Last night there was a special called meeting of the Mayor and Board of Alderpersons. It seems that Mr. Winston is determined to give our city worker’s a lump of coal for the Holiday season. The first item on the agenda was to discuss and vote to hire outside garbage collection. Apparently, he is looking to transfer garbage collections over to Lamar County. He said it would be a cost effective move that would save the citizens money. He also said an outside contractor will be in a position to pay the workers more than the City of Lumberton. Seriously? If anyone noticed the individuals collecting garbage for the county know they usually have one worker and the others assisting with the collection of garbage are usually inmates. First of all, I seriously doubt any outside contractor will keep those currently in those positions on the payroll. If they keep anyone on the payroll, it will probably be for a short period of time; just long enough for them to learn the area and then they will most likely be dismissed. Mississippi is an at will employment state, something they seem to forget at Lumberton City Hall. Instead of getting rid of the worker’s that are not doing their fair share of work, they are willing to jeopardize the livelihood of every worker because they don’t have the loins to do their jobs in a fair and equitable manner. Just my opinion. Yes the city is in financial bind but those in non-elected positions are not the ones that avoided the pink elephant in the room (the budget not the budget maker). I know they have a bottom line to be concerned about but they also have a quality of life component that should be taken into account as well. They matter will be reviewed again later because there wasn’t any paperwork comparing the cost of each and how the city would save. But Winston is pushing for this transfer despite know if it would save the city $100 or $1. Essentially, he does not care about how this will affect those living in Lumberton; those that rely on their paychecks to support their families. One thing is for certain, there are a lot of underpaid, overworked men/women that need their jobs and this should be taken into consideration when making a decision that could drastically change their lives. They will discuss this matter in greater details next month and hopefully, they will have a cost analysis to show the benefits or drawback of such a move.
Another agenda item was to discuss and vote to contract water meter reading. Again, this was something that had been discussed over and over again. As a matter of fact, didn’t they create another position for this purpose? Basically, a third deputy clerk position was created to cover this matter. So, why create another position that was supposed to be covered by one individual if we’re not going to adhere to those guidelines. I am not faulting the person that currently works that area; I am faulting the guards at the gate who are supposed to make sure the proposed guidelines were followed. If three or more people are being used to read water meters when the proposal stated emphatically that one person would be responsible for this job. There’s this panic that the city is financially strapped but if things are this nature are allowed to remain unchecked, then who’s to blame? In a last minute decision, the board did agree to cut the checks early for the city employees. The board went into executive session and they held Chief Cowart in the back room for quite some time. While they were in executive session, we learned there is a problem with stray cows. That is not a mis-print; the Lumberton Police Department has been on cow wrangling duty. So, please be careful be there’s a group of unclaimed cows roaming the city. I know there are a lot of people that don’t like my views but there are plenty of empty seats at every board meeting. You are more than welcome to come and share your views with your audience or you can continue to sit back and accept whatever form of truth you find acceptable. Winston has an agenda but I have yet to discover his grand scheme, but he does have the support of Kent Crider, Tommy Dukes and Jay McGraw. So, as you know; majority rules. The people of Lumberton said they prayed for a board that would work with the mayor and it seems your prayers have been answered. To that I would like to add, you need to be more mindful of your prayers. We should have been praying for a board that would work with a mayor that has the city’s best interest at heart. City hall will be closed December 24-25th and garbage collection will resume on December 26. Be safe this Holiday Season and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
Last night there was a special called meeting of the Mayor and Board of Alderpersons. It seems that Mr. Winston is determined to give our city worker’s a lump of coal for the Holiday season. The first item on the agenda was to discuss and vote to hire outside garbage collection. Apparently, he is looking to transfer garbage collections over to Lamar County. He said it would be a cost effective move that would save the citizens money. He also said an outside contractor will be in a position to pay the workers more than the City of Lumberton. Seriously? If anyone noticed the individuals collecting garbage for the county know they usually have one worker and the others assisting with the collection of garbage are usually inmates. First of all, I seriously doubt any outside contractor will keep those currently in those positions on the payroll. If they keep anyone on the payroll, it will probably be for a short period of time; just long enough for them to learn the area and then they will most likely be dismissed. Mississippi is an at will employment state, something they seem to forget at Lumberton City Hall. Instead of getting rid of the worker’s that are not doing their fair share of work, they are willing to jeopardize the livelihood of every worker because they don’t have the loins to do their jobs in a fair and equitable manner. Just my opinion. Yes the city is in financial bind but those in non-elected positions are not the ones that avoided the pink elephant in the room (the budget not the budget maker). I know they have a bottom line to be concerned about but they also have a quality of life component that should be taken into account as well. They matter will be reviewed again later because there wasn’t any paperwork comparing the cost of each and how the city would save. But Winston is pushing for this transfer despite know if it would save the city $100 or $1. Essentially, he does not care about how this will affect those living in Lumberton; those that rely on their paychecks to support their families. One thing is for certain, there are a lot of underpaid, overworked men/women that need their jobs and this should be taken into consideration when making a decision that could drastically change their lives. They will discuss this matter in greater details next month and hopefully, they will have a cost analysis to show the benefits or drawback of such a move.
Another agenda item was to discuss and vote to contract water meter reading. Again, this was something that had been discussed over and over again. As a matter of fact, didn’t they create another position for this purpose? Basically, a third deputy clerk position was created to cover this matter. So, why create another position that was supposed to be covered by one individual if we’re not going to adhere to those guidelines. I am not faulting the person that currently works that area; I am faulting the guards at the gate who are supposed to make sure the proposed guidelines were followed. If three or more people are being used to read water meters when the proposal stated emphatically that one person would be responsible for this job. There’s this panic that the city is financially strapped but if things are this nature are allowed to remain unchecked, then who’s to blame? In a last minute decision, the board did agree to cut the checks early for the city employees. The board went into executive session and they held Chief Cowart in the back room for quite some time. While they were in executive session, we learned there is a problem with stray cows. That is not a mis-print; the Lumberton Police Department has been on cow wrangling duty. So, please be careful be there’s a group of unclaimed cows roaming the city. I know there are a lot of people that don’t like my views but there are plenty of empty seats at every board meeting. You are more than welcome to come and share your views with your audience or you can continue to sit back and accept whatever form of truth you find acceptable. Winston has an agenda but I have yet to discover his grand scheme, but he does have the support of Kent Crider, Tommy Dukes and Jay McGraw. So, as you know; majority rules. The people of Lumberton said they prayed for a board that would work with the mayor and it seems your prayers have been answered. To that I would like to add, you need to be more mindful of your prayers. We should have been praying for a board that would work with a mayor that has the city’s best interest at heart. City hall will be closed December 24-25th and garbage collection will resume on December 26. Be safe this Holiday Season and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
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