The city is pausing its annexation effort while it negotiates a exit strategy with Lowndes County.
Council members voted unanimously in executive session Tuesday to place a stay on the annexation case until after city elections next June. In exchange, the county could agree to pay as much as $35,000 toward Columbus Fire and Rescue’s training, since the department responds to fires and medical emergencies in the proposed annexation area.
“If the next council wants to negotiate down the (amount of) annexed territory, or drop it altogether, that will be up to the next council,” Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones, who proposed adding the item to the executive session agenda, told The Dispatch after the meeting.
Jones intends to run for mayor in 2025, so he would not be a member of the next council.
The city council voted in March to pursue annexing two areas east of the current city limits. The first is bounded by Highway 82 in the north, Armstrong Road to the east, Lehmberg Road to the west and Deerfield Drive to the south. The second is bounded by South Lehmberg Road on the east, the area adjacent to Scott Drive to the south, Hargrove Road to the west and Vernon Branch Creek to the north.
It would add almost 2,000 citizens to the city’s population, with 91% Black, 7% white and 2% categorized as “other.” The Golden Triangle Development LINK provided the city a report showing the annexation would raise the city’s poverty level and lower its average home value, among other negative metrics.
Lowndes County Board of Supervisors pledged up to $50,000 to lead a legal fight opposing the annexation plan, with the next status hearing set for Wednesday morning before Chancery Judge Rodney Faver.
Mayor Keith Gaskin vetoed the plan, though that was overridden, and has continued to publicly oppose it. Council members Rusty Greene and Jacqueline DiCicco, of Wards 3 and 6, respectively, have mounted several failed efforts to get their colleagues to reconsider.
Earlier this month, however, Jones opened the door to negotiations, telling The Dispatch he would reconsider if the county agreed to pay the city for CFR responses to the proposed area. CFR and the Lowndes County District 3 Volunteer Fire Department have a mutual aid agreement under which the CFR has responded to the proposed area 12 times since the beginning of 2023. District 3 reciprocates, offering the city department manpower and equipment upon request.
Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston seemed agreeable to negotiations and told The Dispatch he became even more so as legal bills continue to mount on both sides.
So far, the city has spent more than $50,000 litigating annexation, City Attorney Jeff Turnage said, while Hairston said the county has spent in the neighborhood of $15,000.
Both have recently been hit with requests for extensive discovery in the case that would balloon those costs.
Hairston decided if there was a time to sit down with Jones, “it might be now.”
Hairston said he contacted Jones last week, and the two sat down for a one-on-one Tuesday afternoon. Jones, he said, proposed the county committing the balance of the money it planned to spend for annexation toward CFR training – up to $35,000, minus any outstanding bills – in exchange for the stay.
“That’s not something I would be opposed to,” Hairston told The Dispatch, though he noted he had not yet discussed it with the other four county supervisors. “… It is a testament that they are willing to sit down, and we can work things out. I’m excited about that proposition.”
Turnage said attorneys for both sides would discuss the new development at Wednesday’s hearing.
“What I envision, since we don’t really have an agreement with the county (yet), is to just set another status conference in December or January or something, to give us time to … hammer out an agreement (with the county),” he said. “If we reach one, then a stay would be entered until after the general election.”
Alternatively, Turnage said, Faver could just delay the next status hearing until after the election. There’s no schedule order or trial date set.
“It’s just an open case right now,” he said.
If the county agrees to terms, Hairston hopes the next council drops the case.
“So, if we do participate in training or money changing hands … I would probably say, ‘Hey if y’all proceed with annexation after the fact, we would have some clawback clause in there,’” he said.
Mickens apologizes to Wiegel
Also at Tuesday’s council meeting, Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens, who represents Ward 2, made amends with a department head he publicly berated earlier this month.
At the council’s Nov. 5 meeting, Building Official Kenny Wiegel recommended a part-time building inspector hire that would train to become Wiegel’s replacement. Wiegel plans to retire in June.
During discussions on why the city didn’t advertise the position, Wiegel noted a conversation with Mickens more than a year ago where he said the vice mayor had asked him to find his replacement.
Mickens claimed Wiegel was lying, called unsuccessfully for his resignation and confronted Wiegel after the meeting in the Municipal Complex lobby in front of citizens and other city employees.
On Tuesday, he asked Wiegel to stand and asked him for forgiveness and also apologized to his constituents, the mayor and fellow councilmen for his behavior.
“I am a man of faith and I believe that we have a platform,” Mickens said. “Any offense that is committed, the apology should be given on that same platform. I honestly, Mr. Wiegel, did not remember that conversation that we had. … That does not justify my action and my ways and my words toward you.
“… You are a senior department head here, and you have brought great value to the city of Columbus,” he added. “On top of that, you are a man of honor who has served this city well. I ask you this evening for your forgiveness for speaking to you in a tone that is not appropriate.”
Wiegel told The Dispatch after the meeting that he believes the apology cleared the air between the two men.
“I’m glad he did it publicly,” he said.
Mickens also responded to a recent editorial in The Packet that speculated he was seeking the city’s chief financial officer role next term.
“I’m not seeking COO, CFO, FBI, DEA, CIA or nothing,” he said. “The only thing I’m seeking is a term to run again as councilman of Ward 2.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
