Thursday, July 6, 2017

Uh-oh. Here we go.

The Jackson City Council held its first meeting after the new members and Mayor Lumumba assumed office.  A certain Ward 3 Councilman wasted no time in trying to wreck the BancorpSouth contract.  Mr. Othor Cain reported on his Facebook page:


Consent Agenda Item #35 ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI RESCINDING THE CONTRACT WITH BANCORPSOUTH FOR THE CITY OF JACKSON DEPOSITORY.

This item was placed on the agenda by Councilman Kenneth I. Stokes. I'm not 100 percent sure of the issue...but it is heated enough that Micheal Booker from Bancorpsouth made visits to all of the council beers and to Mayor Lumumba.

Lumumba asked Stokes to pull the item, to give him an opportunity to review and study....

Stokes did that. When it was time for the item, Stokes said, "Mr. President, the mayor has asked that I table or pull this agenda item until he has a chance to review it and I'm going to do that..."

That cold have gone very sour...south really quickly. I applaud Stokes for his willingness to give Mayor Lumumba an opportunity to get up-to-speed.
Get something straight.  BancorpSouth (BS) obtain its contract through competitive bidding.  It won the contract fair and square.  JJ reported in December 2014:

BancorpSouth proposed an interest rate that was three basis points better than the one proposed by Trustmark.  The  cost proposed by Bancorp South was cheaper than Trustmark's bid by $35,472. The net gain under Bancorp South's bid  is $60,972 better than Trustmark's bid.  Thus Bancorp South beat Trustmark on both annual cost and the interest rate.

Needless to say, several council members objected to voting on whether to accept the bid.  Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon wanted to send the matter to committee as she didn't feel comfortable voting on it.  Mayor Tony Yarber said he received "several concerns in the last 24 hours" about transferring the city money from one bank to another.  He stressed several times that the city used a bid process.  Trustmark has been the city depository for thirty years.  The resolution (posted below) is on the agenda for Monday's meeting of the city council. Mayor Yarber said the council needed to make a decision soon as certain transactions needed to take place before the end of the year is a change in depository's is made.

Kingfish note:  How many bond deals have some of these councilwomen and councilmen voted for without question?   The city actually pursues bids and prepares to accept the best bid and suddenly the city council wants to backtrack.  The Mayor pointed out that no council members questioned the deal at the previous day's work session.  Hmm..... does anyone think some banks started making the phone calls? Nah, that couldn't happen in Mississippi.  Not at all.  Earlier post.
Bank gives better terms.  Bank keeps a yuuuuge office on Capitol Street and hasn't high-tailed it to the burbs.  Bank gets kicked to the curb.  So much for saving money if this indeed comes to pass. Early test for the new administration. 

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

And the stupidity of the leadership of Jackson continues...

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with fair bids.....

BancorpSouth was fined $11,000,000 for racial discrimination dealing with customers in and around Memphis

Google it. The bank admitted it....had to....on tape.

Feed the Birds said...

What an idiotic way to phrase an ordinance! So vague! "The Contract with Bancorp South?" The one bar to which Stokes has not been admitted is the Mississippi Bar...everything else, unfortunately yes.

I just hope that whichever bank loses this contract does not see an influx of people wanting to withdraw their tuppence.

Anonymous said...

5:57 is correct. Trustmark did not, but it did have an action filed for abuse of overdrafting mechanisms.

Kingfish said...

Then if this action is approved, the councilmen who vote for it and the Mayor should pay the difference between the two contracts out of their own pockets.

Anonymous said...

I'd be hard pressed to do biz with BancorpSouth as a black personal.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/business/2016/06/30/mississippi-based-bancorpsouth-fined-106m-redlining/86546006/

Absent some serious demonstrations of change of boards and directors.

Anonymous said...

Follow the money-trail to Professor Klump's house, or Fat Albert is you prefer. It's as simple as that.

Forget the fact that Barrett-SeeMoan didn't feel comfortable. She doesn't feel comfortable climbing out of bed in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Seriously? Anyone who thinks that Mayor Second Coming didn't have advanced knowledge of what Stokes was up to is being naïve. The Ward 3 buffoon is going to be our greenhorn Mayor's test balloon as Antar and Akuno effort to figure out how far and fast they can push the envelope with the City Council.

This is only the beginning. Stokes is going to be MXGMCooperationJackson racist antagonist on the Council keeping the natives riled up with bombast and TV coverage while Antar/Akuno undermine from the inside.

They don't give a shit Kingfish if their a "solidarity economy" costs more. There's going to be a big time property tax increase either this budget cycle or next year. They are going to confiscate as much wealth as they politically can, as quickly as they can, via higher property taxes before those remaining with the wealth and ability to leave can figure it out. Just watch.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Bancorp South did not give any Community Reinvestment money to Stoke's favorite organizations.

Anonymous said...


"Dealing with customers in and around Memphis"

That's about like negotiating with a cottonmouth......you'll always get bit!!

Anonymous said...

At one time, I believe we spread some of the money around to several banks. Bank Plus certainly has courted the black population. Bancorpsouth has many black employees -- certainly don't know anything about their problems in Memphis or how long ago that was. It is a Mississippi grown bank. But low bid does really have guidelines and should not be ignored ever.

Anonymous said...

So, Bancorp South chose not to make mortgage loans in African American areas of Memphis. And they are fined for doing so. Guess Stokes thinks that any bank in Jackson should be making mortgage loans over in his hood instead of areas of Jackson where the home might have an appraised value, and where the borrower might actually have a job with which he could repay the loan.

Given a choice of being required to open branches over on Wood Street or moving out of Jackson, I believe if I were on the board I would shutter all operations and move. The net loss would be less.

Anonymous said...

Seriously? We are going to fight about which bank to use? With interest rates at all time lows, who cares. Use whatever bank is still present in the city. There aren't many.

Anonymous said...

Conservatism is something the black community & assembly should know about, after all they have to wonder how many bullets to conserve if shit hits the fan.

Take the deal with Bancorp. A penny saved is a penny earned---- never forget that. Jackson, in its dire straights, can't afford the higher bidders. That's the Gods honest truth.

Anonymous said...

Are there any costs ( hidden or obvious) associated with the transfer?
Was the RFP well drafted so that nothing was overlooked in terms of executing the contract to fit the city's needs? For, example, were there any overlooked costs to the city that weren't accounted for in make the transfer workable?
Did a provision exist in the old contract so that the city can't be charged for transferring money to another bank?


Anonymous said...

@5:57- years ago Trustmark defrauded one of its Mississippi car loan customers forcing one to pay and finance overinflated car insurance. Look it up.

Anonymous said...

Can we just posit hypotheticals ad nauseam?

Anonymous said...

5:57pm made a good point

How are we going to be critical of elected officials in Jackson conducting state business from a moral, ethical ground

When our elected officials do the same thing at the state level.

Phil Bryant rejected Medicaid expansion, knowing good and well the Feds were going to cover 90% of the cost

Tate Reeves rejected stimulus money and now we are up here doing infrastructure improvements on a credit card with high interest

So how can we sit up here and be hyper critical of elected officials in Jackson for doing the same thing as our elected officials on the state level?

Anonymous said...

Trustmark is not alone in the racket of 'forcing' you to purchase stuff you don't need when you buy or finance a vehicle and it has nothing to do with race.

Two years ago I noticed on my invoice for a new truck that I had purchased some sort of insurance ($200). When I questioned it, I was told that the serial number is etched in the glass of all the windows (true) and if stolen and recovered, it won't matter thgat the thieves might have removed the numbers found on the dashboard. I complained and got a check for that amount from the dealership.

There are all sorts of add-ons that we are screwed into paying, like processing and handling and this fee and that fee. I guess this is how they pay for all the free coffee on the showroom floor.

But it ain't just banks and blacks so stop with all the black paranoia and victimization.

Anonymous said...

Stokes probably just wants to be sure that the bank the holds all the city's money has adequate armed private security to protect his next paycheck.

Anonymous said...

Yes, this appears to be small but remember all the really big decisions are made the same way.

Anonymous said...

Conflate much @8:16? Let me guess, your middle name is Ludicrous.

Anonymous said...

@9:28pm.... Don't think you need a loan to buy a home in Ward 3.

Anonymous said...

816, take your democratic hate elsewhere. Tate Reeves is in no position to 'reject' stimulus money, or any other money for that matter. Go back to Wingfield and take your 9th grade Civics class agsin before you decide to comment

Anonymous said...

BancorpSouth employees were on tape calling the rejected customers the N word repeatedly. Managers were heard laughing.

There is a culture of racism at that bank which has yet to be cured.

Anonymous said...

7:10 AM, what BancorpSouth location was this? Where can I find this?

Anonymous said...

https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-06-29/regulators-fine-bancorpsouth-106-million-for-redlining


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