The city council again voted on Tuesday to continue moving forward with hiring a city registrar.
By a vote of 4-2, the council overrode Mayor Keith Gaskin’s veto on the matter, which he issued Jan. 6. It had voted two days earlier, by the same margin, to proceed with hiring a registrar at a pay rate of $13.95 per hour, which comes out to about $29,000 annually.
There is currently only $17,000 in the budget for this position, and the motion called for the remainder of the salary to be taken from the Finance and Administration budget.
The new registrar would replace Brenda Williams, who retired June 30.
Gaskin has maintained since he was elected that a city registrar, which administers city elections, is unnecessary, originally hoping to restructure the city administration and delegate registrar duties to the chief administrative officer. The majority of the council first voted to advertise for a new registrar Oct. 5, 2021, which Gaskin vetoed. The council overrode that veto as well.
On Tuesday, Gaskin imparted some humor into the process.
“Full disclosure, I’ve asked (City Attorney Jeff Turnage) how many times the mayor can veto the same motion,” Gaskin deadpanned at the beginning of the discussion, drawing some laughter from the council members.
After more discussion Tuesday as to whether the position was necessary, the council stayed the course, with Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart, Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones voting yes and Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco opposing.
When Williams was registrar, she also staffed the Action Center, which fields calls of complaints and concerns from citizens. After taking office, Gaskin consolidated Action Center duties with the role of his executive assistant Angela Jones.
Mickens said Tuesday the past week — in which Angela Jones was out due to illness — illustrated why the registrar’s position needed to be filled.
“There was really nobody there to handle the calls (to the Action Center) and this person could really help out,” Mickens said.
“We have several other clerk positions in City Hall who can answer the phones,” Gaskin replied. “…When you’ve got someone who retires and you can move those duties to somebody else, then it’s good to do that. You have a leaner staff to carry out duties efficiently and you can use those funds for raises or adding other positions.”
DiCicco echoed Gaskin’s position.
“Right now we don’t have registrar duties but every four years,” DiCicco said. “If we can save $29,000 … as much as we want to give other people raises, why not leave that in the pot? This is not a critical position to be filled.”
Stewart pushed back, saying that people complained to her that the phone didn’t get answered when they called City Hall. She also wondered what would happen if the city needed to call a special election.
“Heaven forbid if we need a special election,” she said. “What will we do, hold the position open until we can hire somebody?”
Gaskin said Loria Porter, a secretary/bookkeeper at City Hall, has election training and could fulfill those duties if a special election occurred.
Gaskin said when a registrar was hired, he would shift the Action Center duties back to that position and reassign Angela Jones.
“That’s a duplicate that we don’t need,” Gaskin said.
Stephen Jones indicated the council would define the registrar’s and the executive assistant’s roles.
“If the council votes to bring it back, and the council says she’s still doing that as part of her duties also, then that’s what she’ll do,” Stephen Jones said.
Lobbyist
The council voted unanimously to begin the process of hiring a lobbyist to represent its interests to the legislature in Jackson.
Stephen Jones brought up the possibility, citing other local agencies that do the same thing.
“The Columbus Redevelopment Authority had hired a lobbyist, and I was thinking as a city we should have representation also,” he said. “I would like to hire a firm and have them represent the entire city, not just the CRA. I would like to look into hiring one to bring money back to the city for all the things we need.”
“There are a lot of cities that are using them,” Gaskin said. “Starkville has been using one for quite some time.”
Stewart brought up budgetary constraints of hiring one this year. Stephen Jones said he thought the city could afford it, given recent windfalls from selling property. He noted the hire would also be a contract, not a salaried position with benefits.
Fleet management for CPD
The council approved looking into shifting to a fleet management plan for the Columbus Police Department, which has struggled with replacing old vehicles in its fleet.
Enterprise Fleet Management Senior Account Representative Keith Sidwell made a similar pitch to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office late last year, and Shelton said Sheriff Eddie Hawkins had brought the idea to his attention.
“We want to help the department go from running vehicles until the wheels fall off to having no vehicles older than four or five years,” Sidwell said.
Enterprise pitched a plan that would see CPD replacing all of its vehicles over five years. The company can use its buying power to get vehicles for less than what the city would pay buying on state contract, and the vehicles could often be used for a few years and then sold for more than what was paid for them.
He estimated CPD could save nearly $300,000 over a 10-year period.
“We run some cars 24 hours a day, every day, and that’s a lot of mileage,” Shelton said. “This would be a way for us to take out old cars, and would help improve morale. It would make the city look better, too. Right now people see old 80s model Crown Vics with mismatched fenders and Dodge Chargers with missing hubcaps.”
Shelton said the department could replace as many as 14 vehicles in the first year.
Sidwell recommended the city put out a competitive request for proposals in order to do its due diligence before making any decision.
Jones made a motion, seconded by Stewart, for the RFP. It passed unanimously.
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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 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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