STARKVILLE — When the Starkville Board of Aldermen finally appoints the next member of the Starkville School District board of trustees, as few as five of the city”s seven aldermen could be a part of the process.
Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas said Wednesday he plans to recuse himself from actions related to the appointment of the next school board member. His decision is based on a state Ethics Commission opinion which interprets state law as forbidding any alderman or mayor from appointing someone to a municipal separate school board if it results in a monetary benefit for himself, his relative or his business. Dumas” wife, Hope, teaches third grade at Overstreet Elementary School in the Starkville School District.
The commission has advised aldermen and other public servants in Dumas” position to recuse themselves from voting on appointments to the school board to avoid any appearance of impropriety. School board members can vote on pay raises for district employees.
Another conflict of interest?
Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn is in a similar situation. His daughter, Jessica Vaughn, is a teacher assistant at Sudduth Elementary School.
Vaughn on Wednesday said he is still undecided whether or not to recuse himself from the school board appointment process.
“I sure am thinking about it,” Vaughn said. “I don”t know for sure.”
With a 5-2 vote, aldermen appointed Susan Tomlinson to the school board on March 16, but Mayor Parker Wiseman vetoed her appointment two days later, saying the board should be representative of the district itself.
The SSD is 64 percent black, 32 percent white, 2 percent Asian, 1 percent Native American and 1 percent Hispanic. If Tomlinson, who is white, were to serve on the school board, the board would become 80 percent white and 20 percent black.
Aldermen have the power to override Wiseman”s veto, but it would take five aldermen to vote in favor of an override, regardless of how many members recuse themselves, City Attorney Chris Latimer said.
Dumas was one of the five aldermen who voted in favor of Tomlinson”s appointment, so his recusal would leave only four aldermen who voted for her to attempt to override Wiseman. Vaughn and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins voted against Tomlinson”s appointment.
A tough decision
Dumas wrestled with the decision to recuse himself. On one hand, his wife teaches in the SSD and could benefit by pay raises approved by the school board, but on the other hand, he has two children in the school district and two more who will enter next year.
“So, if anybody has a vested interest in this school district, it”s me, yet I can”t even vote on it,” Dumas said.
“It was a tough decision,” he added. “I went back and forth. Part of me says I want to vote on this because it”s that important, but having talked to people that I respect in the area, they”ve all made it very clear that it would be a bad thing for me to do.”
Wiseman has recommended the board start the selection process over. The initial selection process was mangled from the start.
Eligibility confusion
After the first round of interviews, questions arose over the eligibility of candidate L. Ann Carr. The confusion over Carr”s eligibility delayed the second round of interviews.
When the Mississippi Attorney General”s Office ruled Carr was ineligible, some felt the city should readvertise for the vacant school board seat and begin a new selection process because Carr potentially took the spot of another candidate who wasn”t selected to participate in the second round of interviews.
After the second round of interviews took place at the March 16 Board of Aldermen meeting, Perkins made a motion to appoint former Oktibbeha County School District Superintendent Dr. Walter Conley to fill the vacant school board seat, but the motion failed 4-2, with only Perkins and Vaughn voting in favor of Conley. Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk abstained.
Sistrunk then made a motion to appoint Tomlinson and was joined in favor by Dumas, Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver, Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker and Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey.
Wiseman has recommended aldermen start the interview process again. The aldermen”s next meeting is April 6 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.
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