Tuesday was an embarrassing day for the Starkville Board of Aldermen and, by extension, the city itself.
By a 4-3 vote, the board chose politics over prudence in rejecting an offer of free temporary office space for the Starkville Police Department while renovations are being made to convert the old city hall into the SPD’s permanent headquarters.
Former Starkville Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill offered the city use of 1,100 square feet of office space, space she owns on Louisville Street, asking only that the city pay the utility bills.
By any rational standard, it was an offer the board could not refuse.
Instead, board members Lisa Wynn, Henry Vaughn, Ben Carver and David Little voted to reject Spruill’s offer.
The aldermen’s fit of spite will cost the city approximately $28,000 in rental fees as the SPD will now operate from a Hodge-podge of six smaller locations. It not only represents and unnecessary cost, it also compromises the SPD’s effectiveness, to some degree.
Wynn, whose erratic behavior continues to be a source of embarrassment for the city, led the effort to reject Spruill’s offer. She was among a group of five aldermen who voted in 2013 to remove Spruill from her post as CAO, a move made without offering a reason for her dismissal.
Since then, Spruill has been a careful observer of the board and has, on occasion, criticized the board in her columns for The Dispatch.
She has also filed ethics complaints against the city for what she believed to be violations of the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Wynn, et al. simply couldn’t put that behind them in the interest of serving the city’s best interests by accepting her offer.
If anyone had a right to hold a personal grudge, it would be Spruill, who was unceremonious dumped as CAO without being given a reason for her dismissal.
Instead, she offered a solution that would have saved the taxpayers money and the SPD no small amount of inconvenience.
That these four aldermen could not put aside petty politics to act in a way that benefits both residents and its police department reveals much about their character, none of it good.
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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