The county has ratified a contract with a law firm to oppose the city’s proposed annexation.
At Monday’s board of supervisors meeting, following an executive session, Board President Trip Hairston called for a vote to engage Mills, Scanlon, Dye and Pittman for the annexation rebuttal.
“We had already voted to hire an attorney to help with opposition to the annexation, and today we ratified that contract with the attorney and the law firm that’s doing that,” Hairston told The Dispatch after the meeting.
Supervisors voted to engage Mills with an initial contract of up to $50,000 during the board’s April 1 meeting, county board attorney Tim Hudson told The Dispatch Monday. At that meeting, Hairston did not name the law firm or the attorney engaged.
But on Monday, Hudson said, the board approved an official letter of engagement, getting all of the specifics of the contract into writing.
Hudson said the board chose to hire Mills and his firm based on their prior experience with handling annexation cases across the state.
The Ridgeland-based law firm describes itself as “Mississippi’s premiere annexation and municipal law experts” on its website. Attorney Jerry Mills wrote a chapter on “Municipal Boundary Expansion from a County Perspective” in the seventh edition of “County Government in Mississippi.”
“If I felt comfortable handling this case, I probably would have said that I would do it,” Hudson said. “But it’s pretty unusual. There may be a case once every 10 years in this area, but (Mills) goes statewide, so he’s always got something going on.”
The proposed annexation, which the city council approved on a 4-2 vote in March, includes two areas and would add roughly 2,000 citizens to the city limits.
The first of the two areas that would be annexed borders Ward 2 and Ward 3 and is bounded by Highway 82 in the north, Armstrong Road in the east, Lehmberg Road to the west and Deerfield Drive to the south.
The second area, adjacent to Ward 1 and Ward 2, is bounded by South Lehmberg Road to the east, the area adjacent to Scott Drive to the south, Hargrove Road to the west and Vernon Branch Creek to the north.
The city published a legal notice concerning the annexation on Wednesday. Hudson said the county filed an answer objecting to the annexation.
A Lowndes County Chancery Court hearing on annexation is set for July 15.
Mills did not return calls from The Dispatch requesting comment by press time.
You can help your community
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 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
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 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
