Bueller ... Bueller ... ?
Attendance at City Hall meetings seems not to be a top priority for all members of the Jackson City Council. In the three weeks since LaRita Cooper-Stokes of Ward 3 rounded out the seven-seat council, four members--Cooper-Stokes, Chokwe Lumumba of Ward 2, Charles Tillman of Ward 5 and Margaret Barrett-Simon of Ward 7--have been absent from at least three work sessions, regular meetings or special council meetings.

Cooper-Stokes' lack of participation in work sessions comes as little surprise. Kenneth Stokes, her husband, who held the Ward 3 council seat for 22 years, rarely attended the meetings, which are designed to prepare the council members for discussions and votes at regular and special meetings.

As of Monday morning, since Cooper-Stokes' swearing in March 2, only Council President Frank Bluntson (Ward 4), Quentin Whitwell (Ward 1) and Tony Yarber (Ward 6) have achieved perfect attendance records

Republican Recuse
Whitwell recused himself from the first claims docket vote March 20. Whitwell, the council's only Republican, voted against the same docket the prior week because it did not include an outstanding bill for $1,320, payable to Edgar Patton, a contractor who completed work for the city in November. City inspectors said the work was not up to city standards. Whitwell refused to vote for the docket until Patton's payment was included. The docket was approved by a 4-0 vote in his absence.

After a long explanation from the city attorney's office, the second claims docket of the night, which included Patton's bill, passed by a 5-0 vote.

After the vote, Whitwell asked Department of Administration Director Lee Unger if there was anything in the claims docket that authorized payment for anything "not authorized by law."

Unger and Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. chuckled before Unger answered: "To my knowledge, no. There's nothing in the claims docket to my knowledge that's unlawful."

JATRAN's Cleaning Up
The council approved a total payment of $243,587 to Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Hydro-Chem Systems Inc. for new bus-washing equipment, to be housed in the new JATRAN Administrative and Maintenance Headquarters, currently under development.

Whitwell asked Johnson how the payments worked in the city's budget.

"I'm a little confused because I thought we were trying to save money by spending less money on JATRAN. Yet, we're building a brand-new building, and we've got now all this equipment. How is this going to be a good use of the public funds?" Whitwell asked.

Johnson said he hopes the city has never confused anyone into thinking that they want to downgrade the quality of JATRAN. They have always wanted to keep up the busses and building. The money for the new JATRAN building, he said, is coming from grants that were approved in previous years, but the city of Jackson was unable to utilize the funds until it completed recent land purchases.

The new JATRAN headquarters will be completed in early 2013, Johnson said. The bus system will also see a facelift on the streets, with new, sheltered benches at bus stops and pads to make boarding the bus easier for wheelchair-bound riders.

If You'll Excuse Us ...
City attorney Pieter Teeuwissen told the council that an investigation into the city's Community Improvement Division and litigation with the police and fire departments involving overtime would include "personnel matters." It was enough for the council to enter executive session March 20 to consider the matters behind closed doors. As has commonly been the case in recent weeks, Whitwell was the only dissenting council member in the 4-1 vote to enter executive session.

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