A fourth applicant is now seeking appointment to the Columbus Municipal School Board.
Columbus Mayor Robert Smith told the city council Tuesday that Josie S. Shumake had submitted her application that afternoon. An adjunct instructor of English at East Mississippi Community College, Shumake joins three other applicants — RE/MAX Realtor Stephen Jones, Mississippi School for Math and Science foreign language teacher Lori LeVar Pierce and independent insurance agent Eric Thomas — who are vying for two school board positions.
The council must replace Greg Lewis, who resigned from the board in December after accepting the Columbus-Lowndes Parks Authority’s director’s position. His unexpired term runs through March 2, 2019. Councilmen also must appoint someone to the seat currently held by former board president Currie Fisher, whose five-year term expires March 2. Fisher has not applied for reappointment and would not comment during a phone interview on Tuesday as to whether she would.
Shumake is a Columbus native and a graduate of the city school system. She holds a doctorate in English literature from the University of South Carolina and retired in 2009 as public affairs officer with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Information Agency.
On her board application, she also noted volunteering with several local organizations, including the Friends of the Library and Columbus Arts Council.
She said her education, work experience and love for the community could help the board face the school district’s challenges, not the least of which is its academic standing.
“The school board, by itself, cannot change the system overnight, but it can offer the leadership necessary to make tough decisions and follow through with those,” Shumake said in an email to The Dispatch. “I believe that I can help make this happen. My professional career essentially consisted of pulling different constituencies together, looking for points of agreement and expanding those to reach workable solutions to complex, tough problems. I am a bridge-builder and an independent thinker and am willing to work in every way possible to improve our school system — the foundation upon which the economic and social development of Columbus depends.”
On Tuesday, during its regular meeting, the council debated over when it could appoint the new board members. The city must advertise the openings for 30 days before approving appointments. Though the agenda initially indicated the council could make both of those appointments on Feb. 3, a revised copy of the agenda available Tuesday said the council would not appoint for those posts until at least Feb. 17.
But Chief Operating Officer David Armstrong said the city had failed to advertise either position and had scheduled the first ads to run Thursday. Therefore, he said he would recommend the council not appoint for either position until March 3.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens said he liked how the field of applicants was shaping up, and he wanted to ensure the new board could work together as a team.
“I feel like they need to be active in the community, and at least have a child in the system, though that’s not a ‘must’ for me,” Mickens said after Tuesday’s council meeting. “I feel like we need to look younger. We need to have people with fresh ideas, but we also need a good mixture of youth and experience.”
In other business Tuesday, the council, by a 5-1 vote, appointed Elizabeth Terry to a vacancy on the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board. Terry, who has worked for 28 years with the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, will serve the remainder of Bernard Buckhalter’s term, which expires July 7.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge because I know that’s what it will be,” Terry said. “I’m interested in the future of Columbus and I want to see it continue to grow.”
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box opposed the appointment on the basis that Terry is not directly associated with the restaurant industry. However, Armstrong explained CVB board applicants didn’t have to be directly associated with restaurants themselves, but a local restaurant owner or employee had to nominate them.
“I’ve been operating under the opinion all this time that an appointee had to be directly affiliated with the restaurant industry,” Box said. “That’s the way I’ve voted all this time, and that’s the way we (the council) have conducted ourselves. This is nothing against (Terry). I don’t have a problem with her personally.”
Armstrong said the city received the nomination for Terry on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, the council:
■ promoted Kevin Brown and Johnny “Melvin” Junkin to captains in the fire department, William McReynolds and Madison Guyton to engineers in the fire department and approved a new entry-level firefighter hire pending medical examination and drug screen;
■ approved a software contract for Code Enforcement with California-based Accela, at an initial cost of $2,500 and a monthly fee of $200; and
■ renewed a 10-year lease agreement with Mt. Vernon Mills for $3,000 per year.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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