A sad night for Starkville
I had been to many previous board of aldermen meetings before last night’s meeting. My husband, Frank, was elected for alderman of Ward 2 when he retired in 1999.
After attending just about every meeting with Frank for the four years and nine months he served I knew firsthand how important this governing body meant to all us as citizens of my own beloved home town, Starkville.
Mayor Parker Wiseman pounded his gavel down, and the meeting began. He said that everyone in attendance who wanted to come up to the little table with a chair underneath it could do so, by signing a sheet with their names on it, telling their full names, and they each had three minutes to speak. Citizens of all ages, races, educations, and concerns began to come forward to the table to speak. Some citizens had written down what they wanted to say and ask, and some just spoke “off the cuff” and from their hearts.
They each asked why? What reasons are you firing/terminating Lynn Spruill who has been city administrator for eight years and is highly qualified and doing a good job? The five aldermen who did in the end cast their vote to over-ride the mayor’s veto said nothing.
A 5 to 2 vote was their final decision. Those five voting aldermen did not listen to citizens who took their time and efforts to come down to our city hall, identified themselves and they spoke in a very positive manner for Lynn Spruill. Frank and I heard maybe three citizens who spoke negatively about her.
I turned around, and behind me with tears streaming down her cheeks was the now former city administrator. She is a human being just like the rest of us. She deserved an explanation and an answer to, “Why I was terminated tonight?”
I ask myself three questions?
“What is the future of Starkville?”
“Which road do we go down?”
“What direction shall we take?”
To me, my answer to all three questions is…
Only a higher being, God, knows the answer to these three questions. May God above hold our beloved Starkville gently in the palms of his hands.
It was a sad night.
Carole McReynolds Davis
Starkville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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