Jackson Free Press

City Chief Financial Officer Peyton Prospere has resigned, effective Dec. 31, according to city spokesman Commander Tyrone Lewis. Prospere will be replaced by Rick Hill, who has worked with Prospere and served the city for years, Lewis said.

Lewis did not have any other information on the resignation, including why Prospere left. He also did not know Hill's previous title with the city.

Prospere did not immediately answer calls for comment, but he did release the following statement:

"I have tendered my resignation as Director of Administration to Mayor Melton, effective year end. I appreciated the opportunity to serve both Mayor Melton and this City in which we all have a stake. I wish for him and the administration success, because it is important for the City of Jackson that they succeed."

More details as they become available.

Previous Commentsshow

Interesting tone in Prospere's resignation note, isn't there? It certainly doesn't voice enthusiasm over Melton's administration, since the reason it's important they succeed is because the city needs them to do so.

Brian C Johnson

Dec 6 2006

Splash...Splash...Splash... That's the sound of people jumping the good ship Frank!

pikersam

Dec 6 2006

melton should resign and peyton should stay.this is extremely bad news for those of us who had hoped that in certain key depatments of the city we still had competent,dedicated civil servants who love their city--people of the caliber of peyton prospere.

chimneyville

Dec 6 2006

Actually, Pike, word is that he was forced out. But I suspect this is a ship he ought to be bailing from, regardless. They're having a *really* bad week over in the City Circus.

DonnaLadd

Dec 6 2006

Councilman Ben Allen and Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon held a press conference today to respond to Peyton Prospere's announcement. Here are some verbatim comments: (Allen) I was in McComb when I got the call and it was like somebody got killed in a car wreck. It just kind of shocked us, but the city will survive this. Prospere will be tough to replace, but I’m sure we’ll survive. … Why we’re here today is to let the public know that the city will continue to function. (Barrett-Simon) I don’t think there’s any way that you could look at the last two days and not believe that there is instability here. For the sake of the city, and the sake of our employees and our citizens we need to get back on an even keel. We need to make sure that if any employees are to be terminated then they need to be met with one-on-one. That is the appropriate way to do it—not leak these stories to the press and then have people walk in and have the person be stunned. I know that several of you (members of the press) told me that you were embarrassed the way that happened, and we were also. (Allen) We don’t live in a vacuum. We are the Jackson City Council; Peyton Prospere is known all over the state. If we were to tell you in the media that we have no comment, that’s a personnel matter, that would cast even more suspicion. We’re here today to let you know that there’s no animosity from Peyton Prospere…Had we, the council been able to vote on it, we would have overridden it. There’s not one member who wouldn’t want him to stay, but he’s decided to move on with his life…we’ve talked to him, he does not want to stay, he wants to move on with his life. Allen said Prospere will be staying on for the remainder of the year.

DonnaLadd

Dec 6 2006

One of the first things I heard early on about Melton, from someone who knows city politics well and was not a Melton supporter, was "Well, at least he's got Peyton Prospere on board." This is depressing. And creepy.

Tom Head

Dec 6 2006

For all of those Meltonites who still support Frank, this should be a wake up call. Prospere will be sorely missed, but he will be recruited so fast that Melton won't have a chance to beg him to come back. This is yet another brick in the wall to seal Melton's fate. I also heard that this resignation was not by choice, but that he was given the option to resign or be fired. Melton just cannot resist being the Grinch right before Christmas

lance

Dec 6 2006

Yes, Prospere was one of the more brilliant appointments from the early days of the administration. I don't blame him from jumping off this doomed ship before it hits bottom.

Jeff Lucas

Dec 6 2006

Guess now the 'Dream Team' can be called Melton's 'Shattered Dreams'. Peyton Prospere was a valuable asset to the City and has served us well.

ChrisCavanaugh

Dec 8 2006

Mayabe this post will pass the test. It is absolutely no sense in Ben Allen and Margret Simone belly-aching now. And by the way, where is the verbal Chrisler and McLemore?? The time for war should have been with the firing of the City's lobbylist who had brought in over eight million $s the last year of the Johnson Adm. overthrow. Melton hired a person with absolutely no experience to fill these tall shoes. There is a saying that goes: Be careful of what you ask for - You just might get it. Jackson citizens asked for this bitter pill and now it is time to swallow. Too bad that Prospere got caught up in frank's throwing out the wash water with the baby in it!

justjess

Dec 8 2006

"Had we, the council been able to vote on it, we would have overridden" Does this mean that for all practical purposes Prospier was fired or if not, can you override a resignation? This sounds very much like a very competent servent of this City has "bitten the dust." (all at the hands of melton. This sounds. very suspicious to me

justjess

Dec 8 2006

The bodies continue to fall....

pikersam

Dec 8 2006

Well, look at it this way: They are going to be left with no one to blame but themselves for the disaster this city government has become. Buckle y'all's seatbelts. It'll get worse before it gets better as the internal fighting increases the the trust decreases. The Fall of the House of Melton ain't gonna be pretty to watch. But it's collapsing from within, so I'm not sure what anyone can do but try to avoid falling debris. We'll end up a stronger city on the other side, but we're going to ride it out first. My advice is that each and everyone of us start trying to do everything we can do to strengthen whatever component of the city that's in our power to build our foundation for the future—mentoring, education, media literacy, economic development, shopping local, etc. This man never should have been mayor, but it's too late to change that. We just have to do everything we can do to be prepared to pick up the pieces of this unmitigated nightmare. AND to understand why it happened. Lesson #1: Crime sensationalism can get really bad leaders elected.

DonnaLadd

Dec 8 2006

if melton would just step down... the council would select someone from among them to serve as acting mayor for about 60 days until the people would elect a new leader to fill out the rest of the term.in both instances i am confident that city government would right itself immediately.

chimneyville

Dec 8 2006

Certainly, if he cared about the city, he would. He told me last April that he doesn't like being mayor. He can't possibly think he's done a good job. But I'm sure he's got lots of folks around him who don't want to lose their jobs who are pushing him to stay. That's too bad. The longer he stays, the worse off, we'll be. That has never been more clear than this week.

DonnaLadd

Dec 8 2006