McComb Mayor Zach Patterson said Tuesday he is disturbed by what he called secrecy that went into planning the Aug. 21 special called board meeting and questioned city administrator Sam Mims’ involvement in it.
“There are no secrets from the mayor of this city,” Patterson said after Tuesday’s city board meeting.
An agenda item called by Patterson to spell out Mims’ duties died for a lack of a motion, so the mayor discussed it at length after the board adjourned.
The mayor said he took issue with the fact that Mims did not notify him of the Aug. 21 meeting.
“I felt there was no obligation to personally contact the mayor,” Mims said this morning, adding that he does not usually contact every city official after a meeting is called.
After the special called August meeting, Patterson requested Mims submit a written report on how the meeting was planned and why Mims did not notify him.
After the meeting, Patterson passed out copies of Mims’ report, dated Aug. 28. The report said selectmen Danny Esch and Bob Maddox had scheduled a special meeting to take place after an Aug. 21 budget workshop to discuss a lawsuit filed against the city by the Enterprise-Journal and Southwest Broadcasting over open meetings law violations.
It takes at least two selectmen to call a special meeting, and Patterson said he could not find evidence of McComb selectmen ever calling a meeting before.
However, after Maddox and Esch signed papers to request the meeting, Maddox backed out and asked his name be removed from the order, the report read.
Patterson said the meeting should have been cancelled then.
“The meeting was off at that point — at least it should have been,” Patterson said.
Mims’ letter stated that Selectman David Myers inquired about the status of the meeting and volunteered to substitute his name after hearing that Maddox had backed out. Myers also requested three items be added to the agenda, the letter said.
“It indicated to me that there was a meeting before the meeting,” Patterson said.
Patterson said he was given the three-hour minimum notice required by law, which he said gave him too little time to prepare for it.
Besides settling the lawsuit, selectmen transferred control of the Department Community Relations and Tourism from the mayor to Mims but preserved Patterson’s supervision over the police department the board’s travel vouchers.
Patterson said the meeting was aimed at diluting his power.
As for the suit, he said the city had until Sept. 9 to respond to it and said there was no hurry for a special meeting.
Patterson warned Mims and other city officials to not keep city business hidden from him and reminded audience members that he has the power to discipline city officials.
Patterson called it a “dereliction of duty” if Mims tried to keep notice of the meeting from him.
“I don’t think it’s a dereliction of duty. I followed the procedure established by state law,” Mims said.
Mims wrote in his letter to the mayor, “I did not personally notify you of this matter, nor did I personally notify any of the other officials who did not execute the special call document, and I felt there was no obligation on my part to make a notification other than the service of the special call notice.”
Patterson said that in 2004 Myers was upset with Mims for not notifying him of a special called meeting.
Patterson also criticized Mims’ report, claiming it omitted details, including City Clerk Laura Burris’ role in setting up the meeting.
He said he will request a report from all city department heads about their knowledge of the Aug. 21 meeting.
“We’ve got to make sure we have team players, and you can only have one coach,” Patterson said.
The mayor also said he was frustrated that he found out through the Enterprise-Journal that city’s ending fund balance for 2007-08 was more than $600,000 instead of around $7,000.
Preliminary budget estimates included the lower figure until an error was discovered.
Patterson also chided Enterprise-Journal Editor Jack Ryan for unfair criticism and coverage of the city during his administration, claiming most of his proposals have been shot down by Ryan without a chance.
The mayor also discussed the appointment of Eliece Rayborn to McComb school board. He said the reason he offered her name was because the board was deadlocked on all other candidates.
Near the end of his chat with the audience, Patterson urged attendees to visit his Web site at www.zachpatterson.com
