There has been a lot of talk about our embattled city clerk, Stephanie C. Mullings and the talk may or may not be true. But for the record, if she's guilty, the ones that permitted her to stay in her position for such an extended period of time are also guilty. Everything she did was with board approval. If the insurance was not paid, the board knew it was not paid. If the water bills spiked for no apparent reason, the board knew about the spikes and chose not to do anything about the inconsistencies. The fact that court clerk, Betty Speights has collected more than $27,000 in fines for the City of Lumberton in the short period of time is a testament to what could be done if the person in the office is actually doing their job. I'm not surprised she has filed suit against the aldermen; actually, it's expected. However, it's strange that a person can allegedly pay a third of her salary to retain an attorney. Frankly, I don't know many people that could plop down a $10,000 retainer; especially someone with a salary of $30,000. Again, it just adds more kindling to the fire of speculation about her allegedly sticky fingers. But as we all know, this case is not about her allegedly blowing the whistle on another city employee or retailation; the case is about the mis-appropriation of funds. There are those that say she has a great lawyer, and that may be true, but he only has her side of the story. As I've stated before, there are three sides to every story and in this case, there's Stephanie's side, the board of alderman's side and somewhere in the middle lies the truth. The State of Mississippi is at at-will state and we all know that a person can be terminated for any reason. So, this should be an open and shut case that even Lindsey Carter should be able to win. When the board voted to terminate his employment, he boasted about the legal victories he won for the City of Lumberton and most of those cases were based on the fact that this is an at-will state. Therefore, he should not have any problem defending the city against this frivilous lawsuit. The fact that a person retained an attorney does not guarantee victory. Ask OJ.
For years, Stephanie weaved a web of deceit that kept this city at logger heads. She masterfully pitted the board of aldermen against the mayor. Truth be told, I don't think it took much nudging for her to get Gibson, Johnson and Crider on board. However, it was a little more difficult for her to win over Hale, but she managed to draw her over to the dark side. Since the board was so distracted by their disdain for the mayor, they proved they were not good stewards with the keys to the castle. As a matter of fact, they were so implicit in their duties, that the theives were allowed to take over the temple (figuratively speaking of course.) But sooner or later, all will be revealed. And in my opinion, if anyone needs to file a lawsuit, it should be the city workers and police officers that had insurance payments taken out of their checks but later found out they did not have any coverage. Those are the ones that need to file a lawsuit (in my opinion). Well, to tell you the truth, this post was not supposed to be about Stephanie, it was supposed to be about the recent hiring of the new city clerk. But before I go on to that subject, let me say one or two more things, the board was well aware of the issues at city hall and they're hate for the mayor outweighed their obligations to the citizens of Lumberton. Meeting after meeting, Mayor Holder outline the inconsistencies that were taking place and she basically begged the aldermen to implement a system of checks and balances. There were numerous memos regarding these issues and I'm quite sure there were a lot of calls made as well. Knowing this crew, I'm certain they will deny that there were ever told of any of the inconsistencies. However, there's one factor they can never deny. The fact that the issues taking place in the office was outlined in a certified letter if irrefutable proof that this board was aware of what was going on at city hall but they chose not to take action.
Now, to the original purpose of this post, the hiring of the new city clerk. For the record, I do not have an issue with the person they hired, I have an issue with the process. This board should be known as the "Can't get it right crew." They never seem to think of the city, only themselves. It is my hope that Merlene is able to clear up the mess that was left at city hall but I must say, I don't think she was the right choice. I will keep in mind that the new board will make the decision to rehire her, but I'm also concerned that four years ago, the new board gave a deputy clerk three months to get more training and here we are about to elect a new board and the required training has yet to take place. My other issue with the hiring of the new clerk is the fact that she's not a certified clerk. Therefore, the City of Lumberton is about to invest thousands of dollars into training a retiree. In my opinion, that's not fiscally responsible. So, whenever she decides to retire, again, we're going to be faced with the same quagmire. Also, I would like to say there are others that are not pleased with the alderman's choice. I don't care if she's Sue's sister, brother, cousin, neighbor. All I care about is her level of integrity and her ability to do the job. In the City of Lumberton, we get so caught up on the person holding the position. There are those that are of the mindset that I should never say anything about Stephanie; not because the things I say are not true, but because they like Stephanie. Come on people. This is not a popularity contest; this is a business. When I suggested the board bring back JoAnn Ladner, there were people that were outraged; saying she too had allegedly taken money from the City of Lumberton. Well, according to E.Nell Busby, Leonette Wynn was the worst city clerk ever. But as I look over the minutes, Leonette was never accused of stealing but for some reason, she was targeted by the board and terminated because they wanted a person they "liked" to hold that position. As I said, I hope Merlene does a wonderful job and I wish her great success but I must go on record saying that the hiring process in the City of Lumberton is flawed and our next board must make better decisions. That's all for this week and enjoy your weekend.
There has been a lot of talk about our embattled city clerk, Stephanie C. Mullings and the talk may or may not be true. But for the record, if she's guilty, the ones that permitted her to stay in her position for such an extended period of time are also guilty. Everything she did was with board approval. If the insurance was not paid, the board knew it was not paid. If the water bills spiked for no apparent reason, the board knew about the spikes and chose not to do anything about the inconsistencies. The fact that court clerk, Betty Speights has collected more than $27,000 in fines for the City of Lumberton in the short period of time is a testament to what could be done if the person in the office is actually doing their job. I'm not surprised she has filed suit against the aldermen; actually, it's expected. However, it's strange that a person can allegedly pay a third of her salary to retain an attorney. Frankly, I don't know many people that could plop down a $10,000 retainer; especially someone with a salary of $30,000. Again, it just adds more kindling to the fire of speculation about her allegedly sticky fingers. But as we all know, this case is not about her allegedly blowing the whistle on another city employee or retailation; the case is about the mis-appropriation of funds. There are those that say she has a great lawyer, and that may be true, but he only has her side of the story. As I've stated before, there are three sides to every story and in this case, there's Stephanie's side, the board of alderman's side and somewhere in the middle lies the truth. The State of Mississippi is at at-will state and we all know that a person can be terminated for any reason. So, this should be an open and shut case that even Lindsey Carter should be able to win. When the board voted to terminate his employment, he boasted about the legal victories he won for the City of Lumberton and most of those cases were based on the fact that this is an at-will state. Therefore, he should not have any problem defending the city against this frivilous lawsuit. The fact that a person retained an attorney does not guarantee victory. Ask OJ.
For years, Stephanie weaved a web of deceit that kept this city at logger heads. She masterfully pitted the board of aldermen against the mayor. Truth be told, I don't think it took much nudging for her to get Gibson, Johnson and Crider on board. However, it was a little more difficult for her to win over Hale, but she managed to draw her over to the dark side. Since the board was so distracted by their disdain for the mayor, they proved they were not good stewards with the keys to the castle. As a matter of fact, they were so implicit in their duties, that the theives were allowed to take over the temple (figuratively speaking of course.) But sooner or later, all will be revealed. And in my opinion, if anyone needs to file a lawsuit, it should be the city workers and police officers that had insurance payments taken out of their checks but later found out they did not have any coverage. Those are the ones that need to file a lawsuit (in my opinion). Well, to tell you the truth, this post was not supposed to be about Stephanie, it was supposed to be about the recent hiring of the new city clerk. But before I go on to that subject, let me say one or two more things, the board was well aware of the issues at city hall and they're hate for the mayor outweighed their obligations to the citizens of Lumberton. Meeting after meeting, Mayor Holder outline the inconsistencies that were taking place and she basically begged the aldermen to implement a system of checks and balances. There were numerous memos regarding these issues and I'm quite sure there were a lot of calls made as well. Knowing this crew, I'm certain they will deny that there were ever told of any of the inconsistencies. However, there's one factor they can never deny. The fact that the issues taking place in the office was outlined in a certified letter if irrefutable proof that this board was aware of what was going on at city hall but they chose not to take action.
Now, to the original purpose of this post, the hiring of the new city clerk. For the record, I do not have an issue with the person they hired, I have an issue with the process. This board should be known as the "Can't get it right crew." They never seem to think of the city, only themselves. It is my hope that Merlene is able to clear up the mess that was left at city hall but I must say, I don't think she was the right choice. I will keep in mind that the new board will make the decision to rehire her, but I'm also concerned that four years ago, the new board gave a deputy clerk three months to get more training and here we are about to elect a new board and the required training has yet to take place. My other issue with the hiring of the new clerk is the fact that she's not a certified clerk. Therefore, the City of Lumberton is about to invest thousands of dollars into training a retiree. In my opinion, that's not fiscally responsible. So, whenever she decides to retire, again, we're going to be faced with the same quagmire. Also, I would like to say there are others that are not pleased with the alderman's choice. I don't care if she's Sue's sister, brother, cousin, neighbor. All I care about is her level of integrity and her ability to do the job. In the City of Lumberton, we get so caught up on the person holding the position. There are those that are of the mindset that I should never say anything about Stephanie; not because the things I say are not true, but because they like Stephanie. Come on people. This is not a popularity contest; this is a business. When I suggested the board bring back JoAnn Ladner, there were people that were outraged; saying she too had allegedly taken money from the City of Lumberton. Well, according to E.Nell Busby, Leonette Wynn was the worst city clerk ever. But as I look over the minutes, Leonette was never accused of stealing but for some reason, she was targeted by the board and terminated because they wanted a person they "liked" to hold that position. As I said, I hope Merlene does a wonderful job and I wish her great success but I must go on record saying that the hiring process in the City of Lumberton is flawed and our next board must make better decisions. That's all for this week and enjoy your weekend.
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