During the last McComb city board meeting of this term Thursday, outgoing Selectman Melvin Joe Johnson continued to fight for city employee pay raises. Instead, the selectman and mayor received raises.
The board voted 5-1, with Johnson opposed, to raise Mayor Whitney Rawlings’ annual salary from $18,000 to $36,000 beginning October 1. Selectmen also voted to increase the incoming board’s salary from $9,000 to $12,000. Deputy city clerk Sherry Spears said changes have not been made to the salaries in at least 10 years.
City administrator Quordiniah Lockley said the board asked him to make a salary recommendation, but he did not feel comfortable suggesting the pay for his superiors and gave the task back to Rawlings and the board.
Rawlings made the recommendation for the raises, doubling his salary and increasing the selectmen’s salary by one-third. The raises were not discussed at the June 3 work session, and the work session June 17 was canceled because of municipal elections.
Lockley said the incoming board is not allowed to vote on a salary change once in office, and the board must vote at the last meeting before the switch.
“I believe this is something we should do. It’s hard for us to sit here as a board ever to offer up ourselves and vote on ourselves a raise,” Rawlings said. “We do this for the incoming board, though most of us will be back except for Selectwoman Jordan and Selectman Johnson. This is for our own benefit, it would seem.
“I look at what is involved in our tasks and in our work and other municipalities in our state, and I think this is the right thing for us to be doing,” the mayor said.
Johnson said he was concerned about giving the incoming board and mayor a raise when city employees haven’t had a raise in seven years.
“Why can’t we — and I’ve been asking since December of 2013 — give our employees a raise?” Johnson asked. “I still think it’s a bad deal to overlook the employees. That’s just a slap in the face. All of the sudden, you just got in, so you’re going to get one (a raise) in the budget this year.”
Selectman Tommy McKenzie asked before voting on the measure if a raise was going to be included in the upcoming budget.
Lockley said he is working on the 2014-15 fiscal year budget now and intends to include a 3 percent raise for all city employees who have been with the city at least one year.
Rawlings said he was able to discuss the raises before the meeting with all of the selectmen except Johnson, who said he was surprised by the move.
The board met Thursday because they were in Biloxi on Tuesday for the Mississippi Municipal League convention.
The board also:
• Approved the promotion of four McComb firefighters: Gary McKenzie to lieutenant, Eric Bass to lieutenant, Jacob Conerly to engineer and Preston Wells to captain.
• Learned from board attorney Wayne Dowdy that the eminent domain proceedings for the city to acquire Greenwood Cemetery are nearly complete.
A final court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12, and the last owner Dowdy said the city could locate was E.C. Sharp in 1896.
• Repealed a section of the city’s code that said, “Dogs impounded under this article and not redeemed after proper advertisement within the six-day period shall be sold or destroyed by the city.”
Lockley said this was the last step required to make the McComb Animal Shelter a no-kill shelter, though the animal control officers have not killed an animal for space reasons or length of stay in more than three years. Lockley also said this would help the shelter get more donations since many people are not in favor of kill shelters.
• Authorized a $300 clothing allowance every six months for three investigators and one supervisor in the McComb Police Department.
Police Chief Scott McKenzie these funds were for their street clothes when on duty.
• Authorized a $4,233 payment to National Union Fire Insurance Co. of New York, New York, for accidental insurance coverage for McComb Recreation Department event participants from July 6, 2014, to July 6, 2015.
• Authorized a $9,000 payment to Master Meter Systems for annual maintenance and phone support through June 2015.
• Authorized a $4,003 payment to Dickerson & Bowen of Brookhaven for the 10-street overlay project.
Public works director Phillip Russell said striping on the streets should be finished within the next few weeks.
• Authorized a $7,500 payment for the city’s match toward the Recycling Pike County Cooperative grant.
• Approved a permit with AT&T to install underground cables along 24th Street between South Broadway and LaSalle Street.
