Jackson Jambalaya

Hello? Shad?

Will they have to show the lease contracts for their BMWs?

I am certainly not a fan of the present CMU organization. However, in fairness, look at the dates. The current administration is having to clean up the illegal mess left by John Wallace. Wallace is the one who illegally raised the rates. John Wallace never followed the law, because nobody would do anything to him. So don't blame Kenny Wayne Jones, etc. for this one. Not that Kenny Wayne is a saint, because he ain't.

Soooo, all of those outside of Canton muni but subject to CMU utilities are getting f’d? Is that right?

With CMU it is not about saving customers money, but it is more about keeping family and friends happy and employed. The CMU Board is rewarded handsomely for their service. They are eligible for health insurance, state retirement and receive a salary. CMU will go out of it's way to avoid efficiencies in order to keep family and friends employed. Yeah if you live outside the city limits of Canton you are getting screwed. Taxation without representation. The present leadership could change things but they are no more than a puppet. How do you explain the hiring of Canton Alderman Eric Gilkey as safety coordinator? What are his qualifications?

Kingfish, seriously can you verify that the board members of these private water entities participate in PERS? I would be shocked.

@7:05. CMU is quasi public. Their employees are part of the PERS system. I have relatives who have worked there. To my knowledge, I do believe that their board member are also in the PERS system. I'm 99% sure kingfish is correct.

@4:30 has it figured out. That is correct. Lake Caroline is getting gang raped. I just can't believe their residents are not busting down the door at the PSC to protest. They are just laying back and taking it.

CMU will have to hire cpas and grave diggers to get these numbers....and Cecil wants it by 8/1/19?

Righttttttt

@7:05. Please don't confuse a government entity like CMU with water entities that are rural water associations (North Hinds, East Madison, Fannin Water, Bear Creek Water). While both have a board, rural water associations are not public. Neither their employees nor board members get PERS retirement.

CMU employees get PERS retirement, and I believe their board members do also.

Hey if the white folks in lake Caroline won’t to keep paying for the CMU commissioners to drive new BMWs every 3 years then go for it CMU. Hell why not get Bentley’s like your lawyers. The people in Lake Caroline are incompetent.

JIM HOOD JUST KEEP LOOKING THE OTHER WAY....

Canton Alderman Eric Gilkey voted to appoint ALL of the currently seated CMU commissioners, THEN the same commissioners voted to hire Alderman Gilkey as the GD Vice President of CMU. AND pay him $225,000 a year AND leased him a brand new Lexus. This is how CMU is spending the ratepayers money. IF i were Nissan and the other automobile makers in Madison County I would SUE the AG, State Auditor and the DA for allowing this fraud.

Canton City Hall - where the family trees have no branches.

Hilarious that someone would attempt to hang this crap on John Wallace.

It all falls squarely at the feet of the 'It's Our Turn' gang. And that includes the Blackmons. Almost included Espy and Rudy but they got run off.

Kudos to the MPSC and especially Cecil for looking into this.

Where is the DA? Why are my tax dollars paying for a DA who is doing nothing? Madison County wake up. We need a DA that will protect our money and not play politics. OR make excuses.

@1:50 the Blackmons, Espy, and Rudy were not involved on August 4, 2009 or October 1, 2012 when rates were illegally implemented. John Wallace was in charge at that time. Also, if you read previous correspondence in this matter, you will see that the transfers to the City of Canton and the Canton Redevelopmnet Authority started over 20 years ago (under John Wallace). They were recently stopped under CMU GM Stephen Thompson. Read all the documents and look at the dates. It ain't hard.

Is Elvis still mixed up with CMU?

Madison County pays the board attorney $250k per year. CMU pays the Blackmon’s over $1,000,000 per year.

Canton is now the Jackson of Madison County. Mary needs to launch a "hostile takeover" before Canton destroys Madison, as Gluckstadt can't hold off the spreading plague of incomptency and likely corruption.

@ 5:39pm--it's not just lake Caroline but people living in canton too. Wallace, Montgomery, Buttross and Simpson orchestrated quite a scam on everyone. simpson and staff needs to be investigated for time theft and their expenses audited. CRA has mishandled funds/resources as long as simpson was ex director. Her successor who had no qualifications continued simpson's ways and they both left the organization bankrupt. Her church buddies Montgomery and Wallace covered up for her. Redevelopment owned numerous properties that were all allowed to deteriorate. Ole high school promoted to public as a nice upper end apt facility by a reputable company. That "reputable company" it turns out was developing HUD apartments and Simpson knew it. This "reputable company" is currently not treating their tenants right. All the properties owned the CRA? Follow the $'s! Who did Simpson sell them to and ask what price? Where did the funds from sale of these properties go? Often sold below market value. Simpson retired with full benefits from State retirement system when she knew her gig was up. She stayed on til the high school renovations were well underway in order to allow developers exceptions to ordinances and historic preservation issues. Full benefits for someone who worked less than 20 hrs a week and took extended leaves of absence without docking herself. Yes, people in canton were scammed too as Simpson and CRA failed in their mission.

IF the canton school district is dissolved (city officials decide to dissolve) the those students will flood the county schools and you folks in Madison, Ridgeland and Gluckstadt will be back to selling land by the acre. WE need to get a handle on the storm that’s brewing in CANTON.

I hope the requested information to MS PSC gives the State Auditor office the door to bust this wide open!!

Some people get it and some don't. CMU and Canton currently have some crooks (Eric Gilkey for example). They have been associated with folks like Rudy and Kenny Wayne Jones in the past. So the current group ain't good.

However, you can't blame current crooks for something that happened before their time. For example, you may not like Trump or Obama, but to blame them for Pearl Harbor would be stupid.

The document says that CMU illegally implemented rates in 2009. That was John Wallace as the GM. That was Charles Weems and friends on the board. That was probably Bob Montgomery as the attorney. So don't blame the present day crooks for this one.

Per 10:31am---"WE" need to get busy as Canton no longer has functional pro-business groups and their civic organizations has no one interested in taking a stand on political issues. The Chamber/Main Street Program has not done anything in the past 5 years and realistically, the past 20. NISSAN's Pam Confer effectively killed off what was left of the Chamber by using it to promote her singing and her business. The Chamber/Main Street Board was not an educated or informed board and has not had the community or business community at heart in years--all resume seekers. Need proof? Look at downtown Canton--once so vital and now limping alone. The current board is negligent and there appears to be no interest in revamping the organizations with educated people as Ex Director and as board members. Where did their revenue go? The Board was not held accountable for the scope of work that they were responsible for administering. A social media company continues to use the Chamber/Mainstreet page to present the illusion that it is operational when it's not. The City's contract with them should not be renewed as events aren't well attended and news about the community is only limited to what tourism office wants publicized. The coalition mentioned in 9:53am's post effectively destroyed all business and community input by negating anyone who dared to speak up and out. Friends of the coalition will not challenge or
confront them our of fear of recrimination. "WE" is there a plan???

I have lived in Canton for the last 50 years and yes CMU is an agency of the City. It has been a total rip off for all those 50 years. Lawyer Montgomery set the framework for this scam but the last few years thing have gotten really out of control.

It is just not CMU. All of the city Agencies need to have forensic audit's. Canton, in my opinion, doesn't really want to be all inclusive city. Shame.

Where is the audit CMU was to produce months ago for 2018????

@4:20pm

I don't think there are many towns/cities in America that want to be inclusive.

It’s Canton. CMU will ignore the order

@4:20 my understanding is that CMU has one or more audits that the auditor will not finalize. This is because of some potential pending liabilities from several pending lawsuits. Such as their lawsuit against them from Rudy Warnock. Will CMU win and owe Rudy ZERO, or will CMU have to pay Warnock $6,000,000 million dollars? How should the auditor book that potential unknown claim?

@7:21, What is Elvis/Tim J's connection to CMU?

Canton Tourism Board was mentioned above. Director and Board Chair live in Rankin County. At least one of the other four board members doesn’t live in Canton.

@5:05pm. Don’t forget about the lawsuit against them files by the Madison county wastewater board for overcharging the customers over $2,000,000.

@ 6:56pm. You are correct. Padgett is a first class narcissist. May Flea Market was a disaster as she did not want to cancel it out of pride. Padgett had the audacity to tell people not to listen to meteorologists and come to the Flea Market. Yet, other communities in the metro area were canceling and rescheduling their events. Vendors lost thousands of dollars. She put many people at risk with the lightening and flash flooding. Complaints were promptly deleted from Tourism's FB page which is conveniently managed by the son of one of her employees. @2:38pm--correct in that all agencies need to have a forensic audit. Montgomery is also the attorney for Tourism.

@10:56... showing your hand this easily? There were at most 5 people that didnt' agree with Canton Tourism about NOT cancelling the Flea Market. The Canton Flea Market isn't some mom & pop weekend flea market. You can't just cancel it 3-5 days in advance because a chance of rain.

All you guys are delusional and prove that Canton, MS is nothing more than a dysfunctional community. This post started off about CMU and somehow it has turned into a personal attack of the few good people that are trying to accomplish something in Canton. First of all 6:56 the director and chairman you refer to of Canton Tourism has a large stake in Canton with 2 successful restaurants. So what that he doesn't live in Canton, the Police Chief doesn't either, nor do half of the other department heads and alderman. 10:56, Jan Padgett does a pretty good job of running things based on her budget. If it weren't for her you wouldn't find anyone coming to your corner to rent space for the flea market The spring flea market had a lot of rain, but there were still people driving up from Louisiana to shop. How many came by your booth? Did you help her with the Balloon Festival? Sure it is not what is use to be, but it is a lot better under her watch than under the Parks and Rec. Department for the City of Canton. 12:45 your problem isn't the lack of a Chamber/Main Street, your problem is you. All you want to do is complain and blame your problems on everyone else when in reality you are the problem. If you would offer solutions and not throw rocks at everyone you may have customers in your store. Your mom and dad were pillars of the community, you are a roadblock. Come on people wake up! Canton can be a better community. We need leadership and not stone throwers!

Re: post made 7/11 @ 11:41pm
7/11 @ pm. Find another target for your frustrations as you have the wrong one!

People hesitate to speak up/out in Canton due to the ramifications of doing so including unjust attacks like yours. A new FB thread gripes about the lack of good restaurants in Canton. Are these posters negative or "road blocks" because they express their opinions & discuss the problems and realities of Canton?

Canton does need a Chamber of Commerce and/or Main Street.
These programs are usually beneficial to a community when they are properly organized and managed. Enough said.