While the city council voted against a motion to move forward with a $250,000 green energy grant during its Tuesday night meeting, Mayor Keith Gaskin is going ahead with the process anyway, instructing the city grant writer to finish the application.
After two failed veto attempts, Gaskin tried to call a special meeting to have the council revote on the matter before the application was due at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
But less than an hour after he called the meeting, the four councilmembers who opposed moving forward with the application – Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens (who represents Ward 2), Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones, Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart and Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard – said they would not attend the meeting no matter what time it was scheduled, according to an email from Chief Operating Officer Jammie Garrett to Gaskin.
“Since I can’t get a quorum for the meeting and our attorney says I can’t veto … as mayor and CEO of the city, I have instructed our grant writer to move forward with the grant application,” Gaskin wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “If we are awarded the grant, the council can then vote whether or not the city will accept the $250,000 planning grant.”
The Green Capital Municipal Investment Fund Market Building Grant, which is part of the American Green Bank Consortium, helps cities develop plans for public-private partnerships that will accelerate projects associated with clear air and water. It does not require any matching funds from the city.
City Grant Writer and Administrator Susan Wilder first presented the application opportunity to the mayor and city council during a Jan. 29 work session. When she presented it again Tuesday, Mickens motioned to table the application, followed by a substitute motion from Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco to move forward with the grant, which died after three votes. The council never took up Mickens’ original motion again.
Gaskin attempted Wednesday morning to issue vetoes against each of those two motions, and City Attorney Jeff Turnage ruled each veto invalid, saying the mayor could not veto items where no official action was taken – leading Gaskin to call the special meeting that never occurred.
Despite Garrett’s email saying the four council members refused to attend at any time, Mickens told The Dispatch other engagements prevented him from attending the Wednesday special meeting. He also said language in the grant application concerned him, and he had not had time to review it properly.
Jones also blamed his absence on prior commitments and took issue with the grant’s language, agreeing there was not enough time for a proper review.
“It wasn’t that we was against it,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough time really. There’s some legal stuff in it. (We) wanted to make sure that we’re not putting the city at a liability, partnering with anybody else.”
Jones confirmed the document containing the language in question was given to the council during the Jan. 29 work session, where Turnage was also in attendance. Applying for the grant only to reject it later, he said, could hurt the city’s chances at landing other grants.
“Why apply for something and then you turn around and then you don’t accept it?” he said. “That makes you look crazy. You might as well have all your ducks in a row before you even apply for something.”
Beard said he did not want to attend the special meeting because he was still trying to learn more about the details of the grant. There is no harm in applying for the grant, he said, but he needed more information before backing the application.
“We apply for different things all the time. We apply for grants everyday,” he said. “But it’s the notion of how big the grant is, and who’s going to be in charge. Nobody’s saying who’s going to be in charge if it’s such a good grant.”
The Dispatch tried to reach Stewart multiple times by phone Wednesday but received no response.
Unable to reach a quorum, Gaskin instructed Wilder to move forward, and Wilder told The Dispatch Wednesday she planned to follow Gaskin’s direction.
Easements on the way
In an executive session Tuesday, Gaskin said the council voted to approve contracting Neel-Schaffer to move forward with obtaining easements needed to complete a $6.2 million watershed project.
The project, covered by American Rescue Plan Act Funds, would improve major flooding areas in eight sites across the city – four each on Northside and Southside. The city has 20 months left to complete the work or forfeit the funding, but that work has stalled with only 14 of 84 easements needed to complete the project obtained. An easement gives the right to cross or use someone else’s land for a specific purpose.
The city contracted with Waggoner Engineering to manage the project. However, during the city council’s Jan. 29 work session, representatives from Waggoner argued it is not the firm’s job to obtain easements but rather the city’s responsibility.
The goal of contracting Neel-Schaffer to take over the job is to get it finished as quickly as possible, Gaskin said.
“They have someone in house that can notarize the easements, and so we determined that would be a faster way to get it moving,” he said during a Wednesday press conference. “… We asked (Neel-Schaffer North Mississippi Manager and City Engineer Kevin Stafford) if he thought they could get to work on it this week since time is of the essence. They indicated that they could.”
Boys and Girls Club renames event
Also on Tuesday, the council approved a permit request from the Boys and Girls Club of the Golden Triangle after it was asked to rename its annual fundraiser to avoid associations with alcohol.
Ron Thorton, the nonprofit’s CEO, pitched the annual fundraiser to the council during its Jan. 29 work session. The event, first called “Brews and Blues,” is set for June 14 at the Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market and will include a contest between food vendors, live music and a beer garden on site.
Citing concerns about optics, the council suggested the nonprofit’s board rename the fundraiser before bringing a new permit request before the council. When he presented “Blues at Sunset” as the new name Tuesday, the council approved the request.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter 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 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
