Jackson Jambalaya

Whoever the new Mayor of Jackson is will have to make several quick decisions thanks to a new state law*. The interim Directors of Public Works and Finance can't get paid after July 1 and the JMAA Board of Commissioners will lack a quorum after August.  Anna Wolfe reported in the Clarion-Ledger yesterday:

A new law will put the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority board at risk of losing a quorum if three positions are not filled by September, all while the fight over the airport takeover by the state continues....

The retroactive law takes effect July 1 and would take away the voting power of any board member sitting in an expired position for more than six months, including two of JMAA five board members. A third commissioner's term will have been expired for six months in August. There are five members on the board....

 Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, told The Clarion-Ledger last year that he is aware of situations in which a mayor will place his desired candidate in an interim position and fail to bring the appointment before the council for fear it will not approve his decision. In some cases, the interim appointees could sit in those positions for years. "That's not how that was supposed to work, and people were taking advantage of it," Harkins said.

This might have been demonstrated best in Hattiesburg over the last few years. Local officials have criticized Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree for failing to permanently fill appointed positions, instead keeping interim appointees around for long periods of time.....

Criticized? Some basic Googling would have revealed to Ms. Wolfe that the Hattiesburg City Council had to sue Mayor Johnny Dupree in 2014:

 Twelve positions — including seven connected to Municipal Court, as well as police chief, city attorney, parks and recreation director and urban development director — have not been brought before council for confirmation. Hattiesburg American Article.

 This new law is simply forcing Mayors and their respective legislative branches to actually do their jobs.  Few Mayors enjoy seeking confirmation votes as they would prefer to hire and fire as they please.  However, we live under the principles of representative government.  The City Council exists so there is some oversight over the Mayor.  It will require some give and take - i.e. known as negotiating - between the two branches but that is a basic function of representative government.  However, back to Ms. Wolfe's story:

Harkins did say the airport board discussion was a "side note" considered in drafting the bill. In his last term, former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. failed to reappoint several of the positions. In February 2012, the last of five seats expired, with some members still serving terms that had run out as early as 2009. When Chokwe Lumumba became mayor in 2013, he filled three of the board positions with his appointees.

"So that should have been fresh on everybody's mind, that, 'Hey, three or four years ago, this happened," Harkins said, noting it was Lumumba's right to fill the positions but that, "the positions are staggered for a reason."

Making an appointment in the city has proved slow. Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber first brought a potential airport board appointee, James Stanley, to the Jackson City Council in February 2016, but the council never scheduled a confirmation hearing after Yarber indicated the following month he wanted to "hold off."

Lawmakers initially passed the law in 2016, during the same session in which the airport takeover was passed, but a state attorney general's opinion advised that the law was not specific enough and could not be applied retroactively. Considering the law has existed for a year, officials "should have had plenty of time to address it," Harkins said.

Also on July 1, any city with an interim serving in a position for more than six months will be prohibited from paying that employee.

True dat.  JJ reported two weeks ago that the terms of three JMAA Commissioners expired.  Simply put, the clock is ticking.  Commissioner James Henley's term expires in the middle of August.  Only two Commissioners will be able to vote, thus lacking a quorum.  However,  Junior whined to the reporter about this new law:

"I just ask that Jackson is not the only municipality that this new law is enforced against," said Jackson Councilman Melvin Priester Jr.  (Yes, Melvin, this is all about picking on Jackson.) 

The law applies to employees serving in interim positions, like Interim Jackson Public Works Director Jarriot Smash and Interim Director of Administration Michelle Battee-Day.

Smash was selected to replace former director Kishia Powell, who left the city to go to Atlanta last June. If the law signed in 2016 would have been applied the way Harkins intended, the city would have been prohibited from paying Smash in his interim capacity after January.

But some officials argue it's not feasible to hire these high-profile positions during an election cycle. Yarber is going to be replaced July 1, and it's the prerogative of the new mayor — likely Democratic nominee Chokwe Antar Lumumba based on prior voting trends — to hire his own team.

"I think what's going to happen is whoever the new mayor is, is going to have to come in on day one and either pass the currently sitting people to be put in on a permanent basis or bring in his new person right away," Priester said. "We don't have the luxury of feeling people out for a long time. We've got to put in a permanent director of finance and a permanent public works director or agree that we're sticking with the current folks, but we can't delay. Delay is not the friend of the city right now." Rest of article.

Well, Junior, if you guys had been doing your jobs, you might not be in this predicament.  You can blame the Mayor for not submitting nominations to the City Council.  However, the City Council does have oversight responsibilities.  There was nothing stopping you from placing these concerns on the agenda and holding the administration accountable.  It's called leadership, a quality the City Council has lacked for quite some time.  The Mayor could have also taken advantage of such a discussion to point out the City Council was blocking his nominations if it was indeed doing so. 

This new law changes the way Mayors will govern in Mississippi.  There is not going to be any more placing good ole boys in plum positions while calling them "interim" appointments so they can avoid the nasty business of getting them confirmed by the City Council.  Board members will no longer sit around for years after their term expires and cast votes on multi-million dollar budgets.  Mayors and Councilmen are simply going to have to take their jobs more seriously. 


*21-15-41. (1) No person shall serve in an interim or hold-over capacity for longer than one hundred eighty (180) days * * * in a position that is required by law to be filled by appointment of the governing body of a municipality, or by mayoral appointment with the advice and consent of the council or aldermen * * *. * * * If such position is not filled within one hundred eighty (180) days after the expiration of the position's term, or within one hundred eighty (180) days after the date of appointment if an interim appointment, the hold-over service or interim appointment shall terminate and no municipal funds may thereafter be expended to compensate * * * the person serving in the position. Further, any action or vote taken by such person after the one-hundred-eighty-day period shall be invalid and without effect. If a council or board of aldermen rejects, or otherwise fails to confirm, an individual submitted by the mayor for appointment, the mayor may not resubmit or reappoint the same individual for that position during the remainder of the mayor's current term in office.