So said Madison County Supervisor Casey Brannon to fellow Supervisors Gerald Steen, Karl Banks, and Paul Griffin after the Gang of Three snuck through a road plan that kept all the road money for themselves. Needless to say, Supervisors Brannon and Trey Baxter were not pleased.
The agenda for the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday stated there would be discussion of the unfunded road plan. The Board creates a list of road projects to be considered for county funding. The unfunded road plan is a wish list of sorts while the "funded" road plan is the list of road projects (derived from the unfunded list) that will be funded by the county. The Supervisors submit their recommendations and traditionally issue the list of funded list in February. Therein lies the rub.
The meeting was rocking along until it was time to discuss the unfunded road plan. The Gang of Three produced a funded road plan. There was no notice to the public nor was it mentioned on the agenda. Emotions ran hot among Republican Supervisors Brannon (District 1) and Trey Baxter (District 2) when they realized the list did not include any roads in their district save for one that is already under construction.
The projects will be funded by county tax revenue and a $6.5 million bond package.
The controversy began when the Gang of Three discussed spending a million dollars for a wastewater improvement project by Camden.
"That's all well and fine," said Brannon, "but that million dollars comes at the expense of the taxpayers of District 1. " "And two," chimed in Baxter.
Gang of Three ringleader Republican Gerald Steen (District 3) said the expense was spread across the county. "But District 1 is getting zero, taking their million dollars to pay for a project we don't even have anything set up for. So District 1 is paying for this," retorted Brannon. However, the city of Madison's Supervisor was just getting warmed up.
"The fact that this is coming out, it's been ready, apparently y'all have made the decision weeks in advance. It's unscrupulous and underhanded and it deserves to be thrown in the garbage," said Brannon. "Abomination" yelled Baxter.
Democrat Paul Griffin (District 5) gave it right back to the two Republicans: "It's not underhanded, I called." "Did you call me and say hey, we are getting our road plan together in the middle of December when we normally do it in February?" replied Brannon. "Gerald working with the two Democrats," chirped Baxter.
Brannon asked the Board to "disperse" the funded list presented and create a funded road plan in February as the Board has done in the past. The District 1 Supervisor said he was not against the Camden wastewater project as long as it didn't come at the expense of road projects in his district. He said "taxpayers pay their money and expect to get something in return. Everyone sitting up here can see this is not right and two districts have nothing on the road list because they were not informed, were not notified."
The Republican moved to reject the plan and follow the normal practice of approving the plan in February. Although Baxter seconded the motion, Griffin made a secondary motion to approve the funded road plan list.
Baxter asked County Engineer Tim Bryan "Is the funded road plan on the agenda?" "I don't believe so," replied the successor to Rudy Warnock.
"This list is an abomination and y'all should be ashamed. It's underhanded. You should be ashamed if you vote "yes" for this," raged Brannon. "Shame," said Baxter as he once again piled on his fellow Republican's remarks.
Griffin's motion passed 3-2 as Republican Gerald Steen voted with Democrats Griffin and Banks.
Steen goaded Baxter, "I'm glad you finally woke up there on that end. You haven't been awake the whole year." "Gerald votes with Democrats," exclaimed Baxter. Griffin fired right back at Baxter "I'm a Democrat. I'm proud to be one,"
"Roads and potholes are not Democrats or Republicans," said Brannon. As Steen said the Board would move on to the next agenda item, Brannon skewered the Gang of Three: "I hope you choke on your Christmas presents."
Kingfish note: Hmmmm..... the real question is whether Steen, Banks, and Griffin met to discuss the funded road plan. If so, did they meet in person or over the phone? It is an important issue as such meetings are illegal.
Funded Road List
Unfunded Road List
34 comments:
Can the Three Musketeers say walking quorum?
Follow the money, Shad. You probably are scared you’ll piss off Madison County and you are thinking that but the people you piss off were not going to vote for you in the first place and those that may need some encouragement besides headlines about $2,000.
Is a primary held to vote out Steen? As a Ridgeland resident I want his ass gone.
Laughing my ass off. So there's trouble in paradise, huh?
What exactly can he do here? Supes can abuse the road funding process the way they did here all they want.
Why don't these 2 surpervisors file to obtain a TRO and injunction?
The Madison is doomed.
Steen up to his usual trademark underhanded tricks.
BUT...Trey Baxter and Sheila Jones teamed up with Griffin awhile back to take all the road money away from David Bishop and our District 4. I hate it for Brannon, but it's payback time for Trey!!! If Trey and Sheila had not been so determined to undermine Bishop, we would not be in the position now with Banks and Steen ripping off the county. Trey, Sheila and Bishop had the one chance to work together to turn county government around. Instead, they got into a stupid pissing contest and all three were too pig-headed to realize they were guaranteeing Banks and Steen's return to power.
You know damn good and well the Three Amigos had already discussed this and set out their road plan. Gerald Steen is nothing but a RINO.
The "Christmas presents" that he is referring to are "envelopes," i.e. palm grease.
Steen=Gone.
Tribal warfare. Nobody is ever happy. Bitch bitch bitch.
9:25am
Steen has been untouchable. Most voters have no clue about what's going on in the political world. If their supervisor keeps the roads good in their district, they will vote for him every time. Steen gets what he wants for his district.
Also, you can't vote him out if no one runs against him. The supervisor pay is not good enough for most people to stick their necks out and enter the nasty political arena. There have been viable candidates that were interested in running, but Steen has been able to pull strings to discourage them....such as having their boss tell them he would fire them if they ran, etc.
Politics is dirty, film at 11:00.
Special people get what they want or scream racism. Gotta love it.
It pains me to say this, but Karl Banks is the best one of the 5. Gerald is slimy, Paul is racist, Trey is incompetent, and Casey is even more incompetent than Trey. I would honestly love to get rid of all 5.
You should run against him
As a Ridgeland Resident I am proud of my supervisor. The fact of the matter is that Ridgeland taxpayers have paid the largest share of taxes in the county for years, We have never complained and have always been glad to help keep all of Madison County strong.
Caseys problem is he has integrity and expects everyone else to also act with integrity. He shouldn't be surprised that he stepped in shit.
The human race has become unworthy of progress. We are ungodly by every metric. Yeah yeah, some of you will argue but that just proves the point.
Steen better get ready to buy every vote he can get because an awful lot of people are going to be voting AGAINST him in the next election.
Business as usual in Madison County. The trough is overflowing and the hogs have always run that show.
11:10, The human race has always been ungodly. That's why we need God.
11:10am.....see 10:08am above. You need two candidates to have a choice...
Sounds like Brannon and Baxter got "cooked" as the kids say these days. And then instead of handling it on the merits, they resorted to calling people democrats.
Interesting Brannon's website extols his Christian values. I wonder what Jesus would say about "I hope you choke on your Christmas presents.
Not a very Christian sentiment, prayers sent.
The fact of the matter is that Ridgeland taxpayers have paid the largest share of taxes in the county for years
Link? Anything? Put up. Because it is bullshit.
>they resorted to calling people democrats.
They aren't wrong.
Right. My point is that as a team the human race is likely on tap for a extinction event. And it is well deserved.
It's a lot like when Hinds county somehow managed to replace Mike with Bobby. All because Mike actually spent his money on roads. Can't have that !!!
Steen does this every year, so the theatrics are a waste of time. Three supervisors are clearly conducting business outside of public meetings in violation of the law. What can anyone do when there are no teeth in the Open Meetings law?
Steen teams up with Banks and Griffin to make sure he gets what he wants for his district. He basically does what Gene McGee tells him to do.
A lot of money is going to projects that are not road related. You would think this should be problematic.
Supposedly Steen wants Gene McGee’s job when he finally croaks. Let’s hope others run against him when the time comes.
Kingfish nailed it. There is no way three supervisors could agree ahead of the meeting on this plan unless they violated open meetings laws.
People have been saying that for years about a lot of politicians. And they just keep rolling.
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