Victor Wheatley was hired by the city to study the city’s litter, landfill and neighborhood blight problem and now he is shaking his head.
Wheatley came before the Board of Mayor and Commissioners Monday saying he has seen no action on his study and report and begged the city to get to work and clean up Clarksdale.
“As your consultant I looked at building codes, solid waste management and your landfill,” said Wheatley. “I have offered some quick-fixes for blight elimination, the city’s code enforcement effort, your Granicus service request management platform and solid waste management planning. I’ve not seen any of my suggestions implemented.”
Mayor Chuck Espy asked Melvin Miller, city board attorney to address Wheatley.
“The landfill is being rehabilitated and we are having a problem moving from the old to the new (cell),” said Miller. “The Granicus platform; we would like to see that used more, too.
“Enforcement – we’re looking at how best to address that,” Miller said, adding, “It’s hard to turn a big ship.”
Wheatley then asked, “Is that your final answer?” and there was no response.
“As your consultant I gave it my best shot,” Wheatley continued. “Change is needed and consultants like to see the changes they suggest implemented. I like to win. We are not winning.”
Wheatley went on to say he has many photos of code violations, but he is not a code enforcement officer or a policeman.
The city thanked Wheatley for his service.
Wheatley is a retired Mississippi Health Department restaurant inspector and knows the process of identifying violations,
documenting those violations and – when needed – issuing fines and closing down businesses.
Mayor Chuck Espy said this spring he wanted to make his last term in office the one where he cleaned up Clarksdale. Espy even hosted several videos on the city’s website of people digging grass out of gutters and picking up trash.
The city has started a process to demolish abandoned and burned out houses, but the process requires documentation and a legal path to go on public property, demolish a house, haul it off and send the property owner a bill.
Two years ago the city embarked on a program to demolish more than 50 homes, but the program bogged down with paperwork.
The city bought computers and software from Graincus, and is paying a monthly update fee, to monitor work requests and where they are in the processing of being identified by elected officials and city employees, handed off to a city department for execution and final reports returned to the commissioner whose ward the cleanup is in.
The city paid Granicus $10,201.92 last month.
Wheatley said the program has only had one work order entered and the program is supposed to be open for the public to use and enter work requests.
In Other Business:
• Clarksdale School Superintendent Dr. Toya Harrell-Matthews appeared before the board with school board trustees promoting the “C” that Clarksdale Municipal School district received from the Mississippi Department of Education on its school accountability report card.
The grades of local school districts and even local schools were published in last week’s Clarksdale Press Register.
Harrell-Matthews said Clarksdale schools recently had 200 students taking dual credit courses that – upon successful completion – are accepted as college credit.
Harrell-Matthews pointed out only two school districts in the state received Fs this year. Clarksdale received a D last year and Fs the two previous years.
Ward 1 Commissioner Bo Plunk asked Harrell-Matthews what the district’s plans are for several closed and dilapidated schools around Clarksdale.
Harrell-Matthews said the old High School is still being looked at by Chuck Rutledge as part of the proposed Sunflower Riverwalk project, she said Heidelberg has been boarded up and Myrtle Hall is being studied.
Harrell-Matthews was also asked about the district’s vocational education program and said the district only has one certified vo-tech program. She pointed out state mandates for testing often hinders the district from putting students into those programs.
She said the school district approached Jon Levingston with the Clarksdale Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Development Foundation about implementing a program to train and then fill jobs in local factories, but it has stalled.
Harrell-Matthew also said every district in the state and most of the country has difficulty finding qualified teachers and teachers certified to teach in their field of study.
Clarksdale was ranked 136 among the state’s 148 school districts. Clarksdale Collegiate Charter School ranked 141st and Coahoma County School District ranked 118th.
Clarksdale School Board members are appointed by the Mayor and Commissioners. School board members hire the Superintendent.
• Police Chief Robbie Linley said police got 458 calls and created 228 incident reports that resulted in 29 arrests with four of those being felony arrests and one involving a juvenile.
• Former Clarksdale Police officer Norman Stark was rehired and sworn in by the police department. Stark retired about a year ago with 37 years in police work.
• Human Resource director Tara Slack said the city is still looking for police and firefighters and urged them to apply at the WIN Job Center. Slack said the city continues to advertise for narcotics and gang investigators and a drug and gang task force director. Slack said the city has gotten eight applications with all, except one, from outside of the community.
• Shannon Dixon requested police and barricades for the Cruzn The Crossroads Car Show set for Oct. 26.
• The city brought Martin Stokes before them and said he had two-weeks to clean up property located at 1015 Cuyahoga and 189 School streets or they would be demolished and he would be billed for the work.
• Anna Jones requested the use of the City Auditorium, Sept. 24, for the Weary Soul Community Revival. She also requested use of the MLK Stage, Soldiers’ Field, Veteran’s Gazebo, Mini Park on Messenger, National Guard Armory and Sasse Park for neighborhood services that week.
• Nancy Kossman requested the Gazebo at 253 Sunflower for a free musical performance Oct. 5.
• Bubba O'Keefe and the Tourism Board requested the use of the City Auditorium parking lot for an Airstream Rally during Juke Joint 2025.
• The city approved travel for City Clerk and consultant Cathy Clark to attend the mandatory Winter Clerk Conference for election training in December, in Flowood.
• The city reappointed Don Mitchell, from Ward 4, to the Clarksdale Public Utilities board.
• The city voted to pay the following miscellaneous claims: Cornerstone, $5,417; I Think For You Consulting, $1,500; Civic Plus for ordinance maintenance and updating, $3,013.50; Smith & Weiland, $4,250; Neel-Schaffer, $2,984; Fuelman $7,747.17; C&C Diesel Repair $2,745; Gale Dixon litter control, $580; Cornelius Moore, no details given $145.
• The city approved police agility tests.
• The city accepted a quote from Russell Tree Service for $3,500 to remove trees from 121 Elm, 111 Cypress, and 843 Maple streets.
• Hired Christopher Giles, Demetrius Jones and Christian Liner in public works.
• Hired Albert Nickson as a knuckle boom operator.
• Approved salary adjustment in the Police Department for Curtis Hawkins, Rhonda Walker, Cynthia Joiner and Christopher Osborne.
• Approved status changes and salary adjustments in the Fire Department for Michael Grainger, Travis Haggan, Willie Williams and Charles Miller.
• The city will now pay non-certified police dispatchers $13.59 and certified dispatchers $15.59 per hour.
• Commissioners approved Planning Commission recommendations for a setback variance a Fuller Center home at 1203 Lyon Ave., and conditional use for Wyoman Thomas and Alicen Holland to open a restaurant with alcohol sales at 311 Delta Avenue.
• The city approved minutes from the July 22 and 26 board meetings.
• The city went into Executive Session and came out to vote to settle what it described as “two doubtful claims” in the Public Works department. The amount of the claims was not made public.
• The city recessed until noon Friday, Sept 27, for a Special Called Meeting to open bids for excavation and removal of soil at the city landfill. All city board meetings are held at City Hall and are open to the public.
