McComb’s city board meeting was relatively free of conflict Tuesday night, but one issue did bring a flare-up to the boardroom.
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley broke a tie to pay a disputed bill from a Jackson attorney.
Selectman Devante Johnson moved to expand the agenda to approve paying attorney Sam Begley for defending the McComb Democratic Executive Committee in a lawsuit filed by former mayor Zach Patterson, who was a candidate for mayor this year.
Begley submitted a bill for $3,375.
Selectman Shawn Williams seconded Johnson’s motion, and consideration of the matter was approved with Selectmen Michael Cameron and Ted Tullos voting against. Selectmen Ronnie Brock and Donovan Hill participated in the meeting by phone.
Tullos contended that the city had no obligation to pay the bill.
“We are not supposed to pay bills we do not owe,” Tullos said. “The city never voted to hire the Begley law firm.”
During an executive session last week, board attorney Angela Cockerham had provided board members with some past opinions from the attorney general’s office that offered mixed support for the legality of the city’s paying for a party committee’s legal representation, but she suggested the city might want to seek an opinion covering its specific situation.
Williams said he would like to see that opinion before deciding on the payment.
Brock pointed out that the Democratic committee is elected by city voters in the party primary and consists of public officials.
“It should be clear that this is a bill we owe,” he said.
Cameron said the Democratic board members are not city employees and that paying the bill would “set a bad precedent” that city committees or members could “just go hire an attorney, and we have to pay. That’s totally wrong.”
Cameron said he thought the board had decided to wait on the new opinion from the AG’s office before paying the bill.
Cockerham reiterated that the prior opinions she had provided offered conflicting advice in some respects, and that was why she had recommended seeking a new opinion.
Williams again said he wanted to see the new opinion before voting to pay the bill. “If I’m going to put my name on this, I want to know it’s correct,” he said.
After a call for the vote by Brock, he, Hill and Johnson voted to pay the bill. Williams, a Democrat, sided with Republicans Cameron and Tullos not to pay the bill at that time.
Lockley broke the tie in favor of paying the bill.
Less contentious was the response to a $600 bill from rejected grant writer LaKeylah White.
White attempted to bill the city for time spent meeting with the board and negotiating terms of a proposed contract with Cockerham that would have paid White a $600 monthly fee plus other fees for writing grants for the city, with the $600 being due whether grants were awarded or not. That contract was rejected.
The board voted unanimously to direct Cockerham and City Administrator Kelvin Butler to write a letter to White denying payment of her bill.
