The Clarksdale Board of Mayor and Commissioners conducted business for the first time Monday and spent $250,000 in unbudgeted tax dollars from the city capital reserve in just over an hour.
With Ward 3 Commissioner Willie Turner sitting to the left of Mayor Chuck Espy, Commis-sioners voted 3-2 to appoint both Cynthia Mitchell and Burks Rogers as Municipal Court Judges. The vote also gave sitting city judge Derrick Hopson a $26,000 raise, a $110,000 increase to the police department, a $15,000 raise to public works. The board later gave $50,000 to Elaine Cancer to give to the Care Station.
The vote saw Espy, Turner and Ward 5 Commissioner vote for the expenditures and Ward 1 Commissioner Bo Plunk and Ward 2 Commissioner Jimmy Harris vote against it.
Earlier in the meeting the city saw Mitchell and Rogers sworn in as judges and to be seated later this month. The city has actually had to change its charter to keep Hopson. A legal defining that ordinance can be found in the legal section of today’s Clarksdale Press Register.
Harris asked the raises for judges, police and city workers be separated into three votes and was told curtly by Espy, “No.”
“I want the city taxpayers to know that we have spent $2 million in capital reserves and took it from $6 million to $4 million,” said Plunk. “None of this was budgeted and when we get to looking at the budget in December we will be broke.
“If it was not for ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and COVID money we would be broke,” Plunk added. “To pay one judge $64,000 and the other two judge $27,000 is not right.”
Plunk also demanded a report on how ARPA funds and bond funds had been spent by the city at their next regular board meeting on Monday.
For right at three months the Clarksdale Board of Mayor and Commissioners had been unable to seat a quorum for a regular scheduled meeting to pay vendors and address issues before the city.
Mayor Espy and Seals were absent from the city’s Monday, March 25, scheduled board meeting. Plunk and Jimmy Harris were there. Turner was absent, as he had to vacate his post in January as he qualified for state retirement.
Plunk told the audience that Mayor Espy had taken a personal day, but did not give a reason for Seals’ absence.
And while it is normal for the mayor and commissioners to occasionally miss board meetings, that was the fifth meeting in two months where the city could not get a quorum or majority of members to conduct city business.
Mayor Pro Tem Plunk waited until 4:15 p.m. Monday, at which point he adjourned the meeting.
Plunk said he has made a trip to Jackson to find out the legality of the city board’s recent actions.
Harris pointed out at the last meeting the city called and got him and Plunk from the first meeting in February, where they were absent and protesting Espy’s pulling the naming of a new Municipal Court Judge from the regular agenda.
And it is the naming of a new city judge that is being given as the reason for the stalemate at City Hall.
The city has been without a City Municipal Court Judge since Carlos Moore suddenly resigned the post in February. Plunk and Harris have wanted to install judge Burks Rogers as the city’s new judge, but Espy also put attorney Cindy Mitchell up for the post.
Ward 3 Commissioner Willie Turner vacated his post with the city upon his retirement as the county’s jailer after the last election where Mario Magsby replaced Charles Jones as Sheriff. The state PERS (Public Employees’ Retirement System) requires a 90-day break before getting another paycheck from another government agency in the state. There was some question if Turner’s vacating his post for 90 days might not prompt a petition to be filed to fill that post.
Under the city’s weak mayor form of government, the mayor only votes in the event of a tie or if he is the third city board member at a city board meeting. Espy has broken ties on controversial issues siding with Seals and Tuner on such issues as school board members, the city’s massive pay raise and picking vendors to serve the city.
With Turner not in his seat, Harris and Plunk form the majority when Seals is there, and Espy can’t break the tie. In Seal’s absence Espy’s vote would make it 2-1 either way.
As a result of an inability to vote, the city did not pay bills for almost two months. City employees were paid, but no strategic decisions could be made until a quorum of three attended a meeting.
Clarksdale City Board Attorney Melvin Miller has said these moves are completely legal under the city’s charter. Miller went on to say any city board member can ask for a Special Called Meeting and list the items they want to discuss.
The April 4 meeting is also been deemed a “vetting meeting.” Espy created the vetting meeting for each Thursday prior to the city regular and legally required meetings on the second and fourth Monday of each month. The vetting meeting was initially billed as a work session and no votes taken. The city has repeatedly broken that policy and even called executive sessions to discuss city business in private.
Special Called Meetings have requirements for making those meeting known and open to the public. Regular meetings allow the community to plan their schedules and attend city board meetings.
In Other Business:
• Curtis Boschert told the board Clarksdale Public Utilities will implement a rate hike this month due to inflation. He pointed out it is the first rate hike in 10 years.
• Commissioner Bo Plunk asked a resolution to be prepared for legislation to require an additional tax to be added locally for cigarettes, e-cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol to fund police and public works.
Plunk said a similar law has been implemented in two counties on the Gulf Coast. He said the tax would see approximately 70-percent go to police and the remaining 30-percent go to public works.
“This would be a dedicated tax that could not be used for anything else but police and public works,” said Plunk. “We could hire more police and public works could build up money to purchase equipment like street sweepers and a leaf vacuum truck.”
Turner, a former firefighter, said money must be allocated to the fire department. Plunk said he had no problem with that and the details could be worked out.
• The city authorized the purchase of a SkyCop camera on Richie Street near the Mayor’s house and Northwest Regional Medical Center. Eleven cars at the hospital employee parking lot were vandalized recently and Espy said the hospital must be protected.
• The board was approached by Lorrian Cancer seeking a $50,000 allocation for the Care Station to build a feeding room.
“We are serving disrespect to those who come to the Care Station and have to wait outside in the heat or the cold,” said Cancer, who operates the Allocation- Lorraine Cancer, who has overseen the Ministry to Christ’s Kitchen that provides meals for the needy for more than a decade.
• The board heard from Phil Griffin who said he was called by the Mayor this week after the murder at D&T wanting to put up a large cross on city property at The Crossroads. Griffin is a political strategist and entrepreneur who grew up in Clarksdale and now works in Nashville.
• The board approved minutes for the Feb. 12, and March 6 board meeting.
• The board approved a request by Verna Gray seeking a concrete barriers and speed bumps in the curve on Sunflower Avenue behind her home to prevent further damage to the structure and stability of her home due to three car crashes since 1982 to present.
• Authorized the city clerk to issue a check to the Carnegie Public Library for the City's half of final pay app #5 in the amount of $4,225 for roof repair
• Named Ed Seals Mayor Pro Tempore until June 2024
• Paid the following miscellaneous claims: Sandra Johnson, $4,306.26: Cornerstone, $4,464; Catalis, $1,512; Chuck Espy, $268: Chuck Espy, $318.25: MMC Materials, $3,635; Lamar Christian, $4,800; MS Dept. of Revenue, $13,502; Neel-Schaffer, $6,980; Neel- Schaffer, $640; Neel-Schaffer $1,285.00; GF Capital Reserve, $119,200; GF Capital Reserve, $94,268.76; Fiser Insurance, $45,351; Fiser Insurance, $4,194; Fiser Insurance, $612; Fiser Insurance, $59,583; Fiser Insurance, $6,231; Fiser Insurance, $583; Fiser Insurance, $14,460; Fiser Insurance, $3,198; Tallahatchie Correctional Facility, $250; Sarasota Box Office, $250; BOAM, $200; Louise McGee, $377.40; Cathy Clark, $2,000, MMCCA, $70; Fuelman, $33,983.98; Sandra Johnson $1,076.57
• Acknowledge receipt of the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship (MOST) grant for improvements to the Sunflower River in the amount of $932,877.41 and authorize the mayor to execute any and all grant documents
• Acknowledge receipt of the Planning Commission minutes:
- Terry Morris - approve variance by Sunrize Kar Wash, LLC to place a fixed storage container at the car wash at 715 Martin Luther King.
- Sean Clarkson - approve a conditional use by Dark Horse Medicinals to operate a medical marijuana processing facility attached to its dispensary at 730 South State St.
- Richard Brooks - approve a conditional use to operate a laundromat at 710 Desoto Ave.
• Acknowledge the cleanup of 944 School Street by Ommie Games.
• Approved Chief Robbie Linley to attend the MACP Annual Conference in Biloxi, June 18-21.
• Approved training expenses for an 8-hour police de-escalation course to be held in Clarksdale.
• Approved a retirement salary adjustment and office reimbursement for Commissioner Turner.
• Acknowledge bids for a LIDAR Contour survey of Sunflower River for the MOST grant from Maptech - $72,000; Sorrel-Smith, $22,800; Smith & Weiland, $17,100, and approved Smith & Weiland for the air survey for the Sunflower River Walk project.
• Acknowledged construction bids for Friars Point Road bridge project from: M&N Excavators, Inc., $1,654,910.02; Talbot Brothers Contracting, $1,864,710.53; N.L. Carson Construction, $1,987,167.49, and approve M&N Excavators, Inc. for construction of the Friars Point Road Bridge replacement project
• The board adjourned until Thursday, April 4, at Noon at City Hall. All meeting are open to the public and citizens are urged to attend.
