Jackson Free Press

Former city employees LaSeine Hunter Hilliard, Meisha Jones and Stanley Murray are bringing a civil action against the city of Jackson for termination against Civil Service rules and state law.

All employees worked in the city's beleaguered Grants Division, which council members claim to be so short-staffed as to be redundant. Grants Division Manager Hunter Hilliard says the new administration harassed her and her staff when it arrived in July 2005. Hilliard says the city gave her a letter demanding her resignation on January 17, saying that the city was closing down the grants division.

Former Grants Coordinator Meisha Jones claims she was transferred to the grants division against civil service rules, and then terminated two weeks later, on Jan. 31, again in violation of civil service.

Police Chief Shirlene Anderson did not return calls.

Stanley Murray was grants coordinator for the city's Grants Division before the city fired him, claiming his position was no longer necessary. In a legal filing, Murray says that the city then filled his unneeded position with a less experienced employee.

Attorney Sharon Gipson, who is representing the plaintiffs, is demanding $500,000 for her clients' financial loss and more than $500,000 in punitive damages.

Gipson, who is also representing members of the disbanded Crime Prevention Unit, says the city has been holding up the process by withholding necessary information on both cases.

'Dead Ducks' in D.C.

City lobbyist John Waits says the city is in for disappointment when the new Democratic Congress takes control next year, thanks to Democrats' determination to get "pork" spending under control.

"There will be no earmarks in the '07 joint resolution. … Earmarking will be considered again in the '08 cycle, starting in March, providing Congress first puts in place a reform package featuring transparency and disclosure, so it'll be a new process next year," said Waits, a lobbyist with Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C. "All the earmarks secured in the past year in the 2007 process are knocked out. It'll be necessary to shift focus to the 2008 cycle now."

Waits said the Republican Senate, in post-election lame-duck session (Barrett-Simon sourly referred to it a "dead-duck session"), did not pass most appropriation bills before it. Those included numerous earmarks that would have gone to cities like Jackson, supplying federal money for water and sewer improvement and other projects. Those earmarks now will suffer new scrutiny and increased competition in the 2008 process.

Waits also pointed out that Republican-leaning Mississippi has now lost a chairman in the Democratic Congress. Sen. Thad Cochran will no longer chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, though Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, will assume the chair of the new Homeland Security Committee.

"It'll be a new world for us, but we'll work as hard as ever," Waits said.

If It's 'Broke' …

Council members chided the mayor's administration for inserting a number of emergency items in a Thursday special meeting, including one that authorized the mayor to renew an agreement with Bellsouth for basic telephone service.

Existing city telephone service contracts with Bell South were slated to expire Dec. 31, but the executive branch failed to bring the contract renewal to City Council until the last meeting of the year, which was a special meeting called to welcome back lobbyist John Waits and address council's temp agency concerns.

"What happened between Tuesday and today?" Council President Ben Allen asked. "This is an important item. It's almost like an emergency item that you've brought to us."

Chief Administration Officer Robert Walker bore the brunt of the council's wrath. "It was … one of those things. It slipped through," he said.

"Well, something broke," Allen said.

"Something may have broken," Walker replied, "but the fact of the matter is that this matter is before us today and … if the City Council acts on this it will save the city $11,000 a month for the 12 months in 2007."

Crisler said he hated being pressured into a hasty vote. "Please feel my discomfort at what you just said: By not addressing this issue, we will cost the city $11,000. Now, I feel pressured to vote on this because if I don't, I'll cost the city $11,000."

Walker told the council that new information had to be added to the agenda package, but Allen remained unassuaged.

"The rules are that if the mayor has things he wishes the council to discuss, he calls a meeting and, hopefully, he can get a quorum. Well, the majority of the council calls a meeting to introduce (lobbyist) John Waits and take care of our resolutions, but the administration came forward with about five, six, seven or eight items to discuss two days after our regularly scheduled meeting," Allen said.

Last-minute additions have been an issue before. The council chided the mayor weeks ago for presenting too many emergency items to the council. Melton responded by directing the council to reject every emergency item to send a message to the mayor's staff—a suggestion the council disregarded last Thursday.

Nevertheless, council members claim some items added as "emergency" items don't get due consideration because of the rush.

"They put three items on the agenda that had to deal with retiree benefits and health-care benefits. You can't put that on at the last minute," Allen told the JFP. "These things require review. We have to have hearings. These decisions will affect retiree benefits, so we have to put it in a committee and talk about it. We couldn't just sit there and vote on that stuff."