A couple of weeks ago, Butterball, one of the nation’s largest turkey suppliers, announced that it would have a shortage of large turkeys available for Thanksgiving.
That news did little to worry folks locally, mainly because we have no shortage of home-grown turkeys. No need to scour the frozen foods section at the local grocery store, either; If you wanted to find some large turkeys this year, all that was necessary was to show up at a city council meeting in Columbus or a board of aldermen meeting in Starkville.
In China, they designate each year as an animal. This year, for example, it is the “Year of the Snake.”
But in Columbus and Starkville, 2013 has been the “Year of the Turkey” where municipal government is concerned.
New leaders took the helm in July in both cities and the results has been uniformly ” fowl.”
So as we prepare for tomorrow’s feast, it seems an appropriate time to “talk turkey” where the city council and board of aldermen are concerned.
In Columbus, there was only one change on the council: Marty Turner replacing Fred Stewart in Ward 4. Turner’s tenure has been marked by a series of embarrassing personal failings that have undermined his credibility on the council. A series of claims against Turner’s business, including two judgments against him for failing to pay rent and several judgments acquired by disgruntled customers, has sullied Turner’s reputation. In addition to that, he had a warrant issued in Hattiesburg for his failure to pay fines associated with a second-offense DUI. Turner avoided arrest by paying off those fines. Turner’s presence on the council is an embarrassment to the city. Is this the best we can do?
Turner’s personal issues were not the only embarrassments perpetrated on Columbus citizens by this council, of course. As soon as the new council convened, it voted itself a $2,400 pay raise through a back-door, last-minute addition to the agenda by Ward 2 councilman Joseph “Whisperin’ Joe” Mickens. In an all-too-rare instance of public outcry, the council back-tracked and rescinded that raise in its next meeting.
Of course, that slight-of-hand, was chump change compared to its decision to hire a company called J5/Broaddus to fill a new position as “project manager,” to oversee the city’s building projects. Headed by Jabari Edwards, who just coincidentally happened to be Mayor Robert Smith’s campaign manager, the council agreed to pay J5/Broaddus 6 percent of the costs for city projects. Under the theory that J5/Broaddus will actually save the city money by identifying and eliminating wasteful spending on the projects. What the council has really done is add yet another layer of bureaucracy to city government. It’s a good deal … at least it is for J5/Broaddus and the concept of political patronage at the taxpayers’ expense.
Space limitations prevent us from detailing the council’s year-long infatuation of an imaginary bus service.
Gobble, Gobble.
That sort of government ineptitude might well be considered hard to match, but this is just the sort of challenge that Starkville likes, apparently.
Starkville’s Turkey Trot began with its municipal elections, where an odd alliance was formed with the sole intent to eliminate competence from its board.
Long-time Ward 6 alderman Roy A. Perkins, whose political ambitions compelled him to broaden his base outside the black community, teamed up with the Starkville Tea Party faction and its mayoral candidate Dan Moreland to change the make-up of the board. Perkins, a Democrat, openly campaigned for the Republican Moreland, and while incumbent mayor Parker Wiseman easily defeated Moreland for a second term, the other black Tea Party candidate, Lisa Wynn ousted Sandra Sistrunk in Ward 2. There has never been a greater net loss in competence than in the Wynn-for-Sistrunk exchange. Moreland’s influence on the board is remarkable given his status as a failed candidate. Moreland remains very much a factor with new alderman David Little and hold-over “Prayin” Ben Carver, essentially representing Moreland’s proxy votes.
Once seated, the new board continued its assault on competency by firing chief administrative officer Lynn Spruill for reasons the board would not even discuss privately, let alone in public. Spruill had proven the be a capable, intelligent and effective administrator. Clearly, she had to go.
To date, this board has proven that it’s pretty good at demolition and very bad at explaining its reasoning or articulating any plausible vision for the city short of ridding Starkville of anything that remotely resembles progress.
The capper was Perkins’ attempt to stifle community involvement in city government by proposing an ill-fated ordinance that would have barred citizens from participation in board meetings by using social media to live-tweet from board meetings. Perkins’ mantra: “See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Tweet No Evil.” That proposal was defeated by a 4-3 vote. Given the board’s track record of blunders, consider that a holiday miracle.
A day before Thanksgiving and I’ve all the turkey I can stand.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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