During Wednesday’s city council work session, council members learned Mayor Stephen Jones had signed a $37,500 contract with CS Digital Productions for an Alva Temple documentary without council approval or a complete legal review. The issue emerged while the council debated meal funding for filmmakers traveling to Denver to interview 102-year-old Tuskegee Airman James Harvey.
It caught council members, who had voted to pursue the project but had not voted on a contract, by surprise.
Susan Wilder, the city’s grant administrator, said she passed the contract to city attorney Jeff Turnage for review.
Turnage said he had no memory of receiving it.
Jones said he signed the contract in March after it was left in his office. Because it came from Wilder, he assumed it was simply related to a grant application. He assumed Turnage had reviewed the document, and he signed it without reading it carefully.
Council members learned that $18,750 — half the contract value — had already been paid. The council voted on April 7 to approve the expense on the claims docket. None of them caught it.
Several council members voiced support Wednesday for the idea of the documentary but strong opposition to the procedural breakdown. Ward 5 Councilman Gary Jefferson criticized the recurring pattern of “ratify and justify,” while Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears expressed frustration with the procedural failures, though he acknowledged the importance of the project.
There is no reason to suspect the mayor was intentionally circumventing the city council. In previous discussions, the council was supportive of the project. Despite the procedural failure, the council voted to officially accept the contract by a 4-1 vote later in the meeting.
It is fortunate that this breach of proper procedure did not involve a more controversial topic. If that had been the case, it might not have been so easy to see it for what it was: a lack of focus that led to a false assumption.
As such, the consequences were limited to embarrassment for both the council and city hall.
Procedures matter. Details matter. Especially when they involve taxpayer money.
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