Jackson Jambalaya

Goes to show you none of this was due to lack of money it was due to lack of basic management and supervision of the water plant. All of this could have been avoided if they would have fired the woman a long time ago. The city dropped the ball enough said.

But I thought it was due to decades of systemic racism.

Looks to be things have advanced to the finger pointing stage, which follows the 'it's not all sunshine and unicorn farts' stage.

Democratic dignity is on full display.

Just change the names and titles, and this resembles the forensic report of the Titanic's sinking.

No new water plant is needed. Lumumba was full of it the other night in his speech. So is city councilman Brian grizzel. Both are complete idiots.

Stupidity and incompetence have no bounds.

Although Mr. King may meet San Francisco's "qualifications," that is irrelevant to Jackson's stuff. I also note that while he clams to have architecture "training" he is not listed by the MS Board of Architecture as a licensee. Further, architecture school teaches somewhere between nothing and almost nothing about public works.

How long was she the manager over these plants? wow

Has the mayor left on his trip for Miami yet?

When OIG heads to city hall for “interviews,” they should set up circus tents and sell tickets. I’d pay full price.

I'd add a lack of leadership.

Look up "Third World City" in the dictionary: Definition: "Jackson, Mississippi"

Does the city have any Class A operators any more?

If the Russians ever attack, I hope they start in Jackson at The Public Works Dept.

Jordan, get out while you can.

The King has left the building.

Fuentes are over priced and over rated. I'd rather have a Dunbarton Sombremesa or just about any Crowned Heads before I smoked another Fuentes.

Regarding this man's resignation, I just spent thirty minutes reading a lot of 'stuff'. Nowhere do I see his date of separation/resignation, not that it really matters, since other parties are now in charge.

Was Baby Choc called out of a Miami break-out session to hear this disastrous news?

So Marlin King follows the example set by the mayor: point fingers, shift the blame, and lie as much as necessary to fool people into believing you’re not the one at fault.

Here’s the thing: a coach never blames a player for his failure to win games!! Why, because he’s the fucking coach! Winning games is HIS job, and taking all the necessary steps to make that happen! A coach who blames his player for his own incompetence needs to be fired!

At least King did the right thing by finally resigning. Now Lumumba needs to follow suit!!

This is very basic stuff. If the CEO of a company is underperforming or not performing, it is the duty of the board of directors to replace the person. If a football coach is under performing or loosing most games he is fired and replaced. Our mayor has underperformed in the areas of the basic services that are required to run a city: streets and roads, water, sewers, and safety. Time for him to go.

And the mayor is at a smart city and infrastructure conference. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

If these folks can't take the heat, they needed to leave the kitchen. Truth be told, they didn't belong there to begin with.

“I choose not to play the game of collecting dirt on other people. So here’s 35 pages of dirt I collected on other people.”

@ 3:45 He will get re-elected with 70% of the vote. I took me a while to figure out that results don't matter. Don't be bringing your facts up in here.

SF may hire him because they are totally woke/inclusive/diverse/EEO, and likely will conclude that they are rescuing him from the racist MAGA water problems of Jackson.

He may think that the pay is like winning the lottery, but 1BR1BA homes in SF start at $600,000+. Seriously. That's if you can find one.

Mary has some ability, is a decent operator, and can get some things done. But why would you make her a deputy director? She can't manage, provide leadership, etc. Marlin isn't qualified either.

The hiring process is so bad. They can't seem to hire the right people. It's a clown show. I've got some great employees. Some are good at what they do and will advance up the ladder over time. Others are good at what they do but will never go further, because they have reached the limit of their abilities. Mary Carter has some abilities, but the ability to be in charge and manage people in the plant, etc. is not one of them. Good Lord Jackson can't figure this crap out.

They need a private company to come in, take over, and clean house.

That FEMA money had some unwanted consequences. OIG is in town. I hope certain folks are getting their affairs in order because time is running out. Look at what happened in Flint when OIG showed up.

This has turned into a circular firing squad.

Man, we're having a 3rd world come apart in Jackson.

Why is he begging a Class IV wastewater operator to come back who isn't felt moved yet to make a decision. This is totally comical. Maybe a billion, errr...make that 2 billion would fix this problem for good. Geez!!! What a joke this city is

There are no problems/issues in Jackson that a few billion dollars couldn't fix, right?

Makes you wonder where every one of these people worked prior to the COJ. If it was McDonald’s it wasn’t one of the good ones.

Whining kids that never should have been in these positions….to say the least!

A lengthy segment on msnbc with Chris Hayes just threw Mississippi under the bus big time accusing the Republican state government of short changing Jackson by not giving them funds through the years because Jackson is a black city. Then he had a segment with Anna Wolfe who has been reporting on the Bret Farve/ Phil Bryant scandal . Just made Mississippi look like the most corrupt, dumbest, most racist state in the nation. It was a hit job like I have never seen.

This is a sad episode of management failures from the top to the lowest manager. Never air dirty laundry via the media! The Mayors and his leaders/staff must do a better job of hiring Directors!

Are these high school kids!

A private company would be at the whim of the Mayor and imo is not the answer. He’s proven that with his garbage vendor debacle that he will go around the city council if he has to to be able to get his cut. We don’t need Chokwe choosing any private contractor. .

I worked in state and local government for 30 years. You often run into people who are incompetent but try to hide it by being overbearing.
I'm sure yhat doesn't happen in yhe private sector.

"Just made Mississippi look like the most corrupt, dumbest, most racist state in the nation."

Have you ever been to Texas?

Good Lord !!

Can someone provide a Cliff's Notes version of all this? How sad it is to witness the now rapid decline of

this once fine city.

This is pitiful.

"...he is not listed by the MS Board of Architecture as a licensee. Further, architecture school teaches somewhere between nothing and almost nothing about public works."

How familiar are you with resumes? I doubt he listed architecture as a qualifier for this position; however, and you may not know it, but it's typical, common and expected that a resume will include any and all titles, certifications, licenses, degrees, significant training and experience....whether or not related to the position being sought. And you can also throw in coaching Y-soccer and being president of Civitans.

I think Marlin King was one of the good ones. I don't know why he resigned, but he will be missed.

Mary Carter, on the other hand, good riddance.

It seems to me that everything is moving in the right direction, now. A short-term solution.

The intermediate and long-term solutions need to be formulated now.

@7:32 Good thing only a dozen or so people actually watch Chris Hayes. Minimum damage, to say the least.

Who submits a resignation letter “effective immediately” and attaches a 30 page tit-for-tat with a subordinate? Someone who’s been emasculated by the subordinate and cut off at the knees by his superiors. King had been wanting to fire Mary, but “someone” above him refused. I’m not getting a sense of confidence in Mr. King’s abilities. Nevertheless, he did not appoint himself to his position, just as Mary didn’t hers. That would be Antar, the hapless conductor of the little engine that couldn’t. This crash was never a matter of if, but when. Right?

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Disaster
4. Search for the guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Praise and honors for the non-participants

The 6 phases of any government effort. Jackson's decline has not been sudden -- it's been happening for decades and the Jackson sh*t show is now on full display for the whole state and the nation. Let's see how phases 5 and 6 work out.

Good job, Jackson voters and non-voters -- you're getting what you allowed to happen...

I have overheard conversations in my service travels from Alabama to Louisiana talking about shortages of bottled water cause everyone is shipping it to Jackson MS and all their local stores are out. And of course they only know the national news version of racism causing a plant to fail….

Remember what I wrote about this team not having management experience? Perfect example.

Tell an employee in writing she is going to be terminated in the future but then take two months to do it.

Surprise, employee talks to media and things go south.

Marlin King, Mary Carter, Dr. Charles Williams, etc. all have some skills. But being put in the position they were in is crazy. You don't promote the water boy of the San Francisco 49ers to the head coaching position. Each one was given a title and/or salary far exceeding their actual skill set.

There is only one way to cope with Jackson and that to get far far away from it.

Get a load of the footers in the San Francisco documents, all claiming the city is for respect, diversity and teamwork. Show up and say you believe marriage is only for men and women in monogamous commitment, and watch these tolerant kind people summon a group of Antifa thugs to rearrange your limbs.

There are few absolutes in life, but one absolute is if someone claims a passion for respect and diversity this translates into "you must think like I tell you to think or I will crush you."

CYA in its purest form.

There is his truth, her truth and the REAL truth, which usually favors one or the other, if you look at everything in context. I don't know Mr. King or Ms. Carter, but I did form an impression based on their respective interviews on WLBT's investigative report. Mr. King presented as a nice, affable guy, but one whose knowledge of plant operations and requirements appeared less than adequate for a department head. His explanations/excuses of lack of knowledge 2/2 time on the job;justification of staffing sufficiency, etc. in my view, pointed to HIS incompetence, not Ms. Carter's. Additionally, in spite of his clearly " not being on top" of what was going on in a department he was in charge of, he was REASSIGNED, and not fired. His reassignment, to work for his replacement was not an ego booster. So I believe his current rant against Ms Carter is to save face and assert his competence. As for Ms. Carter, it is now evident that she had an overwhelming task. She was expected to operate with inadequate administrative support, and limited manpower. The latter would require existing staff to work longer and harder, a scenario which typically results in morale issues manifested in resentment toward the face of management (Ms. Carter), passive aggressive behavior, and overall decreased staff productivity. A extremely stressful situation and conundrum for any manager,which would certainly challenge one's management style. Truly a mess! Not a good look for the Mayor and his administration's decision making in the overall staff selection process and oversight of operations. However, his public relations team appears to be advising him wisely in maintaining the racism narrative, vs. incompetent administration. Nationally that is what is trending. Will the EPA report prove otherwise? We will have to stay tuned.

"...He may think that the pay is like winning the lottery, but 1BR1BA homes in SF start at $600,000+. Seriously. That's if you can find one."
September 14, 2022 at 4:35 PM

I just checked, and there's plenty being offered, at below 400k. And I found 2 1br/1ba condos, at below 300k.

This took me all of 5 minutes.

Still waiting on an answer to if the city has any Class A operators now.

@7:32 PM "It was a hit job like I have never seen."

Mississippi is a self-inflicted gunshot...

@10:19 AM Good for you, but I used to live and work there, and was born across the bay. If you found something that cheap in the CITY of San Francisco, it is probably rat/syringe infested with vagrants sleeping on the stoop.

It is very inappropriate to release details to the public of why someone was fired.

"@7:32 Good thing only a dozen or so people actually watch Chris Hayes."

I didn't realize his ratings had risen so high recently. It must be Sweeps Week or something.

So WLBT had Mary Carter on last night to respond to Marlin King’s resignation letter and its accompanying tirade against her. Tonight Marlin King will be on WLBT to respond to Mary Carter’s response.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

I get the sense WLBT can barely contain its glee over airing this train wreck. Also not particularly normal.

Given that one of their former evening news anchorettes is now the City's spokesperson, I would have thought WLBT would take less glee in airing the City's dirty laundry. Or maybe that's the reason why...

Does the state have a legal/legislative duty to bail out any city in the state with utility issues? Or is it Lubumba's premise that it is because Jackson is the capital city, seat of state government? Just asking, because I assumed cities were responsible for their own water and sewer management.

I cannot factually answer 1:06 but I can answer that the court of opinion has already ruled and Tate does have to fix the Shoe Sized IQ Leader's water mess.

Chuck knows nothing matters when national media is demonstrably only interested in running stories that blame racism.

So regardless of actual law, the state knows it has to bail them out to appease the pronoun stans.

A good Human Resource Director would have reviewed this mess and threw it in the garbage. Seems like something is terribly wrong with this Administration!

Seems as Jackson Voters are to blame to me. Not getting into the correctness of the Voting system at all. Seems the Majority of Jackson voters voted for the least competent person to be their Mayor. Seems the Mayor wants to do Convention, Speaking Opportunities, (BS Sessions & Ego Boosters) Seems obvious that he has No Management Skills, no Political Skills, no Common Sense either. I have to hope that the State of Ms doesn't give the City of Jackson 1 red cent that the State of ms doesn't control how it's spent.

This is truly sad! Stop finger pointing and fix the issues at hand. Let's face it all of you are to blame! Not just this administration but previous administrations as well who knew that this was going to eventually come to a head! Whether it was with the water plant or water pipes. This is nothing new people! As for incompetence! "Sweep around your on front door!", before you start accusing someone of being incompetent! There has been absolutely NO IMPROVEMENT in last 4 or 5 administrations. You all failed the City of Jackson because of your stupid pride and your failure to put truly qualified people in these positions! Case in point, hiring your family, friends, or buddies who you knew were not qualified to do the job is what failed the City. Not one individual! And there were plenty of qualified people within the City that were over looked or wasn't allowed to do the job properly because of micromanagement!

Jeez- can any of our elected officials write a proper letter?

11:58 I was going to comment on that, but I was too busy looking for a complete sentence.