There are board meetings and then there are board meetings. This was one for the ages. In my 20 years of government meetings, I can’t recall one quite like it. It had everything. Who needs reality TV when we have the Starkville Board of Aldermen up close and in person?
Almost every one of the aldermen had some information to impart to the viewing audience. It was actually an excellent example of how government should be handled. At the end of the very long evening, those of us still watching knew precisely where the aldermen stood on the many issues and why.
The past couple of meetings Alderman Perkins has been a bit testy. No less so tonight since right out of the gate he and Alderman Maynard had a small set-to about changing the order on the agenda program. Maynard wanted to bring some matters near the last of the agenda to the front and Perkins objected.
The hint of things to come was when Perkins said that since the mayor set the agenda he didn’t think it should change. What!? There hasn’t been a time known to man since Mayor Wiseman got in office that Perkins didn’t think the youngster did anything that couldn’t be improved on.
Over the years Mr. Perkins has made no secret of his disdain for what he terms youth and inexperience. His gravitational pull is more toward the Starkville Cafe set of old school players. So when he uses the reasoning of respecting Mayor Wiseman’s decisions you can bet there is something else cooking.
We had another view into Perkins’ plans for the evening festivities when we were treated with a snippet of one of his classic “sermonettes” on the evils of tax-and-spend projects.
The revised agenda first took up the capital improvement AKA “tax and spend proposal.” Alderman Maynard, who serves as the budget chair, quick stepped his way through the revenue and expense side of the budget for a $3 million reverse bond referendum. The ensuing discussion was about the undeniable needs around the community of the drainage and road issues and how to pay for them without a tax increase (wink, wink).
About an hour and a half into the meeting Perkins got his chance. One of the fun things about Roy is his habit of talking about himself in the third person. When he knows he is on the losing side of the decision, his tendency is to give impassioned speeches about what the Vice Mayor is thinking. When he is going to prevail in a matter, he says nothing. This was 25 minutes of a fervently spoken monologue.
His speech was full of colorful images of Santa Claus wish lists and a Hollywood lavish new city hall. He believes old City Hall is uninhabitable, at least for the police, and so the city should sell it. With an endorsement like that I had to wonder how that realtor’s sales pitch was going to fare to potential buyers.
We also learned that brown water coming from his faucet was OK with him and the stock market was much too risky. You just can’t buy stuff like that.
Alderman Carver pretty much sounded the death knell for the Cadence deal as he supported the capital improvement bond project and believed that a $2 million renovation for the current city hall will serve the police department.
Alderman Walker was up next and he definitely is not OK with brown water coming out of his faucet and the $750,000 spent on a single ditch hasn’t set well with him either. He, too, believes the city hall renovation project will meet the police department needs.
Mayor Wiseman was forced to pull out his Robert’s Rules expertise to get through the night. It was an impressive display of keeping up with the motions to table, motions to close the debate and general decorum.
The cherry on top of the sundae was the action sponsored by Alderman Wynn to put the final nail in the Plus One coffin. She orchestrated meetings with other aldermen to fire the city’s long-term agent for health care insurance over his role in making that option available to the city’s employees.
This was a low point for Starkville. It was the governmental equivalent of a Jerry Springer episode. Unfortunately it didn’t go unnoticed by those outside of Starkville. Bad behavior never does. The end of the evening saw two of the alderman walk out before the fat lady sang.
We have gone from being nationally hailed as one of the up and coming cities in Mississippi to being the butt of jokes.
In the words of an air traffic controller, “pull up, pull up!”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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