Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Last week, people that didn’t know about all the strife and turmoil that takes place within these city limits were surprised by the amount of unity that was exhibited when our city came together as one to cheer on the Lumberton Panthers as they battled for the title of State Champions. Now, that façade of unity will be cast aside as we prepare for our next regularly scheduled board meeting. We got a glimpse of what will take place last night, when Gibson, Crider and Johnson failed to attend the Monday workshop. I guess they already discussed the way they will vote on the upcoming agenda so it wasn’t necessary for them to attend. But if they don’t want to have the Monday workshops why don’t they man up and submit an agenda item to end the Monday workshops. I guess it’s the same reason they’ve decided to remove the citizens comment section from the agenda; because their vote would be recorded as a part of the official minutes. It’s not illegal to stop citizens from making comments; it was a courtesy that was extended to the voting public by the previous administration. Since the previous board established an order for citizen’s comments, the clerk knows that it should remain on the agenda. If the aldermen do not want to allow the citizens to comment, then a vote must be taken and recorded into the minutes as to which aldermen do not want to allow for citizens comments. Since it was not placed on the agenda, it can not be recorded into the official minutes. Interesting.
Now when I begin to look at the number of violations that are being made by our aldermen, I wonder why the fact that they are violating laws set forth for a code charter municipality are never addressed during the board meeting by our city clerk. Then I think about the fact that every, single employee on the City of Lumberton’s payroll had their pay cut (with the exception of a few police officers) during the revamping of the city’s budget, but our city clerk, Stephanie Mullings, did not receive any cuts to her salary like the other two department heads. That’s where it gets interesting. Was there some sort of secret agreement made between our clerk and the aldermen? In exchange for keeping her mouth shut when the aldermen trample over the laws, ordinances and attorney general opinions set forth for a code charter municipality, did they decided that they would not reduce her salary? I don’t know; it s just a theory. Who's to blame in this matter? Is it the clerk or the aldermen? Ultimately, the responsibility rests upon the clerk and the mayor, but I would like for our clerk to call them out on their dirt instead of just sitting there. We know she has the ability to do so, but for some reason, she's not doing what she know is the right thing to do. She came out fully armed when she had to go toe to toe with a snowball vendor so why is she not willing to tell the aldermen that they are violating laws and ordinances?
I don't know the answer to those questions. Maybe if I layed off on the critique of the clerk, she will begin to do her job more effectively. I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a shot. For now, I'm gonna get into my corner and wait for the bell to ring. The rumble will begin tonight at 6:00 p.m.