lock for the clerk’s office, but they don’t have enough money to pay the salary of the mayor, to pay for the training of the police officers (because without their certification, they can’t work), they have enough money to hire another deputy clerk, give her a pay raise and send to the Coast for training. Now that’s a hard pill to swallow. Apparently, they've got money to burn, if your wagon is hitched to the clerk's office.