The pictures on the photographic merry-go-round at the Jackson Municipal Airport are going to need some changing after this week. A commissioner quit after he was caught living in Rankin County while Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba did not renew the term of another commissioner. WLBT reported last night:
The Jackson City Council was expected to decide whether to re-confirm JMAA commissioner and chairman Lt. Col. (Ret) Lucius Wright.
Instead, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba pulled the item before the meeting began.
City records show Wright’s term ended on August 29.
State law allows appointed officials to stay in that position for up to 90 days, which would mean Wright’s term ends on Sunday....Article
Then there is the matter of Commissioner Robert Martin who loves to feed at the airport trough. WLBT reported:
Three weeks after a 3 On Your Side investigation revealed a Jackson airport commissioner didn’t actually live in the capital city, despite a requirement to do so, that public official is stepping down.
A spokesperson for the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority board confirmed the resignation Friday afternoon.
An October investigation by WLBT showed Robert Martin had never lived at the address he used on his resume when going before the Jackson City Council to get the commissioner job in 2018.
Documents show Martin also used that same address on travel documents submitted to JMAA and on a letter he sent the board on at least one occasion over a two-year period.... Article.
Kingfish note: Will there ever be stability at the airport?
28 comments:
Anyone who wants a free trip to Paris should apply.
It is simply run like every other department in the city of Jackson. Call or visit any department and you will be lucky for someone to answer the phone or be in the office. If you do get lucky and talk to an individual, they are lazy and simply don't to help and / or treat you like it is not there job to assist you....all the while you pay for extremely high taxes. It is a shit show with zero leadership at any position!
So you can’t be on the airport board if you don’t live in Jackson. Hell, the airport isn’t even located in Jackson. It isn’t even located in Hinds county.
Kingfish, yes there will be- when the State takes over the airport!
Until then, the extreme incompetence of the COJ and Chocalock continues.Surprised the airport even functions given this board! Shadrick...where is Shadrick???
NE Jackson resident here… I have a medical practice in flowood and I live in Jackson however I can tell you rankin county runs things very well compared to city of Jackson especially the mayor of Jackson he’s quite the crapshow. Need airport and water take over AsAP
Just ask the parking garage. It isn’t stable either.
Be thankful that Mayor Antard Incompetence doesn't have oversight for staffing in the air control tower.
From parking, to operation and amenities, this is, by FAR the worst airport in America.
Broken elevators, non-existent help, parking issues, bad attitudes.
This place is awful.
I have flown out of this dump for years and got to see airports big and small across this great nation. It’s terrible.
COJ - the poster child for no-show jobs.
What ever happened to Harkins senate bill for the State to takeover JIA?
The non-resident stuff is business as normal in these Democrat jurisdictions. The gov'ment jobs pay real good but who wants to live there. So there is an unwritten understanding that nobody snitches about where the other guy really resides. It works out real good until some outsider notices the obvious...
Standing by for a list of all of the businesses that were attracted to Jackson from Europe as a result of their luxury junket to Paris. I'll wait.
It looks like Shad and his office have another person to investigate. I would think if he served illegally, which it appears he did, then he owes all the money back to the City of Jackson that he was paid as a commissioner and all the travel reimbursements since 2018. And who appointed him? They may need to be investigated too!
Seems one small item is being overlooked. That of fraudulently submitting and receiving reimbursement for travel expenses. While none of his other shenanigans may be criminal, THIS certainly is.
I'd suggest 'paying the money back' is not acceptable. Both he and the man who appointed him knew he was in violation and chose to ignore it.
8:55 - CLOSE, but no cigar.
The airport IS located in Jackson. It is not located in Hinds County but that doesn't matter. Plenty of towns in this state cross county lines (Hattiesburg, Union come quickly to mind.)
Part of Jackson is in Madison County as well.
Part of the airport property is not in Jackson, but in Flowood. But the airport itself is part of the incorporated limits of Jackson.
Besides, what's your point? The issue here is not where the airport is but where the commissioner lived.
Please Shad or AG Finch bring charges on the So-call Rev. Robert Martin. He falsified his address to be on the board and racked up charges, trips, submitting false mileage to get a check from us, the tax payers.
As long as JMAA is being run by Democrats there'll be feeding at the trough.
"It looks like Shad and his office have another person to investigate."
The state auditor doesn't audit municipalities.
Sen. Harkins was ahead of this crap show 5 years ago.
Folks got mad at him, and he is being proven absolutely correct.
The recorded message by ladumbo is identical to ATL’s by theirs.
November 24, 2022 at 12:35 PM
Uhhh, maybe no cigar, but no soup for you either.
In your argument, you said ...."Part of Jackson is in Madison County".....
The statement was the airport was IN Rankin County, not who owned the airport.
Remember when the airport had to get permission to sell alcohol because the airport was IN Rankin county?
Should you be sitting IN a Jackson Police car while the police car is sitting at the corner of Hwy 80 and airport rd., are you IN Jackson or IN Pearl???
My point?
Do you know where YOU are?
When that property was obtained for the purpose of creating an airport, it had to be declared as Jackson so that liquor could be served to travelers. As to Senator Harkins’ bill to create an airport board made up of representatives from surrounding counties, and was signed into law in 2016, it’s been tied up in the courts bc the COJ Doesn’t want it set up like that. I believe it’s in Judge Carlton Reeves’ Court and has been for some time with no idea when he might make a ruling as to who gets the airport.
So in the meantime, another time we have to ask this question: when will Jackson ever get its act together and that’s putting it mildly!
Selling liquor at airports served by airlines is what leads to bad behavior by airline passengers. Stop selling booze in the terminals and the bad behavior would drop significantly.
An island of the CoJ had to be created on the airport site in order to have the city function as the sponsor to receive and manage the FAA grants for the buying of land and building of the new airport. At that time there wasn’t much to the surrounding communities. Now it’s different and a change in oversight is necessary. Market share is almost equally divided between Hinds, Rankin and Madison counties.
@1:26 Airlines do not serve liquor in airports, restaurants leasing from airports serve liquor. JIA looks like an old mall with the majority of tenant spaces boarded closed., weeds in overgrown flower beds, fast food trash littering the parking lots. There are many issues and alcohol is not one of them.
9:18 Precisely! ...because it mirrors Jackson!
9:18 - 1:26 did not say airlines serve liquor. He said selling liquor at AIRPORTS SERVED by airlines. Airports are served by airlines. Airlines don't sell liquor in airports and that claim was not made. Please pay better attention.
Yes, Kingfish, there will be stability at the airport, once a new regional governing authority is in place, instead of the barrel of selfish, "all about me", clueless incompetents are removed.
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