Jackson Free Press

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. pulled a proposed ordinance he introduced after a council member argued during yesterday's work session that it removed power from the city council to appoint members to city boards.

The ordinance proposal reserves city board positions for current Jackson residents. As of now, board members who move outside city limits can serve on city-appointed boards for the remainder of their term. Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe took issue with Johnson's proposed ordinance language authorizing a "governing authority" to appoint board members instead of the "city council." Lumumba argued that a governing authority would allow the mayor's office to make appoints in addition to the city council, and would ultimately restrict the council's decisions.

"This ordinance appears to say that the council has appointment authority, too," Lumumba said.

The way he would read the ordinance, he added, is that council members can nominate and the administration should seriously bear the council's nomination.
City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen said state law and an attorney general opinion already gave the mayor's office the power to appoint board members, and the city council the authority to confirm those members.

In the ordinance's original form, Lumumba said council had the power to submit nominations to the mayor's office for consideration.
A few months ago, Johnson refused to consider Lumumba's nomination of Rev. James Henley to serve on Jackson Public School Board of Trustees. Johnson instead nominated former city administrator Otha Burton.

"See, he didn't call me and ask me for my opinion on the nomination, which comes from my ward. He called me up and told me he was nominating Mr. Burton," Lumumba said. "He's trying to trivialize our (power of appointment.) He's trying to disregard them in some instances, like what he did regarding the school board. He's minimized the importance of taking a council recommendation seriously."

City Spokesman Chris Mims said the mayor withdrew the ordinance from tonight's vote, and will bring a revised version at a later date.

Also at the work session, Johnson said that he is also looking into working with city universities to receive payment in lieu of taxes contributions for municipal safety departments.

"The practice had been discontinued after I left office, but we contacted UMMC officials and they have agreed to provide a $200,000 service fee to go to the fire department," Johnson said. "In this coming legislative session we are looking at the prospect of creating a relationship that other cities have with major universities where there is an annual contribution."

The council will be voting on an agenda item confirming The University of Mississippi Medical Center's $200,000 payment for the provision of fire protection services by the city fire department. Johnson orchestrated voluntary annual payments with the university during his previous administration, but former Mayor Frank Melton ended the payment, arguing that if one university made the payment they should all make it for the sake of fairness.

Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, praised the university's decision: "I think it's wonderful that they're doing this voluntarily," she said. "We have a special unit for UMMC: a fire truck that cost about $1 million."