ABERDEEN — An agitated crowd packed Aberdeen”s Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday at city hall, filling every seat and spilling out into the hallway in anticipation of airing a grievance or simply hearing what Mayor Jim Ballard and the board had to say.
The first statement was made on the front steps of City Hall as entering visitors passed a group of more than 10 citizens silently holding signs protesting what they perceive as apathy toward their concerns over suspicious activities at the electric department on behalf of the mayor and the board.
The mayor has been acting head of the electric department amid a scandal that has netted seven arrests on charges of theft of utilities, and led to the arrest and resignation of former department manager Adrian Garth. The board also recently voted to put the police department in charge of security at the electric department, with the police holding the only keys into the building.
“We”re out here just as a silent protest against the mayor and Board of Aldermen,” explained Jeff Doty. “We really don”t have a voice in the city. We ask questions and we don”t get answers and we think we deserve better than what we”re getting.”
Doty said a multiracial group of concerned citizens will meet at 5 p.m. Monday at Aberdeen”s American Legion hall to further discuss the city”s problems.
Another member of the silent protest, Sammy Burroughs, complained senior citizens living on a fixed income couldn”t budget their money each month to pay bills on account of extended billing cycles brought on by what Ballard claims was a lack of meter readers.
Burroughs” silent protest became very vocal about an hour later when he joined a cavalcade of citizens lined up to yell at the mayor and the board.
In his case, Burroughs was singled out when Ballard claimed Burroughs” complaint at the previous board meeting over larger-than-normal electric bills was out of line considering Burroughs had only paid $5 in water bills in the previous year.
Ballard”s statement concerning Burroughs was made during a discussion over hiring a firm, Baker Engineering out of Jackson, to handle meter-reading duties for the city for the next six months, which the board passed unanimously.
By the time the citizen input portion of the meeting rolled around, Burroughs had found his way upstairs to accuse Ballard of “beating his gums” and claiming “I do not read water meters. All I do is pay what I”m billed.”
Burroughs drew moans from the crowd for his exchange with Ballard, but he was certainly not the only citizen willing to publicly reprimand the board.
“We consistently tell these people ”The mayor is the acting department head,”” exclaimed Tawanna Thomas, a teller at the electric department. “Customers are constantly yelling ”Well, the mayor said to call down there.””
Thomas says she and other tellers have been forced to deal with a parade of irate customers complaining of increased bills due to extended billing cycles.
“And then the customers are upset with us because they can”t get in touch with the mayor,” Thomas shouted at Ballard. “Because I”ve been down there as of last Wednesday and I”ve seen you in that office actively one day, and that was Thursday, and that was for half a day. And customers come in there chewing us out, wanting to know who it is they need to talk to because they can”t get any help on their bills.”
Because Thomas is a city employee, Ballard answered that the board would address her concerns in executive session. But other complaints couldn”t be silenced as easily.
One unidentified woman screamed at the board, “I cannot keep paying no $600 light bill! We put in a new back door. We bought insulation. We caulked all the windows and everything and that bill still happened and I”m sick of this! Y”all should have kept (former mayor) Cecil (Belle) in here!”
Belle”s name would come up again when Aberdeen Police Chief Henry Randle addressed the board for clarification on when the agenda for board meetings is set. Ballard informed him the deadline to add an item to the agenda was noon on Wednesdays prior to board meetings before adding, “Cecil Belle had it at the same time.”
Randle drew applause from the crowd when he responded, “Cecil is not here. We need to quit doing what we did in the past. That”s why we have what we have here.”
Ballard verbally sparred with several other members of the audience after Burroughs and before Randle. He asked one man who complained his electric bill was only $4 less despite being charged for 18 fewer days than the previous bill, “Who did you talk to (at the electric department)?” To which the man replied, “I don”t know who I talked to. I don”t ask names when I”m calling for you. I just ask for you.”
After Aberdeen Primitive Baptist Church Pastor Herb Hatfield claimed the current board room was too small to accommodate the crowd and offered his church auditorium for meetings, Ballard and City Attorney Robert Faulks informed him a written amendment to the city ordinance governing where the board meets would be required. Hatfield requested the board pursue changing the ordinance but stated he understood the process.
Ballard smiled and told Hatfield, “Now you got it. You”re OK!”
The exchange prompted Ward 2 Alderman Cloyd Garth to note, “Up until recently, we”ve had plenty of seats.”
Several more citizens aired their concerns over electric bills and hiring an outside firm to handle meter-reading instead of creating jobs within the city.
Ballard said the billing cycle problem would be solved by the meter-reading contract. He said Baker Engineering had already started reading meters Monday and the company boasted an average success rate of just three mistakes for every 1,000 meters read. He said the city hoped to bring the meter reading problem under control by the end of the month and return to standard 30-day billing cycles.
The board later voted unanimously to approve an audit of the electric department at a cost of $10,000, which Tennessee Valley Authority is expected to fully fund.
The city was fortunate to avoid incurring the cost of the audit, which is due Aug. 31, because Ballard says the city is operating at just one-half of one percent under its budget.
However, he said the fire department was $20,000 over budget, the police department is $9,800 over budget and the cemetery and sanitation departments are both slightly over budget.
Before the board entered executive session, Randle suggested the city adopt some manner of work program aimed at allowing offenders to work off fines rather than being imprisoned at additional cost to the city.
The board agreed to discuss the matter further with the city judge.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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