Columbus councilmen took the long route in an almost three-hour meeting Tuesday evening approving or ratifying nine travel requests in light of continuing budget concerns.
They also cited a presumed lifted spending freeze when informing a citizen why her street hasn’t gotten a speed hump her neighborhood was promised eight months ago.
Ward 6 Councilmen Bill Gavin, shortly after the meeting at the Municipal Complex opened, removed all travel-related items from the consent agenda — where they normally are approved in bulk without discussion — to the policy agenda, where each are discussed and approved individually.
Seven of the travel items involved police or fire department training, while two were administrative.
Most of those items eventually passed unanimously, except for a Police Chaplain’s Conference in Morristown, Tennessee, that Police Chief Fred Shelton wants to attend. That item passed 3-2, with Gavin and Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box opposed. Fred Jackson, who represents Ward 4, did not attend Tuesday.
Gavin questioned the necessity of the chaplain’s conference, which is estimated to cost $556, because it wasn’t “essential” or “an emergency.”
“I value what you’re doing,” Gavin told Shelton. “But we have to start pinching pennies.”
Shelton responded by offering to fund the trip out of his pocket, but with the council approving the trip, that wasn’t necessary.
“It is not an emergency now, but it will be,” Shelton said. “I want to be able to give my officers the counseling they need after police-related shootings.”
The debate over travel stems from councilmen learning in November that the city had operated at an $881,000 deficit for Fiscal Year 2018, which ended Sept. 30.
On Dec. 4, in response to a motion from Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, the council voted 4-2 to freeze spending “on everything” for six months. A special-call meeting two weeks later saw councilmen vote to lift that freeze, instead committing to closely watch spending, specifically on travel and overtime.
Speed hump debate
However, Mayor Robert Smith and members of the council on Tuesday blamed an ongoing freeze for not installing a previously approved speed hump on Forrest Boulevard.
Donna Hankee, a Forrest Boulevard resident, approached the council to ask why the speed hump, approved in June, still isn’t in place.
Smith, along with Gavin and Box, all told her that even previously approved speed humps would not be funded until after this June, when the “freeze” on such things lifts.
“I understand your concern, but we can’t make any exceptions,” Smith said. “There are other approved speed humps that haven’t been installed, and it wouldn’t be fair (to install yours).”
Box, who represents the ward where Forrest Boulevard is located, assured Hankee her street would be “the first” to get its speed hump once the freeze is over.
After that, however, Mickens, and even Gavin, began questioning if such a freeze existed and why the city couldn’t fund projects it had already approved.
“When did we lift (the spending freeze)?” Gavin asked Smith during Tuesday’s meeting.
“During the special meeting,” Smith said.
“Why did we not approve her (speed humps)?” Gavin asked.
Smith explained again the freeze still applies to speed humps, curbs and LED streetlights, even though the special-call meeting yielded no motion to that effect.
Mickens disagreed with Smith.
“Well, if you didn’t clarify it, you just lifted it on everything,” said Mickens, who did not attend the special-call meeting in December. “I put it on everything, so you lifted it on everything.”
Speaking to The Dispatch Tuesday night, Smith held his ground.
“That’s why it wouldn’t have been fair to honor that specific request,” he said, referring to the ongoing freeze. “Because there are other approved items that haven’t been dealt with.”
Kratom banned in city limits
In other business, the council banned the possession, sale, use and distribution of “synthetic cannabinoids and other synthetic products,” effective immediately. The ordinance encompasses Kratom, a substance currently for sale in gas and convenience stores in Columbus.
Police Chief Fred Shelton said he would distribute a memorandum to retailers that stock these items on Wednesday and instruct them to pull all products from their shelves. The ordinance carries a $1,000 fine and the possibility of up to six months imprisonment.
Lowndes County supervisors are planning public hearings on a similar measure.
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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 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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