McComb could have some permanent department heads in place this coming Tuesday, but some selectmen are concerned about the hiring process.
City Administrator Kelvin Butler said he expects to have recommendations for police chief, city clerk, deputy city clerk, board attorney, municipal court judges, city prosecutor and public defender.
The holders of all those positions were declared interim at the July 10 board meeting, the first of the new term of office.
However, Butler himself was also made an interim employee at the July 10 meeting, and selectmen questioned how his status might affect other appointments.
“What if you aren’t the administrator?” Selectman Ted Tullos asked. “Are we going to have to do this over again?”
Selectman Michael Cameron expressed similar concerns.
“If his job is in question, I think that position should be filled before the others are up for consideration for four years,” he said.
Selectman Devante Johnson asked if a recommendation for the city administrator’s position would be offered, and Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said he was interviewing candidates Thursday.
In other business this past Tuesday, selectmen Donovan Hill and Shawn Williams asked Paul Singleton about the oversight and maintenance of the Alpha Center in Baertown.
Asked if a board governs the center’s operations, Singleton said there was a board, but “everybody’s dead but me.”
Singleton said the library branch in the center gets no funding from the Pike-Amite-Walthall Library System, and gets little to nothing for serving as a voting precinct.
“I’ve just kept it open myself, out of my own pocket,” Singleton said.
He said he would glad to sit down and talk about offers to help with cleaning or maintenance, though someone checks the building periodically and makes repairs or arranges for repairs to be made.
He added the county mows the grass at the center, while the city has contributed nothing tangible to the center. He said the center’s parking lot could use some attention.
Hill and Williams said they would do what they could to assist the center.
Also during the meeting, Butler gave board members a budget update.
After meeting with all department heads, Butler said the city is looking at $11,434,000 in revenues, including $5.9 million in sales tax returns.
“That had been moved down to $5.7 million, but we have moved that back up,” Butler said.
The decrease was made by former finance director Janice Dillon, who resigned last week.
Butler said court fines and fees were figured at $550,000, but “we feel that may be a little lower.”
He noted the hiring freeze put in place to help address a possible shortfall in available funding from Oct. 1 through the beginning of 2019 should help the city.
The board also:
• Agreed to put off consideration of canceling the city’s lease of the Martin Luther King Center to the school board until after Superintendent Dr. Cederick Ellis can meet with the school board on Sept. 4.
• Heard a complaint from Malcolm Myers that the police department could not tell him where his impounded car is.
• Heard a request from LaKeylah White of Grants Unlimited for consideration of her business as a grant writer for the city.
• Considered adding a message about a citywide clean-up to water bills.
• Put off consideration of another car for use in conducting city business.
• Noted that openings still remain on the historic preservation commission and the licensing board of electrical/plumbing/mechanical contractors.
• Discussed membership in the Statewide Mutual Aid Compact.
• Learned that Cornelia Gayden, Clinnesha Sibley and Debra Waterman will be working with the Mayor’s Youth Council.
• Was notified of an open records and public records class and a small town conference sponsored by the Mississippi Municipal League.
• Delayed consideration of a food and beverage tax and how to address abandoned or disabled cars in yards.
