Jackson Free Press

Jimmie Lewis got fired today. About 20 minutes later, the Hinds County emergency operations director got his job back.

Crystal Martin, the attorney for the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, acknowledged that the situation was unprecedented. It resulted when a resolution to retain Lewis failed to receive the three-fifths vote needed to pass.



With the vote split 2-2 and District 3 Supervisor Peggy Calhoun temporarily out of the room, Lewis technically lost his job. When Calhoun returned, she made a motion for the board to reconsider the matter so that she could vote. In the second vote, Calhoun, District 2 Supervisor Doug Anderson, and District 5 Supervisor Kenneth Stokes supported Lewis' reappointment, while District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham and District 4 Supervisor Phil Fisher voted against.



The brouhaha was symbolic of the confusion that pervaded this morning's supervisors meeting in Jackson's chancery court building.



Earlier in the meeting, several members of the Hinds County Board of Election Commissioners made conflicting presentations about the need for new voting machines.

District 2 Commissioner Bobbie Graves said the county needs to replace its voting machines, which are more than six years old. District 4 Commissioner Connie Cochran said the machines are fine.

"Nothing is wrong with these machines. Everyone here was elected with these machines," she told the supervisors.



Visibly agitated, Fisher said he was weary of internal partisan bickering between elections commissioners spilling over in front of the supervisors.

Still, the board considered a motion to dedicate up to $1.6 million for new machines. If the cost exceeds that amount, supervisors will have to amend the motion. The resolution passed with Fisher as the only no vote.



He said he was in favor of new voting machines but called the resolution "convoluted" and "nonsensical."



In other business, supervisors passed a resolution to ask the Mississippi Legislature for an unspecified amount of funding to address rampant mental-health issues at the Hinds County Detention Center.

Previous Comments

ID

165777

Comment

Unless something has changed in the last year, the funds to be spent on new voting machines for Hinds County is from a federal grant that can ONLY be used to purchase new voting machines. Why this is in dispute between the election commissioners and a conflict for any supervisor is a mystry to me.The federal government has already allocated the money. The county can only spend it on new voting machines. Someone please explain to me what I am missing in this matter?

Author

wellington

Date

2012-01-17T21:22:31-06:00