Jonathan F. Griffith: Moving Lumberton Forward

There’s an old saying, a person will govern how he campaigns. Thus far, Kent Crider has attempted to mislead the public by making unsubstantiated claims in the Hattiesburg American and on the WHLT-22 interview. Crider claims there are two grants that are on the table and they need someone familiar to help “nudge “ them through. I don’t know why he’s lying in an effort to garner votes. Let the record show, the projects for the airport has already been selected and already included in the 2016 FAA-AIP Grant Application. Those projects are selected a year in advance so they’re already in place and they definitely are not dependent upon one person being on the board. Crider also stated that we are working on the $2.5 million dollar Army Corp of Engineer grant. As I stated over and over again, the City of Lumberton never had the $625,000 in matching funds needed to secure that grant. The board will meet with Gary Hickman in an effort to secure a CAP loan in order to have the money needed for the matching funds.

Crider said the City of Lumberton is coming out of a slump and he want to help maintain that momentum. Did I miss the meeting where we came out of a slump? As far as I know, the City of Lumberton defaulted on a major loan, there’s still one police officer per shift and we don’t have a full time court clerk to collect fines. It amazes me that the board is trying to get another loan after defaulting on the MDEQ loan. How are they planning on repaying a $625,000 loan when they defaulted on a loan payment of $15,000/month to MDEQ? If the City of Lumberton can secure a $625,000 loan they need to invest it in the city and request an investigation into the fact that former mayor, Ben Winston, signed contract with the Army Corp of Engineers without board approval.

The citizens of Lumberton need to ask themselves, why are all the board members, sans Quincy Rogers, fearful of the possibility of Jonathan F. Griffith getting elected? Why are the workers at city hall and every department head afraid of Jonathan F. Griffith getting elected? Well, I will tell you. I am currently on leave and once elected, I will be at city hall every day of the week, all day long going through records, documents, claim dockets, personnel files and BBI to find out what’s going on. As the mayor, I will hold every elected official, department head and city employee accountable. As mayor, I will not sit in an office, I will be in the main office, sitting right next to the copier machine, taking notes and drafting letters.

As mayor, I will have full access to the information that has been hidden from the citizens of Lumberton. By the end of my first 100 days, I will have reviewed every claim docket to see if the board approved payment of the MDEQ loan. I will also look at every written and cancelled check to see why certain payments were not submitted. I will know if the board approved the hiring of Richard Rose to prepare the budget and to write grants because it would be spread across the minutes. Every violation I find will be documented and reported to either Jim Hood, the Attorney General or Stacey Pickering, the State Auditor. That’s why members of the current board do not want me to get elected because these are matters they should have already addressed. For some reason, the current members of the board think this city can move forward with one meeting per month. In order for things to be uncovered and in order to have true transparency, the next mayor must be willing to put in countless hours to uncover the problems that’s holding Lumberton back and I’m the candidate that’s willing to put in the work needed to propel the City of Lumberton forward.