West Point selectmen fired the city’s water and light department superintendent Tuesday.
After discussing the personnel matter in executive session, the board voted unanimously to terminate the employment of Dwight Prisock effective immediately. The decision was a unanimous 4-0 vote with Jimmy Clark, Linda Hannah and William Binder all in support of fellow selectman Gary Dedeaux’s motion. Ward 5 selectman Keith McBrayer did not vote, as he was presiding over the meeting in the absence of Mayor Robbie Robinson.
After the decision, Prisock wrote on the wall of a Facebook group called “City of West Point Mississippi.” He posted that the board of selectmen was taking $839,000 from the electric department and $222,000 from the water department to pay for city services and warned viewers of the non-official page to “Get ready for an Electric rate increase.”
Prisock could not be reached for comment this morning.
Prisock was named interim superintendent of the department in 2010. A year later, selectmen voted to remove his “interim” title.
When contacted by The Dispatch on Wednesday, Board attorney Orlando Richmond, chief administrative officer Randy Jones and Clark all declined to elaborate on the decision, citing it as a personnel matter. City officials are not obligated to discuss specifics of such matters.
Jones said Prisock’s salary was in the “upper range” of the position’s $45,000-75,000 salary grade before the board’s decision to remove him.
The board also authorized Jones to draft an advertisement for a replacement, he said, and the city will consider hiring from within if a qualified applicant already with the department emerges.
“We will certainly try to find a well qualified person that cherishes the ratepayer and the community,” Jones said.
Jones is the general manager for the department but said in the absence of a superintendent, foremen of various department functions will continue to oversee operations as usual. He noted that Wilbur Marsac, chief of water and sewer operations, has been with the city for more than 20 years and that those duties will be in capable hands in the interim.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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