Jonestown remains without a city attorney as the mayor and several council members are split on the three candidates for the position.
Mayor Kenny Lester attempted to hire a new city attorney during a special meeting held Wednesday, Feb. 13, but the position remains vacant.
Carlos Moore was terminated as city attorney in October. Lester attempted to veto the city council’s action, but Moore asked him not to.
Three candidates have applied for city attorney since. They are Chris Finn from Clarksdale, James Valley from Helena-West Helena, Ark., and David Tisdell from Tunica.
Lester recommended Valley for the position during Wednesday’s meeting, while aldermen Gregory Neely Sr. and Unta Wiley expressed support for Tisdell. Only Neely, Wiley and Brenda D. Green were present for Wednesday’s special meeting.
Neely said everyone agreed Tisdell would be appointed when all five aldermen were present, but the matter was tabled and will be addressed during the council’s regular March meeting.
Neely said Thursday he spoke with Tisdell and he is no longer interested in the position.
The mayor said he recommended Valley because he “specializes in municipality law.”
However, Neely said he would not vote to hire Valley.
“He has history in his business and in Arkansas and it’s not good for us,” the alderman said.
Much of Neely’s opinion comes from Valley’s tenure as the mayor of Helena-West Helena, Ark.
“I don’t like Valley because I know what Valley brought to his town,” Neely said. “It was chaos. I listened to him on the radio. They had the meetings on the radio. They had all kind of money problems.”
Valley responded to Neely’s statements after Wednesday’s meeting.
“His broad statements are misrepresentations of who I am and the public service work I have done,” Valley said. “If I am hired, I will provide objective legal advice. I will not play favorites. I will give advice and set forth legal options and then it will be up to city officials to act in accord with the law or on their own accord.”
The city attorney’s position pays $600 per month.
Lester said he is looking for someone who will not charge the city extra to attend special meetings.
“Carlos Moore, he never attended a special meeting,” the mayor said. “If he was coming to a special meeting, we would have had to pay him extra.”
Lester said he could understand an attorney charging to attend five or six special meetings, but it should be possible to come to just one for no additional money.
Wiley expressed his support for Tisdell.
“There’s enough of us here now to make a ruling to hire Tisdell,” Wiley said. “It only takes three.”
Lester said he did not have a problem with Tisdell, but he has not returned the mayor’s calls. He did say he has been able to communicate with Valley.
“I have tried to talk to Mr. Tisdell about 10 times and I can’t get an answer from Tisdell,” Lester said.
Neely said Tisdell submitted information about himself three weeks ago and Lester has not read the material.
“Why are you bringing this meeting today when you haven’t talked to both people?” Neely asked.
Lester said he must nominate a city attorney before he or she is hired.
“I haven’t nominated Tisdell,” Lester said. “You can’t vote until I nominate.”
Neely attempted to call Tisdell during Wednesday’s meeting, but was unable to reach him. It was the next day that he reported Tisdell would not be a candidate.
Green provided the information she knew from her experiences with Finn.
“He’s good at some things and some things he’s not,” she said. “He’s young. He’s not that experienced.”
