Nothing Special . . .
The regular scheduled meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen is scheduled to take place tomorrow, but the board has managed to hold another special called meeting today. For some reason, the board has been scrambling to hire personnel, vote on policies and make several changes while Mayor Holder is out on medical leave. In case you were not able to attend the seven or so special called meetings. . Here’s a recap of what took place. The board hired another deputy clerk. Her name is either Cindy Wall or Cindy Wallace and she will be working in the office along side Stephanie Mullings and Susan Guidry. I guess Cindy's the solution to the late deposit check and cash payments. Now that Stephanie and Sue have help, someone in the office will be able to make the arduous journey from city hall to Bancorp South to deposit water bill payments. The good news is we will no longer have to wait 15-21 days for our checks to be deposited into the bank, but the bad news is that hiring Cindy will cost the revenue strapped City of Lumberton an additional $17,000/year. During one of the many special called meetings, the board approved to send Stephanie Mullings to another municipal training class at a cost of $1,200 to the City of Lumberton. (For the record, Stephanie is already certified and at some point the city the other two clerks will need to attend training.) The board also accepted a "proposed" personnel policy. During executive session of a special called meeting, the board reversed their decision to make Perry McLemore and Michael Holder full time employees; instead, they have been categorized as "seasonal" employees and their employment with the City of Lumberton will end September 30, 2011. I guess since the city has Albert Georgia, Jr. back on the payroll, they no longer need the services of Michael Holder. The board also made a decision, in executive session, to designate Darren Dennis Hobson as chief of police effective July 14, 2011. If you were waiting for them to put his name on the agenda and give him a promotion at an open meeting, then you'll be waiting in vain. Dennis Hobson was appointed chief with a three month probationary period and his pay will be $30,000/year. After his probationary time is over, he will become the permanent chief of police with the pay of $35,000/year. I guess that puts an end to the board questioning the police department about overtime and gas usage. And last but not least, I reported the fact that after executive session, the public was informed that the Lindsey Carter will an injunction against the Lumberton Informer. I recently found out that the injunction is pending results of an investigation. Since there were so many special called meetings, tomorrow's meeting shouldn't take much time.
Jonathan, I wouldn't be concerned about the idea of Stephanie getting the city to try (and I emphasize the word try) with the injunction because there is a lot of work involved in that area. First of all, your blog is protected by the first amendment. Secondly, they would need to write to Google's mailing address with some kind of legal document (court order) for this to happen as there is no way for an individual to trace the IP address of a commentor. Even if they are using a counter on their blog, they might only get a block of addresses and the ISP name, rather than a specific computer, and of course the counter in this case would have to be installed before the comment was made. You seem to think that such a post/comment would be a slander. It isn't. (It would be libel) Some comments in some jurisdictions are protected by freedom of speech legislation, so proving that an individual made a statement or comment might not be proof of wrongdoing, merely proof they were saying something you do not like, but might be legally protected.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog, but I would like to offer a piece of constructive criticism if I may. Please keep your personal commentary to yourself and just state the facts. Whenever you say off the cuff things about Stephanie, there is a group that start to rally behind her. If you stay focused on the issues at hand, the people will begin to see what's really going on. I see the excuses Stephanie make, and I can see beyond her bull, but she has friends out there that accept the fact that if the water bill is late it's the fault of the post office, if the checks aren't deposited it the fault of the bank and the list goes on and on, but if you focus on the situation and not the polka dot elephant in the room that's wearing disco ball earrings with a strobe light ring, then people will begin to see what's really taking place becasue at some point she's gonna run out of excuses.
ReplyDeleteHow did the city get involved in this elephant brawl? Jonathan and Stephanie are using the internet to settle some score with one another. They both think they're masterminds, but neither one of them have mastered their caloric intake. I say stop dragging the city through the mud and send them both to fat camp and let them battle it out on a treadmill.
ReplyDeleteI checked KB's Sunday posts in the Hattiesburg American and didn't see anything about the new cheif or new deputy clerk. Why didn't they share the good news with the lame stream media?
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