For a brief moment, it seemed like there wasn't going to be a Special Called Meeting. The other day, I said this meeting would let the citizens know where each alderman stood and if they stood for truth and justice. Well, if the lack of attendance was any indication, I think there are some elected officials that were not willing to stand at all. When a select group of three aldermen failed to show up for the meeting, I was thinking, here we go again. Kent Crider sent word that he was not feeling well, but he was well enough to travel to Jackson, Mississippi earlier that day with Ben Winston to present a proposal for a hospital or emergency care center. I guess the trip drained him. It wasn't stated why Jay McGraw wasn't in attendance and after Tommy Dukes dragged himself to the meeting, I figured he forgot the memo and attended the meeting. So, a quorum was established and the meeting gets underway at 6:07 p.m.
The first agenda item was to allow a representative from Enviro to speak to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen regarding garbage collection for the City of Lumberton. For the first time, the true reason for the rush to eliminate 3-4 jobs from the city's payroll was stated in an open meeting. It seems Ben Winston has checked the prices of a new garbage truck and he's trying to get a company to take over garbage collection before the garbage truck break down. So, he wants to eliminate jobs and a department because he does not want to have the added expense of purchasing a new truck. I guess that will be the same claim he will use when he finally get the cojones to let the citizens know he want to get rid of the police department. I don't have a solution for the garbage situation, but from the presentations being made to the board, the change is not going to be a cost saving move; it's just going to eliminate the need for the City of Lumberton to purchase and maintain a garbage truck. The cost for these services are going to still cost the citizens the same amount but with fewer services. So, stop peeing on our legs and trying to convince us that it's raining. However, I think I do have a solution for the problem the city is having purchasing new police cars. Every month, Ben Winston and Kent Crider complain that the city doesn’t have money for this and the city doesn’t have the money for that. But at the same time, they're cashing checks totaling over $1,200 every month. Now I have heard the phase talking out of both sides of your necks, but rarely have I had a literal example. So, here's the solution. They can endorse those checks and hand them over to Chief Elsie Cowart and I'm certain she can obtain 2-3 new police cars if they gave her $1,200/month for that purpose. Better yet, Kent Crider should do like he did last year and vote to pay him and the mayor $1/month and then allocate their salaries for police cars. That would be $14,400 over the course of a year and $57,600 over the course of four years. Now, we all know that would require care and concern for the citizens of Lumberton and since we know that's not on their agenda, there's little chance of that happening. I just wanted to offer a solution since I am often accused of highlighting the problem and never offering an alternative or solution.
The next agenda item was to set a rule where water would not be cut off on Friday. It seem that there was big problem with the 119 customers (ooops correction, 118 customers because one resident did not have to pay to have her water services restored) that had their water services disconnected. Merlene Wall, city clerk, read the water ordinance and it clearly stated that water services are not to be restored unless the bill has been paid in full or the resident came into the office and signed a repayment agreement. Ben Winston then growled when she stated that the Superintendent had the authority to have the water restored. Everyone in attendance thought that meant the Public Works Director but Winston insisted that it was a reference to the mayor and he said he no longer want that responsibility and wanted that authority transferred to the board. Again, Mayor Winston denied that he authorized the restoration of any water for any resident, but everybody knows that one resident had their water restored without complete payment and without signing a payment agreement. Since Mayor Winston is denying that he made the call, the matter is now being investigated. So, the only other people that were involved were Kent Crider and Danny Davis; someone in that trio gave the go ahead and we the citizens want to know who.
There were agenda items to apply for CDBG grants as well as Small Cities Community Development Block Grants. There was an order to discuss and vote on the repairs of Water Well #2. The cost is $36,847.00. The board wants to present it for other bids. There was talk of closing the well, but the cost to take the well off line would be double the repair costs. There was a vote to allow the mayor to sign the National Flood Insurance agreement. It seems that the agreement was never submitted and they have been awaiting the document since 2010. Thankfully, we haven't had any recent damage from tornadoes or hurricanes because the City of Lumberton cannot receive a federal assistance unless this signed agreement is on file.
The last order of business on the agenda was to reimburse several city employees for insurance that was withheld from their paychecks. In my opinion, this was the reason Kent Crider did not want to attend the meeting. The insurance issue was one of the matters used by Crider to present Captain Franklin and Officer C. Fortenberry for termination. Well, correction, Crider, Johnson and Gibson allegedly terminated Franklin at Hobson's request because Capt. Franklin would not unlock an unlocked door or some other idiotic reason. It was C. Fortenberry that was terminated for daring to question out former clerk, Stephanie Mullings about the fact that insurance payments were being withheld from her check but when she took her children to the doctor, they did not have any insurance coverage because the premiums that were being withheld from several employees checks were never submitted to the insurance company; allegedly speaking of course. The board repaid the monies that was withheld but what about the employees that were terminated for wanting to know what happened to their insurance coverage and why the money was withheld from their paychecks. I think the board need to revisit the termination of these officers and attempt to make an attempt to correct this egregious abuse of power.
For a brief moment, it seemed like there wasn't going to be a Special Called Meeting. The other day, I said this meeting would let the citizens know where each alderman stood and if they stood for truth and justice. Well, if the lack of attendance was any indication, I think there are some elected officials that were not willing to stand at all. When a select group of three aldermen failed to show up for the meeting, I was thinking, here we go again. Kent Crider sent word that he was not feeling well, but he was well enough to travel to Jackson, Mississippi earlier that day with Ben Winston to present a proposal for a hospital or emergency care center. I guess the trip drained him. It wasn't stated why Jay McGraw wasn't in attendance and after Tommy Dukes dragged himself to the meeting, I figured he forgot the memo and attended the meeting. So, a quorum was established and the meeting gets underway at 6:07 p.m.
The first agenda item was to allow a representative from Enviro to speak to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen regarding garbage collection for the City of Lumberton. For the first time, the true reason for the rush to eliminate 3-4 jobs from the city's payroll was stated in an open meeting. It seems Ben Winston has checked the prices of a new garbage truck and he's trying to get a company to take over garbage collection before the garbage truck break down. So, he wants to eliminate jobs and a department because he does not want to have the added expense of purchasing a new truck. I guess that will be the same claim he will use when he finally get the cojones to let the citizens know he want to get rid of the police department. I don't have a solution for the garbage situation, but from the presentations being made to the board, the change is not going to be a cost saving move; it's just going to eliminate the need for the City of Lumberton to purchase and maintain a garbage truck. The cost for these services are going to still cost the citizens the same amount but with fewer services. So, stop peeing on our legs and trying to convince us that it's raining. However, I think I do have a solution for the problem the city is having purchasing new police cars. Every month, Ben Winston and Kent Crider complain that the city doesn’t have money for this and the city doesn’t have the money for that. But at the same time, they're cashing checks totaling over $1,200 every month. Now I have heard the phase talking out of both sides of your necks, but rarely have I had a literal example. So, here's the solution. They can endorse those checks and hand them over to Chief Elsie Cowart and I'm certain she can obtain 2-3 new police cars if they gave her $1,200/month for that purpose. Better yet, Kent Crider should do like he did last year and vote to pay him and the mayor $1/month and then allocate their salaries for police cars. That would be $14,400 over the course of a year and $57,600 over the course of four years. Now, we all know that would require care and concern for the citizens of Lumberton and since we know that's not on their agenda, there's little chance of that happening. I just wanted to offer a solution since I am often accused of highlighting the problem and never offering an alternative or solution.
The next agenda item was to set a rule where water would not be cut off on Friday. It seem that there was big problem with the 119 customers (ooops correction, 118 customers because one resident did not have to pay to have her water services restored) that had their water services disconnected. Merlene Wall, city clerk, read the water ordinance and it clearly stated that water services are not to be restored unless the bill has been paid in full or the resident came into the office and signed a repayment agreement. Ben Winston then growled when she stated that the Superintendent had the authority to have the water restored. Everyone in attendance thought that meant the Public Works Director but Winston insisted that it was a reference to the mayor and he said he no longer want that responsibility and wanted that authority transferred to the board. Again, Mayor Winston denied that he authorized the restoration of any water for any resident, but everybody knows that one resident had their water restored without complete payment and without signing a payment agreement. Since Mayor Winston is denying that he made the call, the matter is now being investigated. So, the only other people that were involved were Kent Crider and Danny Davis; someone in that trio gave the go ahead and we the citizens want to know who.
There were agenda items to apply for CDBG grants as well as Small Cities Community Development Block Grants. There was an order to discuss and vote on the repairs of Water Well #2. The cost is $36,847.00. The board wants to present it for other bids. There was talk of closing the well, but the cost to take the well off line would be double the repair costs. There was a vote to allow the mayor to sign the National Flood Insurance agreement. It seems that the agreement was never submitted and they have been awaiting the document since 2010. Thankfully, we haven't had any recent damage from tornadoes or hurricanes because the City of Lumberton cannot receive a federal assistance unless this signed agreement is on file.
The last order of business on the agenda was to reimburse several city employees for insurance that was withheld from their paychecks. In my opinion, this was the reason Kent Crider did not want to attend the meeting. The insurance issue was one of the matters used by Crider to present Captain Franklin and Officer C. Fortenberry for termination. Well, correction, Crider, Johnson and Gibson allegedly terminated Franklin at Hobson's request because Capt. Franklin would not unlock an unlocked door or some other idiotic reason. It was C. Fortenberry that was terminated for daring to question out former clerk, Stephanie Mullings about the fact that insurance payments were being withheld from her check but when she took her children to the doctor, they did not have any insurance coverage because the premiums that were being withheld from several employees checks were never submitted to the insurance company; allegedly speaking of course. The board repaid the monies that was withheld but what about the employees that were terminated for wanting to know what happened to their insurance coverage and why the money was withheld from their paychecks. I think the board need to revisit the termination of these officers and attempt to make an attempt to correct this egregious abuse of power.
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