Review of December 8, 2010 Board Meeting

Last night's meeting was quite lengthy and still there were some questions left unanswered. On a good note, the Lumberton Fire Department have free smoke detectors available for any home owners. Anyone needed one installed should contact the Jerry Walters, Fire Chief. The deadline for installation is December 31, 2010. There were several citizens listed on the agenda to address the board of aldermen, including Cora Rogers, executive director of the Mississippi Tobacco Coalition. (I will post the info she shared in another post.) The meeting began to take a turn for the worse when it came to the issue of the minutes and the fact that the minute book has not been updated since July of this year. Mayor Holder made several corrections on the copies of the minutes she received for review and the corrections have not been entered into the official minutes. Mayor Holder stated that she would not sign minutes that are not correct because elected officials can only speak "through the minutes." Mayor Holder did inform the aldermen that three aldermen can sign the minutes if they do not want to wait for the corrections to be made. So, there shouldn't be any more problems getting the minutes placed in the minute books.
The motion to override the mayor's veto to give Susan Guidry a raise failed, but the board did allow her to work 40 hours per week at the discretion of the city clerk; which means that Susan will be working 40/week from this date forward. In an odd turn of events, there was a motion placed on the agenda by city clerk, Stephanie Mullings, to allow her mother, Faye Engle, to volunteer in the office for 1-2 days to help with the duties in the city clerk's office. Thankfully, this matter did not carry, but it seemed to be a moot agenda item since it came up for a vote right after they decided to allow Sue to work 40 hours per week. OAN: The motion to give a pay raise to Sharese Pearson also failed. I found it interesting that Kent Crider voted to give a pay raise for Susan Guidry but did not vote to give a pay raise for Sharese Pearson.
The most interesting part of the agenda was the fact that Alderman Gibson and Alderwoman Hale wanted the City of Lumberton to purchase a time clock and a video camera to monitor the time clock and have it placed in the hallway of city hall. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they said we are in a budget crunch. They cut the pay of the police officers because they said we don't have the funds to support their salaries, but they were able to find funding for a new time clock and video camera. Interesting. They never said why they wanted the camera or new time clock but I'm certain it has something to do with the police department. When our city clerk said that she has been clocking in and out to show the number of hours she work, I knew something was going on. Why would a salaried employee clock in and out? Regardless of the number of hours they work, their salary remains the same. So, apparently, Chief Fortenberry is being targeted, yet again, by this board. The board does not respect the chief and they do not respect his department. So the chief should let his officers respond like the Jackson police did at the State championship game.
OAN: I guess I no longer need to say that Lindsey Carter is allegedly representing Rebecca Hale's husband regarding his drug charges since she had to recuse herself in the vote to override the mayor's veto to re-instate Carter as the city attorney. Plus the issue of citizen's comments has been resolved. For the last two months, citizen's comments was not included on the agenda. Last night, there was a motion to vote to not allow citizens to make comments during the public meeting. The motion died and the provision will be back on the agenda. For some reason, Bobby Gibson becomes agitated when the public make any comments. During the last administration, the entire front row was filled with the Silver Fox Coalition of Lumberton and they commented and challenged almost every item on the agenda, but the board didn't whine about the feedback they were receiving from the audience. As a matter of fact, several of the comments that were made are part of the official minutes, but somehow, the fact that Kent Crider told the mayor that she was not allowed to speak during a board meeting didn't not make it into the minute books. It made it onto the news, but somehow our clerk missed that bit of information.