Bird scooters might not be leaving Starkville just yet.
Mayor Lynn Spruill vetoed Tuesday the June 15 board of aldermen ban on Bird scooters in the city limits.
Spruill spoke out against the ban at the board meeting, noting the company has been extremely responsive to the city’s concerns and was already making adjustments to fix the problems the scooters were causing. She said the ban was premature, and she believed they should not be outlawed just yet.
“I am working on an ordinance and some sort of memorandum of understanding with the company and the city attorney in order to see if we can bring that forward in a way that will allow them to operate enough to where it is as safe of an operation as it can possibly be,” Spruill told The Dispatch after issuing her veto in writing on Tuesday.
Bird, an electric scooter ride-sharing service, delivered its scooters to Starkville in March after communicating with Spruill and obtaining a privilege license to conduct business in the city. However, aldermen voted June 15 to ban the scooters after fielding multiple complaints from citizens about the scooters, such as riders taking them down highways and sidewalks and users operating them under the influence.
The board will meet in a special-call session at 1 p.m. Friday at City Hall to discuss the veto.
Five votes are needed to overturn Spruill’s veto and reestablish the ban. In the 4-3 vote for the ban, Ward 1’s Ben Carver, Ward 3’s David Little, Ward 5’s Hamp Beatty and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, who represents Ward 6, supported the ban.
Sandra Sistrunk of Ward 2, Jason Walker of Ward 4 and Henry Vaughn of Ward 7 were opposed.
Bird has already geofenced off Highway 12 and is placing the scooters adjacent to the sidewalk instead of on them. Spruill said she will also be discussing nighttime hour restrictions with the company.
“I think the company has been very willing to work with us on our concerns, and I look forward to them succeeding and us having a relationship and if not, the board is certainly free to override my veto or to do something differently at the board meeting in July,” Spruill said.
Carver said Tuesday he still believes the scooters should be outlawed.
“I have never in 12 years received so many complaints about any one subject,” he said. “The total disregard for traffic laws by a few individuals, both white and Black, will be the negative effects that put Bird out of business in Starkville. We have received many documented pictures of people riding in the roadways and sidewalks.”
He said if the veto is upheld, he believes users should be able to ride scooters on sidewalks because Starkville does not have adequate bike lanes or roads for the devices.
Sistrunk said she agrees with Spruill’s veto because she sees the effort the company is putting into fixing the issues.
“My preference was always to identify the areas where there needed to be controls in place, and I think Mayor Spruill touched on most of those in her veto,” Sistrunk said.
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