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Before the holidays, Council President Ben Allen set out a number of goals he said City Council would pursue in January, with the hope of making substantial progress by February. Where do things stand now?
Has there been any development in the resolution of City Attorney O'Reilly-Evans' contract?
Yes. We got an opinion from the AG yesterday concerning the entire matter and other issues involving it, and we've sent that opinion to our (council's) attorneys for review. I expect to have a meeting within 10 days with them.
Do you think it's something the city attorney will be happy with?
It's a pretty voluminous response, and it is written in legalese. I can't comment on it because (it needs a little translation). I need to wait to hear what our attorneys say before I speak on it.
Completing the city's Web site—has there been any work on that over the last few weeks?
Yes, but we're not pleased at all with what is transpiring. City staff and our policy analyst, Sara Bentley, had a meeting last week to go over the shortcomings in this system. I feel like we have wasted $25,000 on the original person, on the original contract. Where we are, right now, is ridiculous.
How long ago was that contract made?
That contract is over a year old. This young man, we have told him very simply: Go to the city of Mobile (Alabama) and look at their Web site. That is what we want. But what we've gotten is trash—it's just simplistic. It's no better than what we had before. This will be back on the agenda in two weeks, to see what the follow-up has been with the city staff meeting and where the people that are taking the project from this point forward.
Tell me about development on the confirmation of Interim Fire Chief Todd Chandler. Is the council still waiting for the mayor to bring him up for a confirmation after more than a year?
Here was what we've been waiting on over this: There has been a lawsuit filed, and appealed to the Supreme Court, by the city of Hattiesburg on this same kind of issue. We've had contact with those within the Supreme Court and been informed that this case will not be on a fast track and that we're wasting our time waiting on them. … My fear is that if we file for a writ of mandamus (to force the mayor to bring up Chandler for a vote) it's going to go the same long, drawn-out route as the case in Hattiesburg. Am I making sense?
(Ed. Note: Last May, three Hattiesburg City Council members—Carroll Kim Bradley, C. E. "Red" Bailey and Carter Carroll—filed a suit in Forrest County Circuit Court asking the judge to order Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree to submit Police Chief David Wynn, Chief Administrative Officer Beverly Commodore and other department heads before the council for confirmation. The Hattiesburg council approved a resolution and got an opinion from AG Jim Hood saying enough time has passed since DuPree was inaugurated. DuPree still has not submitted the names of his appointees for confirmation.)
But here's the deal: Every time it seems we're going to get a commitment from the mayor something pops up and the process is derailed, such as (Mayor Melton's Ridgeway Street indictment). Now we got Frank, who's gotten real sick—and the reason I said the indictment the first time is some of the smart-asses on the (JFP) blog over there didn't understand what I was talking about (laughs). What I was talking about was we (the council) had an arrangement and a deal with Frank, and it collapsed when this indictment came up. Chandler flew way down on the mayor's list of stuff to worry about after that.
But this is not a dead issue. Depending on how this thing goes with the mayor over the course of the next few weeks, but hopefully we'll have an issue where we can bring this forward. Now we're also getting legal advice on this issue. Here's why: There are some members of the council who are eager to go ahead and file this writ of mandamus, hoping that the city of Jackson piggybacks on the city of Hattiesburg, which will light a fire under the Supreme Court to fast track this thing. The reason we feel like it's important is not because of Todd Chandler. Todd Chandler just happens to be there. But this has got to be cleared in case law for the benefit of the state of Mississippi. There are people in cities all over the state who are going through this same gray area that we are.
One thing of note: it does not take a vote from the city council to file a writ of mandamus. One council person can file for this writ, and I've told every one of the council people to file for it if they want to. It doesn't take a 4-3 vote.
Has anybody come to any kind of agreement on the Airport Parkway vs LeFleur Lakes Project?
We've agreed to a series of meetings, if they are necessary. I say 'if they are necessary' because right now, the Airport Parkway has not been funded. The Appropriations are not there and it's not going to happen until that appropriation happens.
We had a real impetus in getting this thing resolved. We set up an ad hoc committee to help us wade through hearings that will be held throughout February. On it, you've got Bud Robinson, former chairman of AmSouth Bank, JSU President Ronald Mason Jr.; we've invited Fred Banks to be a member, Tim Medly, Ellen Leek, Judge Robert Gibbs and Dr. Bill Cooley. They are disinterested parties with absolutely no ties whatsoever to either side of this issue. And we'll be asking for community input if we have to go through these hearings.
And any day now, the Army Corps of Engineers' (environmental impact) report could be turned in to the levee board, the Rankin/Hinds Flood Control District. We thought, at one time, that we had a gun at our head to act on this, but since that time we've had a change in Congress, we've had all congressional appropriations earmarks erased, so nothing's going to happen on this Airport Parkway.
What about the designers who said they had completed about 95 percent of the planning? Won't they get mad if the council pulls support after all their work?
Well, we don't want to make anybody mad, but what we would be killing is nothing because no money has been appropriated.
What of the misdemeanor jail?
We got three or four proposals. Right now some of the supervisors and some people around the city are having meetings about funding the current Hinds County detention center to add the additional 132 beds, authorized by the supervisors four years ago. What held that up was (prisoners' rights attorney) Ron Welch required the recreation area be enlarged. The bunks, the blankets, the toothbrushes and everything was purchased, except the funding to increase the recreation area and the funding to increase the staffing was never allotted.
The supervisors are having a special meeting Monday Morning at 9 a.m. to vote on enlarging that facility based on them being able to work out reasonable fund sharing with the city of Jackson.
Now we've also got the possibility, which Chief Anderson is interested in pursuing, in converting the maximum-security detention center. We toured it not too long ago. The facility holds 82 cells. There were only 24 juveniles there at the time. The facility will accommodate two people per cell, so you have the capability out there to have 164 adults. Now the problem is that adults cannot be within sight or sound of kids. They would take some construction, plus (the route from) the adult wing to the recreational center would have to be changed. The other possibility is that there are jail companies that will come in and bring a pre-fabricated jail for a city and rent them to you for a specified length of time.
They brought one by city council for all of us to see.
Has Anderson come around yet with that crime plan or a recruitment strategy?
No, but we are on that. Our plate is so full that we are meeting all day, every single day. People get mad at us, but it ain't that (the council is) sitting on our butts. It's just that we're putting a finger in a dike and another finger in a dike. The chief is focused on this jail issue. The recruitment issue is something that we're all focused on, but recruitment is a function of money. Police officers right now make less money than I do working part-time at the City Council.
Yes, we do want her crime plan, but the problem we've got is that the mayor is sick. How do you put it? That doesn't read well. But how do you put pressure on her if she works for (Melton), but it's been one different issue after another with him.
You're saying the mayor needs to be a willing party in this?
Yes, and I think he will eventually be a willing party. What we want to do is if the chief doesn't come up with a plan, then (the council) need(s) to come up with one—kind of like how the governor comes forth with a budget for the legislature to either adopt or ignore.
Have you guys got that kind of time on your hands?
Well, everything is a function of the budget. We can come out with all types of recruitment plans we want to, but they can't be implemented for nine months because we've already got the budget set. We've got a window here on this recruitment thing with regards to COP grants and other type things.
The county is not going to be able to fully fund 132 beds up there by themselves. They don't have the money. They're going to come to us and say, 'We can pay this, can you guys pay that much?' We're going to look at the budget, and we'll get with Rick Hill, the finance guy, and say, 'Rick, we've budgeted for 500 cops, we've got 430 on the budget, can we squeeze the salaries of 30 people, a $100,000 to help the county fund this jail?' But if you have a drastic change in police pay or recruitment, or bonuses, it has to be done during the budget process.
As far as the crime plan … the public demands a crime plan. My ward is getting slaughtered with crime.
Is the council still pursuing relaxing the residency requirements for police officers trying to get jobs with the city?
We're pursuing that. We'd like for public safety employees not to be required to live within Hinds County. They could live 30 miles outside the county. We're pushing for this because we're in a crisis. We cannot get enough policemen. If we relax this rule it will last for a two-year period and then sunset. But right now, we can't even get enough officers to apply.
Do a majority of council members agree with this?
I don't know if a majority of councilors agree with it, but I would think they would.
Is there anything the press hasn't been talking about that it needs to?
Yeah, we got a big meeting on Monday dealing with the upgrading of the Metrocenter. If we're able to do it, it'll be a bold step. It'll guarantee some major tenants out at the Metrocenter.
This will be controversial, but we're going to have to pretty much deplete our Community Development Block Grants façade grants for a year—about $250,000 is our portion—to upgrade that whole area out there and get it to where some major manufacturers will come in.
What of the other potential benefactors of the CDBG façade money for that year?
Well, we're talking about 800 or 900 jobs out at the Metrocenter. We're going to lose it if we don't do something. It'll become like the Mall of Memphis—a state of the art building that got bulldozed last year. We don't want that.
This story has been corrected since it was first posted.
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