McComb selectmen decided not to wait for a ruling in Mayor Zach Patterson’s court case against the city, voting Tuesday night to reinstate Greg Martin as interim chief of police and Rachel Michel as city attorney.
Patterson filed a claim in Pike County Circuit Court on Dec. 9, seeking a declaratory judgment defining the mayor’s and selectmen’s powers and duties under the McComb City Charter.
In introducing the motion to reinstate Martin and Michel and make City Administrator Jim Storer’s dismissal retroactive to Sept. 23 — when selectmen fired him — Selectman E.C. Nobles said the board had hoped that the case would have already been decided.
The selectmen voted 4-2 to return Martin and Michel to their former posts and make Storer’s termination retroactive.
Mayor Zach Patterson in September refused to acknowledge the board’s vote to terminate Storer or Storer’s resignation.
After the motion to consider the matter on the three officials, Patterson told the board, “Gentlemen, it has been obvious that there has been a meeting before the meeting and the vote has been decided. Are you ready to vote on this again?”
Later in the meeting, Patterson said Storer gave him a letter of retirement on Feb. 3. Storer’s last day as city administrator is Friday. Patterson said city recreation director Joseph Parker will serve as interim city administrator.
Patterson also criticized selectmen for reinstating Michel, whose actions as board attorney he claimed violated the charter and state law.
In his closing remarks to the board, Storer said he regretted leaving the city, adding, “I feel that I have offered what I have been allowed to offer to the city.”
Storer told the board there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done, “but I must frankly tell you that I have not enjoyed working with the majority of you, who are mean-spirited and destructive in your behavior.”
Selectmen Robert Earl Smith and Melvin “Joe” Johnson opposed returning Martin and Michel to their former jobs.
Smith declined to comment on his vote after the meeting.
Johnson said he opposed reappointing Martin because of Patterson’s pending case against the city. Johnson said he opposed Michel’s appointment because she had not done her job when she was city attorney.
At the close of the meeting, Patterson thanked interim Police Chief Mark Anderson, interim city attorney Angela Miller and Storer for their service.
Patterson then took the selectmen to task for re-hiring Michel. Patterson fired Michel on Dec. 11, claiming that she did not do work for city in a timely manner and refused to prosecute Martin during a personnel hearing.
Patterson accused the selectmen of trying to supervise the city attorney, adding that Michel seemed to agree with the board on that issue.
“I will tell you that you are in strict violation of the law when you try to communicate with that attorney in other matters and so far as supervising her,” he said.
Patterson said the selectmen were forbidden by law to be involved in the daily operations of the city.
He said he had instructed Miller to prepare a list of pending legal matters that needed immediate attention.
“These items are pressing needs, and some will be overdue very soon,” Patterson said.
Patterson then moved to adjourn the meeting, but Nobles said he wanted to discuss hiring an interim city administrator.
When Patterson said the motion was out of order, Nobles used a parliamentary maneuver and offered a substitute motion to discuss the city administrator.
Patterson said that under the city charter the board votes on a candidate submitted “under the advice and recommendation of the mayor.”
“As such time as I decide that I have a candidate for city administrator, I will do such,” he said.
“There will not be a city administrator brought before this board for voting until I give my advice and recommendation. I will bring one to the table one day.”
Nobles then moved to appoint former assistant public works director Quordiniah Lockley as interim city administrator, but the board took no action.
Patterson said Storer had already named Parker as interim city administrator, adding that Storer had the authority to do so under the city charter.
He said that any move to bring in an outside person as interim administrator “will not be honored by the mayor of McComb, Mississippi.”
Selectman Danny Esch asked Parker, who was at the meeting, if he wanted to be interim city administrator.
Parker said he told Storer that he would be glad to fill in as a deputy city administrator “in the effort of teamwork and to keep the wheels running, such as that.
“I did not ask at that time to be interim city administrator,” he said, adding that he had not discussed being interim city administrator with Storer.
“I did agree to help out the city in any way possible,” Parker said, adding that until Storer said he was retiring, he thought Storer was taking a leave of absence.
The discussion over the interim city administrator brought comments from Selectman Robert Maddox, who said he was not aware of some of the items discussed during the meeting.
“Some of these things — I haven’t heard of them,” he said.
“You know all the information,” Johnson said. “Every time the other three over here throw up their hands, you throw up your hand.”
Maddox said the board and the mayor need to do a better job of communicating.
Patterson said the board has work sessions, but claimed no one except Johnson and Smith attend.
Because there is a small attendance at the work sessions, Patterson said, “that leads me to believe that you’ve had some discussions, otherwise, you’d have these discussions at the work session to work things out.”
Patterson said there was no attempt by the selectmen to work things out.
He said the selectmen relied on “hearsay” from private conversations with city employees, “and inquire about things, that really, quite frankly, are not your business.”
Patterson cited Nobles’ investigation into Storer’s compensatory time as an example.
“The City of McComb is in the business of efficiency and effective management,” he said. “We’re not an employment agency. We’re here to make sure that everyone has job security and they have a job. We’re not here to employ anyone for the sake of employment.
“We’re here to have an efficient and effective organization before the citizens of McComb, who demand such.”
