Auditor's Report and A-Hole Alert
Last night's special called meeting lasted about 3 hours, but the fallout from what happened will have a lasting effect on the City of Lumberton. Paige Johnson reported on her finding and went over what she kept referring to as a single audit. The board approved the Audit and the next step will be to have the noticed put in the newspapers and copies of the auditor's report should be available to the public. What happened next was clearly set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Our city clerk, Stephanie Mullings leaned over and started whispering into Bobby Gibson's ear. He gave her the green light, and she asked Paige Johnson if she could explain to the public that the allegations against the city clerk were not true. Stephanie said that she wanted Paige's response recorded for the minutes because of all the talk that she (Stephanie) did not know how to do her job and that she was stealing money from the city. Paige said that she was not aware of the allegations, but she neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. I know the minutes will read differently, but Paige went on to say the following: " an audit does not looks at everything; we gather enough information so we can provide a good report." One would think that when a city pays $31,000 for an audit, (a process that took seven weeks to complete) the auditor would look at everything.
Before going into executive session, the board managed to conduct a brief budget workshop. The board decided to increase the budget of the LVFD from $12,000/year to $18,000/year. Afterwards, the board went into executive session. At 8:08 p.m., Timothy Johnson exited the meeting. Bobby Gibson went out to the parking lot to talk with Johnson and when Gibson returned, he informed the citizens that Johnson had a family emergency and he would return to the meeting. I went outside for a few minutes and Alderman Rogers was leaving and I asked him was the meeting over, and he said they are still in executive session. When the board members were coming out executive session, I noticed that our city clerk, Stephanie Mullings had a big smile on her face and she said "We finally did it!" I didn't know if she was saying this to Hobson or Olen since they were all sitting together, but when Bobby Gibson began to inform the public about the actions that were taken in executive session, I realized that she was talking to Hobson. Gibson stated that they voted to accept a letter of resignation from Sharese Pearson; they voted to move Officer Burt McKinney from full-time to part-time; the following part-time officers were terminated: Josh McNash, Andrew Phillip and Rick Guy; they voted to terminate the following full-time officers at the recommendation of Dennis Hobson: Captain Franklin and Officer C. Fortenberry; and they voted to promote Dennis Hobson to the position of Captain.
Timothy Johnson never returned from his "family emergency" but when the ish hits the fan, and I'm certain it will; he will be able to truthfully say to the voters of his district that he didn't vote to terminate any officers and he didn't vote to promote Hobson to the position of captain. Stephanie made sure that Bobby Gibson informed the public that Alderman Rogers voted before leaving executive session, but I don't know when the actions taken in executive session will go into effect because they couldn't vote to close executive session because Alderman Rogers left and there was no longer a quorum. WTBS: I thought voting in execution session was a violation of the open meetings law???
This is outrageous. How can that heifer be glad that another woman is out of a job. Stephanie is on her second or third failed marriage which essentially makes her a single mother and she's happy that she had a hand in getting someone fired. SMDH.
ReplyDeleteI have some questions: What happened between you and Hobson, were you pulled over for a driving violation, was he going after you because of his relationship with Stephanie Mullings, and do you think that you and Hobson can work out your differences and move forward?
ReplyDeleteResponse to 21 questions. . .On February 2, 2011, I was parked at the Lumberton library using their wi-fi ( I no longer use my laptop outside the libray b/c I feel I need a witness in case something like that happens again.) I was not driving, I was parked and he approched me and told me he was going to put an end to this mess, while tapping his gun. I don't know if he came after me because of his alleged relationship with Stephanie or because I posted a link on my facebook page about his arrest for domestic abuse while he was an officer in Meredian. I'm still confused about how he got access to my facebook page; it's a toss up between Elsie and Rob "New York" Mitchell because he confronted me minutes after it was posted to my facebook page. I can't say for certain who gave him access to my facebook page, but shortly after this happened, Rob blocked me from his facebook page. Chief Fortenberry took him before the board, but they didn't address my allegations, but I later found out that he was suspended earlier for crossing the lines with another black male, but the boaard still didn't think this was an issue. However, they took the word of Hobson and immediatley fired two veteran officers just because he wanted them out of the way. As far as working out your differences and moving forward, I don't see that happening. I don't care if Stephanie was his play mate or his play sister, he had no business approaching me while he was on duty. If he had something to say to me, he sould have contacted me when he was off the clock. Stephanie said he "regret that moment" but I really don't think he did especially since he hasn't suffered any consequences for his abusive behavior.
ReplyDeleteKinda messed up when you read your newspaper and discover that you have been fired from your part time job! Especially when you have worked all of 3 days and never been reprimanded or even fussed at! Couldn't have missed any days since there is no part time schedule, we only fill in as needed if we are available. Wondering if thats even legal?
ReplyDelete