Jackson Free Press

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors killed a motion to hire an appraiser for the Mississippi Valley Title Insurance Building in a board meeting Monday, effectively halting its purchase—and endangering the controversial purchase of a parking garage next door.

"We just put up a big road block to the Mississippi Title Building," Supervisor Charles Barbour said.

The building purchase comprises one part of a $30 million bond issuance brought to the board by Supervisor Doug Anderson last December. On Jan. 9, the board voted to approve the bond issuance, which also includes a penal farm, road improvements and a proposed parking garage that would cost the county $14 million. After repeated requests from Vice President Peggy Hobson Calhoun, Anderson disclosed that the $14 million price tag came from Central Parking Corp. itself, as reported Jan. 24 by the Jackson Free Press.

Several county officials have begun to voice dissent toward purchasing the building and erecting a parking garage next door, a proposal that Anderson negotiated largely behind closed doors. During a meeting with Central Parking executives on Jan. 3, Anderson locked out Calhoun, who had raised concerns over the $14 million price tag for the parking garage at a board meeting a day earlier.

Sheriff Malcolm McMillin said that Anderson's support for the bond issuance hinged on purchasing the Mississippi Title Building.

"(Anderson) had no interest in a new penal farm or jail expansion until the opportunity arose to purchase the Mississippi Title Building and the adjacent lot, and the proposed parking garage that would go on it. They are very much tied together," McMillin told the JFP last week.

Central Parking regional manager Bobby Stewart was one of the executives present when Anderson locked Calhoun out of the meeting on Jan. 3. In a memo, William McElroy, Anderson's former son-in-law, asked Stewart to confirm that McElroy's firm, M3A Architects, is Central Parking's choice for work on the parking garage.

Anderson told the JFP that the parking garage would be up for open bidding.

"They have very little vested interest in this, and that's why I talked to them," Anderson said of Central Parking in an interview on Jan. 22. "All of this is pro bono. It was done as a favor to Hinds County. They have hopes that they will run the garage, but we have not even committed that to them. It just makes sense to me that all of the parking garages in Jackson are being operated and run by Central Parking, that they are the ones with the expertise."

Following increased coverage of the Central Parking proposal, board members have begun demonstrating skepticism toward the $30 million bond. Both Calhoun and Barbour have expressed their desire to reduce the amount of the issuance.

"At this time, I am not willing to vote for anything concerning that $30 million bond issuance, until my board has actually sat down and planned for all these projects," Calhoun said.

According to Calhoun, board financial adviser and Malachi Group CEO Porter Bingham informed her that unused bond money would not be charged to the county. However, Bingham expressed doubts about leaving bond money unused in an open meeting with Charles Barbour.

"What would happen if we only spent $20 million?" Barbour asked.

"Then you'd be in trouble from the people who issued the bond," Bingham said.

Neither Bingham nor board attorney Azande Williams immediately returned calls for comment. Barbour, like Calhoun, said he intends to halt the purchase of the Mississippi Title Building.

"We don't need that building. This county does not need another leaking roof or broken A/C to fix," he said.

Youth Court Director Harold Cooper rejected Anderson's plans of moving either adult misdemeanor offenders or youth offenders to the building.

"You talk about the Title Building, and I don't want to go backwards. If you try to take an office building and turn it into a cell, then you've got a problem," he said.

The board did approve a $635,500 bid from Flagstar Construction Co. to construct a recreational expansion that will allow 132 additional beds at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond at the Feb. 5 meeting. The winning bid came at the recommendation of William McElroy, whom the board has hired as an architect for the jail expansion and a new penal farm, the construction of which the board also approved at the meeting. According to McMillin, the $635,500 price tag far exceeds the detention center's needs for a covered recreational area.

"We weren't looking to build the Taj Mahal, just a simple construction," he said.

Anderson voted against the expansion, citing a lack of funds.

"(Anderson) wants to say there's no money there for (the expansion), but it's OK for him to float this $30 million bond to buy the Mississippi Title Building and build more parking spaces? (The supervisors) should first make sure there's fire and police protection, and a jail to house inmates. Everything should come after that," McMillin said.