A case of mistaken identity kept a local media personality from being appointed Tuesday to the Columbus Housing Authority Board.
Reggilond Taylor, a talk show host perhaps better known by the stage name Rick “Don’t Go” Mason, was one of six applicants for a pair of vacancies on the board, and he was the only applicant who had actively sought – and presumably procured – Mayor Keith Gaskin’s support for the post.
But when a tie vote arose Tuesday for Taylor’s appointment, Gaskin voted no, claiming later he didn’t realize at the time that Taylor is Mason’s real name.
Instead, the council appointed Whirllie Byrd and Bo Harrison to the housing authority board.
Following the vote, Taylor, who attended the meeting, stormed out of the Municipal Complex and loudly muttered, “You f***ing liar,” as he left.
“He is absolutely the only person who checked with me about supporting him,” Gaskin told The Dispatch after the meeting. “… I feel terrible about it. I think he would have been a good member. … He’s a good guy. I just messed up the name.”
The council unanimously appointed Byrd, who also serves on the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Board. Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco then moved to appoint Harrison, which drew a second from Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens of Ward 2.
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard offered a substitute motion for Taylor, seconded by Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, which resulted in a tie vote and Gaskin’s rejection.
Beard and Stewart put forward another substitute motion, this time for Lilian Granderson Daughtry – wife of Police Chief Joseph Daughtry. That vote, too, knotted at 3-3 and Gaskin voted no.
At that point, Gaskin said he realized what had happened. He asked Beard, seated to his left, “Do you want to do Taylor again?”
In response, Beard swatted Gaskin’s microphone away from the mayor’s face and demanded, “Ask your attorney. Your attorney’s right there. Ask him,” referring to City Attorney Jeff Turnage, seated to Gaskin’s right.
Turnage advised that without a separate substitute motion, the council had to vote on whether to appoint Harrison. That passed by a 5-1 margin, with only Stewart opposed.
If that vote had tied, Gaskin told The Dispatch he would have voted no to clear the board and try to get Taylor renominated.
Gaskin said he texted Taylor multiple apologies.
“I was going to support him for the role, absolutely,” he said. “It was a mistake on my part.”
Taylor, speaking to The Dispatch after the meeting, still thinks Gaskin is lying. He said he talked to Gaskin several times about the appointment and texted the mayor again right before the meeting started – signing the text with both his given and stage names.
“I think it’s politics,” Taylor said. “… He’s still apologizing. I forgive him, but I ain’t crazy. It is what it is.”
Byrd will replace city parks director Greg Lewis on the housing authority board, whose unexpired term runs through July 5, 2028.
Harrison will replace Glenda Richardson, community liaison for the police department, whose unexpired term runs through July 7 of this year.
Both Lewis and Richardson resigned in November because of a law prohibiting city employees from serving on that board.
When Lewis was first appointed in 2005, he ran the combined parks department of the city and Lowndes County. That split into separate departments in 2017, with Lewis staying on as city parks director. Richardson also was not a city employee when she was first appointed, Turnage said.
Turnage told the council in December he had forgotten about the prohibition until he came across it again late last year in housing authority law. Both Lewis and Richardson resigned immediately after Turnage contacted them. Then Turnage contacted the state auditor’s office, which he said assured him would not pursue a case against the city.
5G tower heads back to planning commission
An AT&T 5G cellular tower proposal is headed back to the city planning commission for reconsideration.
The commission voted 5-1 in December to deny allowing the company to build the tower on property it is leasing from the county at Moore Creek, north of the Roger Short Soccer Complex.
At AT&T’s request, four company representatives met Friday with Gaskin, Mickens, Turnage, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones and City Engineer/Planning Commission Chair Kevin Stafford to give more specifics on the project.
Because of the information gleaned in that meeting, the council voted unanimously Tuesday to send the matter back to the planning commission.
Stafford told The Dispatch on Tuesday that company engineers better explained how the tower would increase service capacity in the city, which is currently maxed out. They looked into Stafford’s suggestion of placing an emitter on a water tower east of the proposed site, instead of building a new tower at Moore Creek, and determined that would not improve service as effectively.
The next planning commission meeting is set for 5 p.m. Feb. 10 at City Hall. The deadline has passed to add agenda items for that meeting, Building Official Kenny Wiegel said, but he may make an exception in this case.
“I may get them on because I’d hate to make them wait longer,” he said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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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 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
