Jackson Free Press

With three weeks until Christmas, Mayor Frank Melton is again talking pink slips. Melton told WAPT Monday that he plans on shaking up the city's Public Works and City Housing Departments. Days after a year-long water-line break in North Jackson hit the news, Melton said that there are big problems in two departments, and he wants to clean house.

"I think it's critical," Melton told WAPT, adding that he wanted to find new people with "a very strong passion in getting things done, such as our streets and road repairs." Melton also said the city's housing situation has been nagging him and that he's "ready to get on down the road on those initiatives."

Melton refused to disclose the names of the potentially fired Tuesday morning, falling back on that favorite phrase of city officials: "That's a personnel matter."

Last year, Melton fired the seven-member Crime Prevention Unit and Equal Business Opportunity Director Tanya Ross within weeks of Christmas.

Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler said the rumor is that Public Works Director Thelman Boyd may be one of the people on the block for removal, along with Community Improvement Manager Herman Taylor and the city's one remaining grant writer, Lisa Lucas. Neither Lucus nor Taylor returned calls.

On Tuesday, Boyd told the JFP that he had not received a termination notice. Boyd, who has served the city since 1998, said he would continue to do his job, regardless of the rumors afoot.

"I'm just going to go out and continue to enjoy the holidays, and if I get a call to come address public-works stuff, I'm going to do it," Boyd said, adding that he believed he has done a good job with the city and that he has faith in his resume if it was time to put it to use again.

"I led the agency to national accreditation from the American Public Works Association, the first one in the state of Mississippi and one of the few in the southeast … so we hit pretty tall cotton. We have great employees. We just have issues we have to face," Boyd said.

Crisler said that while he had no confirmation of the terminations, he is nervous about the firings if they do materialize. "I worry, in particular, over the city's grant-writing capability," Crisler said.

Late Tuesday, Commander Tyrone Lewis said Melton would not fire anyone, after all. "He's not looking at terminations. He's looking at some personnel readjustments," he told The Clarion-Ledger.

Still, Melton's declaration sows insecurity. "The director and people that work for him—you ain't gonna get a lot out of them because they're too paranoid right now, like a lot of city workers," Crisler said.