I apologize for the late delay but it took me three days to get this typed and posted. Blame it on the carpal tunnel. The first agenda item was to allow Mr. Robert Lassiter of the Hattiesburg Water Department to address the board regarding a proposal to test the water for the City of Lumberton. Mr. Lassister spoke very highly of Public Works employee Jones. It seems the board is trying to go in the direction of getting her certified as so she can serve as Public Works Director. From what I understood, Lassister will mentor her, for a stipend, so she can get the required certification. In case you missed it, the latest Public Works Director quite; like most of his predecessors. Lassister was basically telling the board he would mentor Jones for gas money but they insisted on complicating the process and asking if he could submit his fees in writing and present them to the board within the next 30 days. For once, it seemed like the board was trying to do the right thing, but then if you would flip through the agenda, you would see there was an agenda item (#14) to hire Michael "Butch" Brumfield at a cost of $9.50/hour as a supervisor for the Public Works Department. The motion was tabled but if they are going to hire someone to mentor the person that is eventually going to be the Public Works Director, why not give that person a small raise and let her perform the duties she's being prepped to do? Also, I think most of the Public Works employees know their day to day duties. So, why the need for creating a new position? But then again, if you drove down Main Street lately, you will notice the Christmas decorations are still on the poles. So, I guess there is a need for some supervision/direction because no one has taken the initiative to take them down. Just a clue, in order to be seen as self-sufficient, there are times when you are going to need to do things because they need to be done; not just because you were told to do so. Just a little food for thought. In other news regarding the Public Works department, I think Jones is going to have to distance herself from the "vipers" in the office. I keep hearing a lot of bad things about the way the clerks treat customers/citizens of Lumberton. Personally, I haven't had a bad experience with either clerk, but there's talk. However, I have witnessed the slick remarks that were made when it seemed others were not listening, but again, I haven't personally had them treat me in a manner that would require a read which is odd because I have always been accused of seeing the worst in others. I will keep my eyes open and I know there are always three sides to every story. I do find it hard to believe that people are just belting out piles of profanity/threats without provocation.
There was an agenda item to allow Alderwoman Cora Rogers the opportunity to speak about the Mississippi Food Network Program. More details about this food program will be in the Sunday paper per Alderwoman Roger's request. The engineering firm presented the paperwork and designs for the construction of the new Family Dollar Store which will be located at 100 E. Main Street (the current location of the Movie Star Building). They said demolition and construction should take 3-4 months. There were two department heads giving reports, Chief Elsie Cowart and City Clerk Merlene Wall. It seems there are funds owed to the State for tickets that were paid but never reported in the system. The City of Lumberton is still responsible for payment of the State assessments despite the fact that there is no record of the payments being submitted to the City of Lumberton but the person(s) that paid the fines have a receipt. So the City of Lumberton has lost the money that was collected and never recorded and they are also out of the money they have to pay for the assessments that were never turned in. There's all this talk about the City of Lumberton being strapped for cash but board meeting after board meeting, there are more and more reports of money that is unaccounted for, but never any talks of how to they're going to attempt to get some of that money back either through criminal prosecution or the pulling of bonds. I guess we'll just avoid the pink, glittery elephant in the room with a disco ball in his trunk. Mayor Winston gave his monthly report to the board. He stated that "we are in this together and we need to work together to find a way to dig our way out of this hole." Just moments after giving his "We" speech, he told several citizens that were attempting to offer their feedback that this was not their meeting. Typical double talk. There was an agenda item to allow Merlene Wall to attend the 2014 Spring Session of the Certification Program for Municipal Clerks on February 12-14, 2014 but the matter was tabled because the aldermen did not think they had the funds needed to send her for this "required" certification program. Wall also pleaded with the board and offered to waive the fuel and per diem cost to save the City of Lumberton money. But the board said they will revisit the matter at a later time. Now, let's skip down to Agenda Item #23. There was a vote to allow Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers to attend the Ms. Municipal League Mid-Winter Legislative Conference at the Hilton in Jackson, MS from January 28-30, 2014. Now keep in mind, this meeting is not required for any certification purposes and there was no offer to pay her own fuel or per diem but the board approved this measure. As a matter of fact, Winston even asked a member of the LEDC if they would cover the cost of the trip in an effort to make sure this measure gets passed. Now, I am by no means a fan of Wall but if you are going to hire someone to file a position that requires certification, then you need to make sure she get the certification needed. Now, my argument is the same when she was hired. We are paying for this certification process over and over again because the board has personal agendas and want who they want in these positions. Now, Merlene was hired by the previous Mayor and Board, but as I stated then, she is good, but she came out of retirement to fill this position. Then she hired a deputy clerk that is not far from retirement age and that will probably become her successor. For a city that has issues with money management, they seemingly continue to hire individuals that will put the city back in the same predicament as before. Let's be clear, we had a young person in the position and that did not work out well, but just because one person was not business minded enough to handle the position, does not mean we need to continue to refuse others the opportunity to do the job. When looking for a city clerk, I think we need people that think outside the box and Merlene has shown that she has that capability but who's to say that others did not have the same capability. I still think Rachel Jefferson would have been great in that position and she has now completed her education at USM and we are about to lose a gem that could have been an asset to this city. I don't know if I'm feeling some type of way and let's be crystal clear, this is not about me not getting the job as deputy clerk (despite the fact that I am more than qualified for that post)it's about the fact that those that are invested in this city being denied the opportunity to work in a place that they called home. Well, enough of that let me go on to the rest of the review.
Surprise, surprise, surprise (in my Gomer Pyle voice), it seems there's going to be a water bill at Azalea Gardens after all. There was this proposal that there would be a master meter and they water would be included in the rental cost, but there seems to be a back door to that agreement and the City of Lumberton, once again, is looking to float the finances of the city on water bills. The board will review how much they will charge for water deposits for the residents of Azalea Gardens, the senior living facility. According to the ordinance, the deposit fee for renters is $150. There board also approved a measure to start paying employees of the City of Lumberton bi-weekly. There was some confusion about how long it will be before the employees receive a check once the conversion is completed. We shall see in February but I know when my job went from weekly to bi-weekly pay periods, it took three weeks for the distribution of our first check. Hopefully, this won't happen in Lumberton but if it does, there's going to be a lot of displeased workers. The board revisited the option to advertise for proposals for garbage collection. The agenda item to do the same for the reading of water meters was tabled. They had a novel idea to train more than one employee to use the hand held meter reader. A citizen suggested that months ago, but the board had to have that epiphany before it actually was considered an option. There was an agenda item to terminate Otis Washington. No vote was taken. It was to be discussed in executive session.
There was an agenda item to discuss and review the analysis of the City Clerk regarding the Personnel Rule Book for employees. Its seem that the was a rule in the rule book stating that FMLA was not available for all employees. Also, there was some discrepancy about the number of vacation hours. Now here's where the rubber meets the road. Winston appointed Kent Crider to assist in getting the rule book corrected. Can you say irony? Crider was one of the aldermen that helped Mullings and Hobson write this new personnel policy book. All the employees were forced to sign the book and adhere to the guidelines included. As a matter of fact, Officer K. Johnson was terminated because of guidelines within this rule book and her refusal to sign that she accepted this as the new employee manual. Also, the new rule book was written and designed to take all the superintending powers away from the mayor and grant them to the city clerk. As a matter of fact, the board rushed to approve the book during a special called meeting that was scheduled at the same time Mayor Holder was in the hospital for surgery. I don't know how they're going to get out of this one but it should be a doozie to see Crider help re-write an employee manual that he whole heartedly supported during his last term. The board went into executive session. It seems there was another officer or perhaps the same officer, accused of assaulting a citizen. The board did not disclose what was discussed during the executive session. Winston just reported they voted unanimously on something during executive session. Correct me if I'm wrong, but votes are to be taken in the public not during executive session. Well, the city attorney was in the back with them. I am certain he would have informed them of any laws they may have broken, but then again, he was present during most of the actions that were taken during the last four years. In other news, during executive session, there was a discussion about the fire department and Wanda Crider emphatically stated that Jerry Walters and his sister were telling a "damn lie and the fire department was working just fine and responding to all calls." This was in response to the question, Is Purvis responding to emergency calls in Lumberton? There was also a question about the aldermen getting paid. This also led to another outburst, where Wanda rolled her eyes, and blurted out the following: “Mayor Winston refused to accept payments but Kent deposits his checks into an account." When questioned further, she then said “if the board would not have voted to pay the employees before Christmas, Kent would have used that money to pay the [Public Works] employees." Now, there you have it people, if you are in a bind, Crider is holding his payments as an alderman to help employees that are having a financial strain. But it also led me to wonder, the fact that he was going to use his alderman check to pay the public works employees mean his checks are either rather large or the public works employees are getting paid very poorly. Well, that's all for this edition. Also, please keep the family of Charles Magee in your prayers. He passed away on 1/09/2014. He will surely be missed.
I apologize for the late delay but it took me three days to get this typed and posted. Blame it on the carpal tunnel. The first agenda item was to allow Mr. Robert Lassiter of the Hattiesburg Water Department to address the board regarding a proposal to test the water for the City of Lumberton. Mr. Lassister spoke very highly of Public Works employee Jones. It seems the board is trying to go in the direction of getting her certified as so she can serve as Public Works Director. From what I understood, Lassister will mentor her, for a stipend, so she can get the required certification. In case you missed it, the latest Public Works Director quite; like most of his predecessors. Lassister was basically telling the board he would mentor Jones for gas money but they insisted on complicating the process and asking if he could submit his fees in writing and present them to the board within the next 30 days. For once, it seemed like the board was trying to do the right thing, but then if you would flip through the agenda, you would see there was an agenda item (#14) to hire Michael "Butch" Brumfield at a cost of $9.50/hour as a supervisor for the Public Works Department. The motion was tabled but if they are going to hire someone to mentor the person that is eventually going to be the Public Works Director, why not give that person a small raise and let her perform the duties she's being prepped to do? Also, I think most of the Public Works employees know their day to day duties. So, why the need for creating a new position? But then again, if you drove down Main Street lately, you will notice the Christmas decorations are still on the poles. So, I guess there is a need for some supervision/direction because no one has taken the initiative to take them down. Just a clue, in order to be seen as self-sufficient, there are times when you are going to need to do things because they need to be done; not just because you were told to do so. Just a little food for thought. In other news regarding the Public Works department, I think Jones is going to have to distance herself from the "vipers" in the office. I keep hearing a lot of bad things about the way the clerks treat customers/citizens of Lumberton. Personally, I haven't had a bad experience with either clerk, but there's talk. However, I have witnessed the slick remarks that were made when it seemed others were not listening, but again, I haven't personally had them treat me in a manner that would require a read which is odd because I have always been accused of seeing the worst in others. I will keep my eyes open and I know there are always three sides to every story. I do find it hard to believe that people are just belting out piles of profanity/threats without provocation.
There was an agenda item to allow Alderwoman Cora Rogers the opportunity to speak about the Mississippi Food Network Program. More details about this food program will be in the Sunday paper per Alderwoman Roger's request. The engineering firm presented the paperwork and designs for the construction of the new Family Dollar Store which will be located at 100 E. Main Street (the current location of the Movie Star Building). They said demolition and construction should take 3-4 months. There were two department heads giving reports, Chief Elsie Cowart and City Clerk Merlene Wall. It seems there are funds owed to the State for tickets that were paid but never reported in the system. The City of Lumberton is still responsible for payment of the State assessments despite the fact that there is no record of the payments being submitted to the City of Lumberton but the person(s) that paid the fines have a receipt. So the City of Lumberton has lost the money that was collected and never recorded and they are also out of the money they have to pay for the assessments that were never turned in. There's all this talk about the City of Lumberton being strapped for cash but board meeting after board meeting, there are more and more reports of money that is unaccounted for, but never any talks of how to they're going to attempt to get some of that money back either through criminal prosecution or the pulling of bonds. I guess we'll just avoid the pink, glittery elephant in the room with a disco ball in his trunk. Mayor Winston gave his monthly report to the board. He stated that "we are in this together and we need to work together to find a way to dig our way out of this hole." Just moments after giving his "We" speech, he told several citizens that were attempting to offer their feedback that this was not their meeting. Typical double talk. There was an agenda item to allow Merlene Wall to attend the 2014 Spring Session of the Certification Program for Municipal Clerks on February 12-14, 2014 but the matter was tabled because the aldermen did not think they had the funds needed to send her for this "required" certification program. Wall also pleaded with the board and offered to waive the fuel and per diem cost to save the City of Lumberton money. But the board said they will revisit the matter at a later time. Now, let's skip down to Agenda Item #23. There was a vote to allow Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers to attend the Ms. Municipal League Mid-Winter Legislative Conference at the Hilton in Jackson, MS from January 28-30, 2014. Now keep in mind, this meeting is not required for any certification purposes and there was no offer to pay her own fuel or per diem but the board approved this measure. As a matter of fact, Winston even asked a member of the LEDC if they would cover the cost of the trip in an effort to make sure this measure gets passed. Now, I am by no means a fan of Wall but if you are going to hire someone to file a position that requires certification, then you need to make sure she get the certification needed. Now, my argument is the same when she was hired. We are paying for this certification process over and over again because the board has personal agendas and want who they want in these positions. Now, Merlene was hired by the previous Mayor and Board, but as I stated then, she is good, but she came out of retirement to fill this position. Then she hired a deputy clerk that is not far from retirement age and that will probably become her successor. For a city that has issues with money management, they seemingly continue to hire individuals that will put the city back in the same predicament as before. Let's be clear, we had a young person in the position and that did not work out well, but just because one person was not business minded enough to handle the position, does not mean we need to continue to refuse others the opportunity to do the job. When looking for a city clerk, I think we need people that think outside the box and Merlene has shown that she has that capability but who's to say that others did not have the same capability. I still think Rachel Jefferson would have been great in that position and she has now completed her education at USM and we are about to lose a gem that could have been an asset to this city. I don't know if I'm feeling some type of way and let's be crystal clear, this is not about me not getting the job as deputy clerk (despite the fact that I am more than qualified for that post)it's about the fact that those that are invested in this city being denied the opportunity to work in a place that they called home. Well, enough of that let me go on to the rest of the review.
Surprise, surprise, surprise (in my Gomer Pyle voice), it seems there's going to be a water bill at Azalea Gardens after all. There was this proposal that there would be a master meter and they water would be included in the rental cost, but there seems to be a back door to that agreement and the City of Lumberton, once again, is looking to float the finances of the city on water bills. The board will review how much they will charge for water deposits for the residents of Azalea Gardens, the senior living facility. According to the ordinance, the deposit fee for renters is $150. There board also approved a measure to start paying employees of the City of Lumberton bi-weekly. There was some confusion about how long it will be before the employees receive a check once the conversion is completed. We shall see in February but I know when my job went from weekly to bi-weekly pay periods, it took three weeks for the distribution of our first check. Hopefully, this won't happen in Lumberton but if it does, there's going to be a lot of displeased workers. The board revisited the option to advertise for proposals for garbage collection. The agenda item to do the same for the reading of water meters was tabled. They had a novel idea to train more than one employee to use the hand held meter reader. A citizen suggested that months ago, but the board had to have that epiphany before it actually was considered an option. There was an agenda item to terminate Otis Washington. No vote was taken. It was to be discussed in executive session.
There was an agenda item to discuss and review the analysis of the City Clerk regarding the Personnel Rule Book for employees. Its seem that the was a rule in the rule book stating that FMLA was not available for all employees. Also, there was some discrepancy about the number of vacation hours. Now here's where the rubber meets the road. Winston appointed Kent Crider to assist in getting the rule book corrected. Can you say irony? Crider was one of the aldermen that helped Mullings and Hobson write this new personnel policy book. All the employees were forced to sign the book and adhere to the guidelines included. As a matter of fact, Officer K. Johnson was terminated because of guidelines within this rule book and her refusal to sign that she accepted this as the new employee manual. Also, the new rule book was written and designed to take all the superintending powers away from the mayor and grant them to the city clerk. As a matter of fact, the board rushed to approve the book during a special called meeting that was scheduled at the same time Mayor Holder was in the hospital for surgery. I don't know how they're going to get out of this one but it should be a doozie to see Crider help re-write an employee manual that he whole heartedly supported during his last term. The board went into executive session. It seems there was another officer or perhaps the same officer, accused of assaulting a citizen. The board did not disclose what was discussed during the executive session. Winston just reported they voted unanimously on something during executive session. Correct me if I'm wrong, but votes are to be taken in the public not during executive session. Well, the city attorney was in the back with them. I am certain he would have informed them of any laws they may have broken, but then again, he was present during most of the actions that were taken during the last four years. In other news, during executive session, there was a discussion about the fire department and Wanda Crider emphatically stated that Jerry Walters and his sister were telling a "damn lie and the fire department was working just fine and responding to all calls." This was in response to the question, Is Purvis responding to emergency calls in Lumberton? There was also a question about the aldermen getting paid. This also led to another outburst, where Wanda rolled her eyes, and blurted out the following: “Mayor Winston refused to accept payments but Kent deposits his checks into an account." When questioned further, she then said “if the board would not have voted to pay the employees before Christmas, Kent would have used that money to pay the [Public Works] employees." Now, there you have it people, if you are in a bind, Crider is holding his payments as an alderman to help employees that are having a financial strain. But it also led me to wonder, the fact that he was going to use his alderman check to pay the public works employees mean his checks are either rather large or the public works employees are getting paid very poorly. Well, that's all for this edition. Also, please keep the family of Charles Magee in your prayers. He passed away on 1/09/2014. He will surely be missed.
Is it just me or has anybody else noticed that Kent & Wanda Crider get mad and start cussing every time my name comes up? If my wife & I aren't at a doctors appointment or assisting Derby Fire Depqrtment, i am at home minding my own business. I live across from the Fire Department. I pretty much know how often a truck leaves the station. The city owes a debt of gratitude to Southeast Lamar Firefighter Bradley Myers. If not for him, there would be no fire department. After the Board of Aldermen rejected the contract of the Lumberton Fire Department Support Group, the fire department fell into disarray. 4 Chiefs in 4 Months. Does that sound organized to you? Seems like every time someone in this city does their job, they don't last long. Despite what Wanda Crider says, I am not a Liar. I can back up everything i say. Lamar County Dispatch Records don't lie and neither does ASAP. Ask Kent how many Lumberton Citizens have passed away without a First Responder on scene since August. He will probably be embarrassed to tell you. I know the number. I also know that there is no reason why there should have been 1. I was dedicated. I did my job! And if people feel intimidated by that, i'm sorry. I challenge you to ask Fire Chief Abner Keith why i am not allowed back on the department. If he gives you the same answer he gives me it will be "I don't know why they won't let you back on. Nobody has given me a reason." That's just not right. Any how, i just wanted to clear the air because of the statement made by Ms. Crider. I would greatly appreciate it if you would keep my name out of your mouth. You don't know me or any of my family. And yes, i will defend myself, especially when what you are saying is a lie. I know more about the fire department than you know. I have learned a lot by keeping my mouth shut and listening.
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