Jackson Jambalaya

Another bit of shenanigans from the dementia addled mayor. In the past few years he has almost dismantled one of the best suburban PDs in the area.

"...one of the best suburban PDs in the area."

All that I see FPD do is park on the side of the road. What do they do besides setup speed traps?

It was all over the chase. Not because they chased the woman but because the cut the mayors wife and daughter off in the chase and scared her. He suspended all the officers involved the chief and the supervisor. He called a meeting with the rest of the shift and yelled at them and told them that they are the stupidest people he has ever met. There is a recording of it floating around they are investigating all the officers trying to find it before it leaks.
More importantly circle back to election time when he has city employees that lived in the city vote absentee with his secretary standing over their shoulder. He also had offices that lived inside apartment complexes go door to door and hand out his flyers. Threatening to fire anyone who voted against him. Not surprising his secretary was fired from KLLM for embezzlement, and now she is over he payroll and benefits for city employees? This dude needs to go

How do you mess up the easiest job in the world ?

Can this Alzheimer patient retire already?? He has destroyed Flowood PD.

Rankin county gonna rankin

And 12:40, don’t forget that his son was one of the main guys for Siemens that sold the water meter job to city of jackson. He took his commission and bolted.

soo how may officers are working since his hissy fit?

Greg Wilcox for Mayor!!!

That department has seen more turnover in officers in last couple of years. I’ve heard it’s not out of the ordinary for him to cuss officers and pd supervision when things do not go his way. Seems like more bi-polar then dementia. It is no wonder officers do not stay there.

Rhodes and his clown son are garbage.

They think they run a fiefdom.

They totally run the Flowood FD into the ground by hiring and promoting unqualified yes-men.

You have captains on engines missing required training and they have totally dropped the EMT requirement.

For years he’s installed weak chiefs that will do his bidding. Once, when the FD was frustrated with the new chief he hired, Gary told the department that “most of you don’t live in Flowood and can’t vote for me anyways”.

F Gary Rhodes.

2:34, no thanks.

"... one of the best suburban PDs in the area."

That's a new one for me.

No doubt they have/or had some good LEO's, but Flowood is
not the first thing one thinks about when they the words
Rankin County.

serious questions: Where are those "suspended" officers going to go to work?

FPD are the watchers on the wall, and I like seeing them there.

He and his son are clowns , Gary works on contract since he is technically retired from PERS. the only reason he hangs around is to steer roadwork through property his son owns . What a coincidence!?!
Anybody that would run off R. Mccluskey (former chief) is a f n moron!

I'll try Kingfish's radar one more time. How does a mayor, independent of city council, suspend employees? That's unheard of

Hold on! Is this Pelahatchie or Flowood? Sounds just like what the mayor of Pelahatchie would do.

And, yes...the only time I see these blue and whites is when they've set up a speed trap, typically on Lakeland/25.

Does a Mayor need the Board's permission to suspend anyone?

I hear a lot of bitching, but I, my wife, and my kids can go anywhere in Flowood, any time of the day or night, and I'm confident they'll return without being attacked or robbed. I've also lived here for decades and have never had - nor have any of my neighbors - ANYTHING stolen from inside / outside my home. If that takes a Mayor who runs "a fiefdom" or one who suspends whomever for whatever reason, so be it. I'll take it.

In a code charter municipal government (Mayor/BoA) a mayor can suspend with pay but only the Board can suspend without pay or fire.

Rhodes reminds me of Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles.

He often gets credit for the boom of retail in Flowood, but that was pretty much just a result of businesses fleeing Jackson, not his vision or business acumen.

He runs city hall like a buddy-buddy club, and because if that, Flowood hasn’t come near it’s potential for being a decent place to live.

If what has been stated is true about suspending the police chief, he should be ashamed.

And to 6:53, I live in Flowood as well. I can appreciate the safety of my neighborhood and the enforcement of the law, but Rhodes is still a arrogant dope.

I love living in the City of Flowood and me and my family feel very safe....but don't for one second think it's this safe because of the mayor or City Council, it is safe because of the hardworking, honest and dedicated public servants...the FPD and FFD. Yes politics and laws play a big role in the ultimate decisions but the day to day decisions and judgement calls come from the beat cops and their supervisors as well as with the FD. I wasn't privy to why the Police Chief was suspended but there is always 3 sides to a story involving situations like this, so be nice and don't throw stones unless you have proof to back up your harsh words. Greg Wilcox for Governor.....okay mayor first.

Undoubtedly you’re living in a bubble and don’t keep up with how many veteran/experienced officers the City has lost over the past several years! The common thread is poor management, micro-managed by Rhodes and their salaries are running about 5th in the Metro area. It’s hard enough to do their job in todays society without having to look over their shoulders for what’s coming next from Cityhall!

Amen 5:28 I’ve never heard a bad word about Mccluskey. For him to throw his shit in the floor and quit you know it was crazytown.

Flowood pays its officers well and can’t keep good people. That should tell you all you need to know.

Wilcox would be a welcome change!

At what point is it ever ok for a Mayor to undress a shift for doing their job? Kudos to Pearl Mayor Jake Windham for backing his PD and a week later, Rhoads discredited the Flowood PD. This makes it harder and potentially hazardous for the officers to perform their jobs. And don’t think that the criminals aren’t watching and knowing it’s ok to come over to Flowood and not have to fear a chase back to Jackson, because PD is afraid of retribution from Rhoads.

Is the son of Mayor Rhodes named Dusty Rhodes? That’s so Rankin County. I guess that beats Gravel Rhodes or Dirt Rhodes. He resigned his position as alderman last election cycle. I guess we went from 2 defunct Rhodes to one. Guy has got to go. The city has outgrown him, but he’s made a pile while it grew. Mayors should not intervene in the police dept.

Ah, they need "Flowood Freddie" back on the job. True NE Jacksonians and mainly Jackson Prep students of years past know what i am talking about. hahahahahahaha

Worst coverup lie.. So a department head has had issues for a year…& the decision to suspend was after a high speed accident involved chase….Either the Chief stood up for his guys or didn’t & since he's expected to come back to work likely did not!

6:53, all well and good, but I doubt that has anything to do with who the Mayor is.

Regarding news from all the Rankin city mayors recently, (Pelahatchie, Pearl, Brandon, Flowood), I've concluded that it's difficult to be a mayor anywhere.. except Mayberry.

I would've figured Pelahatchie to be a Mayberry-type, but hey, three outta 4 ain't bad. Hat's off to em.

"In a code charter municipal government (Mayor/BoA) a mayor can suspend with pay but only the Board can suspend without pay or fire."

Bullshit! There is no universal rule, regulation or law controlling the suspension of or the right to suspend an employee. You can look all day and find rules, suggestions, parameters, guidelines and examples of how and when to suspend and who 'should' have the authority or whether a suspension should be paid or without pay. At the end of the day, the attorney for the governing unit can point you to a venue-specific regulation that controls in each case.

Whether this mayor has a right to suspend, independent of alderman vote is up to the regulations in place at this particular unit of government. He'd have been quite a dumbass to have proceeded without consulting the city attorney.

Met them both. One is kind, helpful and a good man. The other, upon hearing news of his passing, the majority of the community will pause for two seconds, think “what a _____”, and go on with their lives. A sad way to conduct yourself.

@6:47
Sorry, you couldn’t be more wrong. It is well settled law in MS that in a code charter government a suspension without pay is tantamount to a firing and can only be performed by a Board vote. This is not necessarily the case in other forms of government I.e. Mayor/City Council etc., but it unequivocally is in a code charter (which Flowood is). By all means, if you can point to anything whatsoever in the law that refutes that I’d love to take a look. Here’s a hint, it doesn’t matter what the regulation of a local government entity says if it violates state law.

8:29 Go back to sleep or re-read what your responding to… Mayors can suspend WITH pay w/o board approval. They only need approval for suspension without pay…. Both the Chief and the shift supervisor will probably get paid for the time off because this whole suspension is over a narcissist mayor reminding everyone hes head honcho. The board should be ashamed of allowing all this to happen.

@9:28
Sounds like you need to go back to sleep or work on your reading comprehension. Go back and read the original post. It said thata Mayor can suspend with pay but not without pay. The 6:47 post said that was bullshit and that a mayor can suspend however they want and that is what my post at 8:29 responded to.

Flowood is decaying as fast as they build it.

39047 Brandon is gone. Move all the way up HWY 25 North to around Sand Hill and you might get a 10 year head start before you'll be running for the hills again in another 5.

The government schools being built to accommodate might as well just be a magnet school for JPS.

Since when does a mayor's wife call the shots for a police force? They were doing their freaking job! And this so called mayor needs to grow a set when it comes to his wife. What a joke!

I heard he went to Hartfield Academy and bitched out the teachers for getting on to one of his grandkids.

Does this guy have an ego problem or what?

The walls are closing in