Tuesday, June 4, 2013 was the day of reckoning for the City of Lumberton. The citizens of Lumberton went to the polls to vote on the new administration. Well, a few of the citizens of Lumberton went to the polls to vote on the new administration because based on the numbers, there were about 650 of the 1574 registered voters showed up at the polls. As a result, we have a new mayor, Ben Winston. But we also have a new Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers. The other new member of the board is Tommy Dukes, Alderman of Ward 4; he was unopposed in the election. Jay McGrew was also unopposed and Quincy Rogers won the right to serve another four years as Alderman of Ward 3. Now, as it was reported in Hattiesburg American, the monthly salary for these positions is $1/month, but I have a feeling that will quickly change after the new board is sworn in on July 1, 2013.
I will get back to the election, but yesterday, there was also a regular scheduled meeting of the mayor and board of aldermen. For the first time, in four years of service, Timothy Johnson was concerned about what things were costing the City of Lumberton. He spent a great deal of time going over the budget, but as it was stated, Johnson has a gift of going into great detail about nothing. Why was he concerned about the finances of the city now, but was not concerned for the previous four years. Only he knows the answer to that question, but since he does not talk to me, I guess it will remain a mystery. After Johnson held the public hostage with his final concerns, the Mayor and Board of Alderman approved a resolution for a $150,000 grant to get water services to add to the new Industrial Park. They also approved to hire Nicholson and Company to perform a compilation audit for the City of Lumberton. The cost of the audit will be $8,000. However, the bills have not been paid because there were questions about the revenue and expenditures report. The board said they will call a special call meeting to review the report before approving to pay the bills and employees of Lumberton. I think Johnson was scrutinizing the budget because he was looking for a way to ask for retro pay for serving as alderman. I still think they are looking for a way to pay themselves for the salary they gave up in hopes of gaining public trust.
The board also hired several new police officers. The board accepted the resignation of Jean Rester. Officer Chris Brumfield has been moved to part time officer because he accepted a better paying job with Drug Court and the job comes with a car. So, I don't think we will be seeing much of him at the LPD, but he is staying on as a part-time officer. The board hired Rodney Loftin, Linda Marie McKibban, Andrew Phillips, Tondra Gosa, and Dean Pierce. I'm glad to see Phillips has decided to return to Lumberton. He was one of the officers that were terminated, without cause, when Hobson was Chief of Police. Also, Chief Cowart said she is going to do more to deal with the fighting that is going on at Frank Lee Homes. She said they might be a little rough and she wanted people to know that they should not run to the scene of a fight. Good luck with getting that enforced in Lumberton. They will run to a fight, but won't drive to vote. But anyway. The officers are going to have to do more to curtail what's going on at Frank Lee Homes. And for the pretty boy preacher/cop, he's going to have up his game and stop focusing on his looks because he's really gotten on my bad side and the next time I have to address his lack of professionalism, it will include his name and picture.
Now, back to the election results. It's sad that most people did not get off their duff and participate in the election. Ben Winston was elected to serve as Mayor. He received 328 votes. In my opinion, they were not voting for Ben Winston, they were voting against Mayor Holder but it is what it is. One resident said Lumberton has a black and white problem and he think Ben is the person to bring the community together. Really. Well, based on the votes, white residents were supportive of Winston. Winston said he will work to have an audit performed to see where the city is at financially. Thankfully, the board already started that process last night. But I will note, Winston announced at the political rally that there are several businessmen waiting for him to get elected so they could open their business in Lumberton. So, if you're looking for a job, bring your resume to the swearing in ceremony because I'm sure those busiessmen are aware of Winston's victory, so the jobs should be flowing in by July 2, 2013; according to Winston. I will post more about the apathetic nature of black voters in a later post. Kudos to our new board and I pray they can deliver what they promised.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 was the day of reckoning for the City of Lumberton. The citizens of Lumberton went to the polls to vote on the new administration. Well, a few of the citizens of Lumberton went to the polls to vote on the new administration because based on the numbers, there were about 650 of the 1574 registered voters showed up at the polls. As a result, we have a new mayor, Ben Winston. But we also have a new Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers. The other new member of the board is Tommy Dukes, Alderman of Ward 4; he was unopposed in the election. Jay McGrew was also unopposed and Quincy Rogers won the right to serve another four years as Alderman of Ward 3. Now, as it was reported in Hattiesburg American, the monthly salary for these positions is $1/month, but I have a feeling that will quickly change after the new board is sworn in on July 1, 2013.
I will get back to the election, but yesterday, there was also a regular scheduled meeting of the mayor and board of aldermen. For the first time, in four years of service, Timothy Johnson was concerned about what things were costing the City of Lumberton. He spent a great deal of time going over the budget, but as it was stated, Johnson has a gift of going into great detail about nothing. Why was he concerned about the finances of the city now, but was not concerned for the previous four years. Only he knows the answer to that question, but since he does not talk to me, I guess it will remain a mystery. After Johnson held the public hostage with his final concerns, the Mayor and Board of Alderman approved a resolution for a $150,000 grant to get water services to add to the new Industrial Park. They also approved to hire Nicholson and Company to perform a compilation audit for the City of Lumberton. The cost of the audit will be $8,000. However, the bills have not been paid because there were questions about the revenue and expenditures report. The board said they will call a special call meeting to review the report before approving to pay the bills and employees of Lumberton. I think Johnson was scrutinizing the budget because he was looking for a way to ask for retro pay for serving as alderman. I still think they are looking for a way to pay themselves for the salary they gave up in hopes of gaining public trust.
The board also hired several new police officers. The board accepted the resignation of Jean Rester. Officer Chris Brumfield has been moved to part time officer because he accepted a better paying job with Drug Court and the job comes with a car. So, I don't think we will be seeing much of him at the LPD, but he is staying on as a part-time officer. The board hired Rodney Loftin, Linda Marie McKibban, Andrew Phillips, Tondra Gosa, and Dean Pierce. I'm glad to see Phillips has decided to return to Lumberton. He was one of the officers that were terminated, without cause, when Hobson was Chief of Police. Also, Chief Cowart said she is going to do more to deal with the fighting that is going on at Frank Lee Homes. She said they might be a little rough and she wanted people to know that they should not run to the scene of a fight. Good luck with getting that enforced in Lumberton. They will run to a fight, but won't drive to vote. But anyway. The officers are going to have to do more to curtail what's going on at Frank Lee Homes. And for the pretty boy preacher/cop, he's going to have up his game and stop focusing on his looks because he's really gotten on my bad side and the next time I have to address his lack of professionalism, it will include his name and picture.
Now, back to the election results. It's sad that most people did not get off their duff and participate in the election. Ben Winston was elected to serve as Mayor. He received 328 votes. In my opinion, they were not voting for Ben Winston, they were voting against Mayor Holder but it is what it is. One resident said Lumberton has a black and white problem and he think Ben is the person to bring the community together. Really. Well, based on the votes, white residents were supportive of Winston. Winston said he will work to have an audit performed to see where the city is at financially. Thankfully, the board already started that process last night. But I will note, Winston announced at the political rally that there are several businessmen waiting for him to get elected so they could open their business in Lumberton. So, if you're looking for a job, bring your resume to the swearing in ceremony because I'm sure those busiessmen are aware of Winston's victory, so the jobs should be flowing in by July 2, 2013; according to Winston. I will post more about the apathetic nature of black voters in a later post. Kudos to our new board and I pray they can deliver what they promised.
Comments
Post a Comment