Saying he cannot be held accountable for funds he no longer has authority over, McComb Mayor Zach Patterson said he will no longer sign city checks, including employee paychecks, which are supposed to go out Thursday.
Unless the board of selectmen reassigns that authority to the city administrator, city employees may not get paid on time.
Checks from the city require two signatures. Currently, the mayor and the chief financial officer, Mary Adams, sign them.
A meeting was held at 2 p.m. today to give check-signing authority to City Administrator Quordiniah Lockley.
Lockley said city attorney Wayne Dowdy will research the issue and advise the board today.
Lockley reportedly told K106 radio station this morning that city employees would be paid with paper checks tomorrow instead of using direct deposit.
He said the employees would have to go to their banks and make their deposits in person.
Patterson’s announcement came in a letter that was distributed to the board and the media just before Tuesday’s board meeting ended.
“The city administrator has been given my duties and responsibilities, according to you and the amendments of the charter,” he told the selectmen after the letter had been distributed.
“So I think you need to make provisions for somebody to be responsible for signing the warrants and the checks of the city of McComb, Miss.”
Selectman Bob Maddox asked Dowdy about the proper procedure in light of the mayor’s announcement.
“I’ve never been confronted by such a thing as this,” Dowdy said. “This is such a highly, highly, highly unusual matter, and I will be glad to research it,” he said.
Selectmen E.C. Nobles and Wade Lamb said they were surprised by the mayor’s action.
Nobles said the mayor’s announcement stems from Patterson’s opposition to Lockley’s hiring.
“This is very nuclear in nature — it’s like the nuclear option; it’s the last resort,” Nobles said. “I don’t think that because he’s upset about the hiring of one man that he should hurt the employees.
“It upsets me that one man is so childish to hurt the employees of city of McComb who are out there working very hard to keep the city afloat,” he said.
Nobles questioned the timing of the mayor’s announcement, which was two days before city employees are paid.
“This is going to seriously affect employees at the end of the month when bills are due, when they have to pay children’s tuition for college, utility bills and mortgages as well as various other payments,” he said.
Nobles said the board and Lockley will find a solution to get the employees their pay.
“They may have to wait until Friday, but we’re going to make sure they get paid,” he said. “We’re waiting to hear from Wayne Dowdy to see which direction they should go.”
“I’m still shocked that the mayor would do something like that to the city’s employees and then wait to tell us (on Tuesday), knowing it was too late to get the employees paid,” said Selectman Wade Lamb.
“The employees are not a party to the power struggle going on at City Hall. If there is a conflict between the mayor and the board, it needs to remain between the mayor and the board.”
He said the board will do whatever it takes to get the employees paid.
Citing ordinance amendments approved on June 9 that diluted the mayor’s power, Patterson said that since he no longer has supervisory responsibility, “I shall no longer be accountable for expenditures from the coffers of the city of McComb.”
“Additionally, I will not be held accountable for funds expended by officers or the city administrator whom I believe were unlawfully hired by a majority vote of the selectmen of the city of McComb,” Patterson wrote, referring to Lockley’s hiring and the hiring of Police Chief Greg Martin, Fire Chief B.J. Nettles and City Clerk Jeanette Butler.
The board in July hired Lockley, a former assistant public works director, as city administrator.
Patterson, however, said he never signed Lockley’s hiring order because he is not Lockley’s supervisor. Since the board hired him, the mayor said, the board should sign the hiring order.
Patterson also said Lockley has received a paycheck despite the lack of a hiring order, adding that the check was for 40 hours — one week’s pay — instead of 80.
Lockley, he said, asked for a check for the back pay, which Patterson refused to sign. Patterson said Lockley then asked that the missing 40 hours be put on the next paycheck.
Lockley said he never instructed anyone at City Hall to prepare a paycheck for him. When Patterson refused to sign a paper check for the unpaid balance, “I talked to the staff, and they recommended putting it on the next check,” Lockley said.
Besides refusing to sign checks, the mayor also said he was removing his authority for anyone to use his pre-printed stationery, or electronic or stamp signatures for checks or invoices.
Patterson said he believes the city’s bills should be paid and employees should be paid, but he was no longer in a position to verify hours that the employees work.
“Do I understand that this means none of the employees are going to be paid on Thursday?” Lamb asked Patterson.
“If you can find somebody to sign the checks,” Patterson said, adding that it makes no sense for him to sign paychecks for people he has no authority over. “These checks need to be signed, and I’m not going to sign them.”
