Friday, July 15, 2022

"Nonsensical"

 Special Chancellor Larry Roberts called Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba's arguments "nonsensical" in his order striking down the Mayor's veto of negative votes.  

The Jackson City Council sued Mayor Lumumba in Hinds County Chancery Court after he vetoed the Council's rejection of an emergency no-bid one-year garbage contract for Richard's Disposal. Mayor Lumumba claimed the rejection was an official action adopted by the Council and thus subject to his veto. 

All Hinds County Chancellors recused themselves.  Special Chancellor Larry Roberts held a hearing a week ago and ruled against Mayor Lumumba.  He issued his opinion this morning.  The opinion begins by pointing out Hizzoner vetoed the Council's rejection of motions four times: 

In this matter, the facts are undisputed. namely that l) the City Council on four occasions voted against certain orders presented to the council by the Mayor. including an ··Order Ratifying an Emergency Solid Waste Collection and Hauling Agreement with Richard's Disposal, Inc. for a Term of One (I) Year," and an "Order Authorizing the Mayor to Execute the Contract and Related Documents with Richard's Disposal, Inc. to Provide Solid Waste Collection and Hauling Services for a Six (6) Year Term Commencing April I, 2022 with Four (4) One (I) Year Extension Options;" 2) none of those items on those four occasions were adopted by a majority vote of the City Council members. meaning
those items foiled on a no vote or negative vote; and3) the Mavor issued written vetoes on all four of those votes.
Judge Roberts cited cases and Attorney General opinions as he prepared to strike the lethal blow to the Mayor's case: 

When a matter such as the solid waste contract in this matter was presented in a City meeting, the failed ratification to this Court constitutes inaction, not action, and the contract was never adopted by the City Council. Consequently, the Court agrees with the Attorney General's interpretation that when a matter is not passed by the city council, it is a negative action to which the mayor does not have the power to veto. It's an inaction; there's nothing there to veto. The Council did not pass affirmatively a matter; it rejected it.

However, the Court wanted to make sure the Mayor got the point:

 Interestingly, the mayor's argument appears somewhat nonsensical to the court.
as he decreed such an interpretation would cause irreparable harm to separation of powers and representative government: 

there would never be a tie vote of council with all council members present and voting. A mayoral veto of a failed mayoral supported motion with no 2/3rds council over-ride vote would effectively cause the motion to have passed the council. Such a conundrum would result in the creation of a municipal ordinance, passage of a motion, or other affirmative action of the council without there ever having been an 'affirmative' majority council vote. And such an interpretation would give the mayor 'creative legislative power' contrary to law, and effectively transform the majority vote legislative mandate into a 2/3rds over-ride vote requirement.


No adoption means there is no ordinance or motion to veto.

Mayor Lumumba has thirty days to appeal the order. He has indicated in interview he may indeed do so.  

 



Synopsis 

Richard's Disposal has collected Jackson's garbage since April 1.  Waste Management's contract to take up the trash expired April 1.  The Jackson City Council rejected Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba's recommendation to hire Richard's Disposal after completing the RFP process.   Richard's Disposal had the lowest bid for twice a week service but customers would be forced to purchase a 96-gallon garbage cart.   Waste Management had the lowest bid for twice a week service but without the garbage cart requirement, but the bid was still higher than the Richard's Disposal bid with the garbage cart requirement.   The City Council did not want to impose such a requirement on Jackson residents so it rejected the recommendation.  

The City Council formally notified Richard's Disposal on March 31 the Council would not pay the company for picking up garbage since it did not have a contract to do so.   

Hizzoner declared a state of emergency on April 1 and recommended awarding an emergency one-year no-bid contract to Richard's Disposal.  The Council rejected the contract on a 4-3 vote.  However, there was a little sideshow going on in Hinds County Chancery Court between the the two branches of government over the emergency contract. 

Special Chancellor Jess Dickinson ruled only the City Council could award contracts but only the Mayor could select the vendor.  Thus the Mayor must present the vendor to the City Council for approval but the Council can't choose vendors.  Standoff, right?  Guess again.  The Chancellor ruminated in the penumbras and discovered a Mayor might, possibly, theoretically veto what else but a negative vote of the City Council.  The Council would thus have to override the veto, requiring a supermajority, veto-proof vote.   Chancellor Dickinson stated in a footnote: 

For clarity, there does exist a possible exception not presented in this case thus far, where the Council rejects an emergency contract presented by the Mayor, the Mayor exercises his veto of the rejection, and the Council overrides the veto. The Mayor then would have the option of engaging the judicial system, claiming the Council was arbitrary and capricious in overriding the veto.

The footnote was quite the little hand grenade as the Mayor took it and blew up the separations of powers.  He vetoed the rejection of the emergency contract, calling it an official action of the City Council.  He proceeded to award the emergency no-bid contract to Richard's Disposal.  

The City Council sued Mayor Lumumba over the use of his veto in Hinds County Chancery Court.


30 comments:

Anonymous said...

With friends like the Mayor of Jackson does Richard's Disposal need enemies? Discuss.

Anonymous said...

Chowke will blame this on last weekend's Jackson gun show, right?

Mrs. Eastover said...

How many more years until Chokwe's term I finished...? Maybe the next dumbass will do a little better than the current dumbass... not holding my breath though...

The one positive about Chokwe... at least his grammar is not that bad...

Anonymous said...

So the question remains, will RDI still do pickups or stop to pack up?

Anonymous said...

"Common Sense is racist!" You heard it here first.

Anonymous said...

"Non-sensical" means "bless his heart" according to Black's Law Dictionary.

Anonymous said...

"So the question remains, will RDI still do pickups or stop to pack up?"

I don't think they'll quit picking up the garbage because that would probably be a breach of no contract, right.

Anonymous said...

How will Organized Crime deal with this? Maybe we can get Junk King, also out of NOLA and a 5 Star company, pickup where RDI drops off. Trucks are much more colorful.

Anonymous said...

Nonsensical the Musical to be performed downtown followed by a performance of Stomp by Richardsons

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be comical if Richard's leaves and WM decides that they don't want to deal with Jackson?

Anonymous said...

Has Baby Chowke announced his veteo of Chancellor Roberts yet?

Chokwe or the Highway said...

I think we need to veto this non-sensical court ruling.

Anonymous said...

The only thing I disagree with the judge on is the "somewhat" used in his statement. Even that is too much wiggle room for the slippery Mayor.

Anonymous said...

How does a citizen go about a petition to recall a mayor in MS?

Anonymous said...

I veto thee, I veto thee, I veto thee.

Anonymous said...

All the judge did was sign the order. It was written by Scanlon & Martin.

Kingfish said...

Shad has nothing to investigate and even then not until someone files a complaint.

Krusatyr said...

Council should push to issue new RFP now, this intant!, don't wait on RD lawsuit or Lil Choke's semian appeal threats.

Anonymous said...

2:00 - Good chance that may happen. Suppose the city ends up having to redo the RFP, which WM wins. Safe to assume mayor and his team will be all over them for bullshit pretexts to punish them, terminate for cause or whatever. May not be worth the hassle.

Justice for Trash said...

Y’all need to google “Richard’s Disposal reviews”. They have a 1.8 google rating. I’ve never seen a business with a score that low.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Sanderson farms will pick up then trash before the golf tournament , so keep dumping it on the Northeast jackson streets.

Anonymous said...

Judge Roberts to Jess Dickinson and Lil Chowke:

"YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID!"

If Lil Chowke insists on appealing this, the next opinion should be far more scathing. ("Surely he's not THAT dumb", I thought to myself... but every time I've had that thought... I was wrong. I guess it's easy to be stupid with tax payer's money.)

Anonymous said...

"nonsensical" pretty much covers the entire administration of the mayah.

Anonymous said...

Chockaway gonna wake up with a horse's head in the bed with him any day now.

Macy Hanson said...

The Mayor will likely next attempt to "veto" the Courts. Veto everything until he gets his way.

I can also personally attest to many of the arrogant airport behavior stories that I have read on this forum re: His Imminence. BIG TIME! I overheard him bragging about going to Boston for some big time event.

Anonymous said...

I said Lumumba was nonsense in a previous JJ post and that he outta be prosecuted for frivolous suits. Don't need a judge to figure this out, which should be a good thing since Dickinson ain't one.

Anonymous said...

So the kiddee Mayor appeals to the Miss. Supreme Court and then the U.S. Supreme Court. After that, what's next? The Hague?

Anonymous said...

What do any of the Jackson "leadership" care about lawsuits and lawyer fees? Other People's Money is used to back up their actions. And as we saw in the last election no one who doesn't pay taxes cares, while those that do head out of the city...

Anonymous said...

12:45 PM
He could try appealing to a federal court but they won't accept it because it's ultimately irrelevant to them. They deal in federal charges. This is a municipal problem solved (already) by State laws. It would be dismissed out of hand by the federal courts. I'm not even a lawyer and understand that.

Anonymous said...

Mayor could try making some chit up sovereign citizen style. Sometimes it fools some people for a hot minute.



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