Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. dismayed the Jackson Free Press at the City Council work session Monday when he said the city was looking to enter into a possibly-financial deal with TCI-MS to complete the stalled Capital City Center, but that the details would be discussed in closed session at the Council meeting Tuesday (soon after this issue went to press).
The city should not enter into any agreements that involve taxpayer money going into private coffers without a full vetting by the public, and taxpayers should have every opportunity to ask questions and object as needed.
Local and state entities often abuse the privilege of executive session with the circular logic that they have private business to discuss behind closed doors, thus that is why they must close the doors. This isn't good enough, and instances of public-private partnerships need the utmost sunshine to ensure that the taxpayers' money is spent wisely.
The mayor's announcement was disturbing for other reasons that the Jackson Free Press has expressed for several years. A convention center hotel is clearly needed in order to make the convention center a success: a problem we warned about years ago when we initially expressed concern about the convention center bond issue precisely because the taxpayers would likely end up footing the bill, or a chunk of it, for a convention center hotel.
Another vital question is who does the hotel and what they bring to Jackson. The named developer is TCI-MS, run by Mark Small, and we hear good things about him personally. However, TCI-MS is part of a very complicated web of LLCs and corporations that leads back to Dallas businessman Gene Phillips, who has been involved in some fashion in a number of notorious business situations over the years and is an adviser to TCI.
We first got curious about Phillips when then-Mayor Frank Melton tried to take one of our editors on a private plane to meet him. Alas, Melton flew away without the JFP editor, but motivated us to do some research. Suffice it to say, drama follows Mr. Phillips around. (See Lacey McLaughlin's story on page 6.)
Jackson needs a lot of things, but drama is not one of them. We've got enough of our own, and much of it is home grown.
We know that Jackson now needs a convention-center hotel, and we want to see it happen. But not by any means necessary, and certainly not at the risk of the city getting involved in and derailed by any more drama, such as that which prevailed during the Frank Melton era.
Should the city be considering such a move, we demand that all business be conducted in plain view of the public. We all need to be at this table.
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