McComb Mayor Zach Patterson chided Enterprise-Journal Editor Jack Ryan for demanding a more powerful mayor during former mayor Tom Walman’s term, but then rescinding those sentiments regarding the current administration in a recent editorial.
During his second “chats with the mayor,” held after a special called meeting on Tuesday, Patterson said Ryan was not being consistent with his criticism and claimed the editor has “flip-flopped sides.”
In a 2003 editorial entitled “McComb Mayor Needs More Power,” Ryan wrote that there should be a stronger mayor with veto power, Patterson said.
He then cited a 2005 editorial where Ryan again emphasized mayoral veto power. “He only has the power of persuasion,” Patterson read from the article.
Giving the mayor a veto would require an amendment to the city charter. So why, the mayor asked the crowd still gathered in the board room, did Ryan write Thursday’s editorial, in which he denounced changing the charter for such a purpose?
“This is connecting the dots,” Patterson said. “Now he’s advocating not changing.”
Ryan responded this morning by saying, “I still think the mayor should have a veto and have never said otherwise. I also happen to think McComb should have a city administrator and that the city board should follow the laws that regulate closed meetings. That’s what last week’s editorial said.”
During his chat, Patterson said any control Ryan exerts over the city agenda as well as any spin on events would not be tolerated. He told the audience to come to him for the truth and not the newspaper, adding he has no way to rebut what is said in the paper.
“There’s no fourth branch of government called the press,” Patterson said.
He said the citizens of McComb deserve unbiased coverage from the newspaper and Southwest Broadcasting.
“They owe it to us to be fair and balanced,” Patterson said.
He said Ryan can’t hide behind an editorial board and added that Ryan may not be fairly choosing letters to the editor.
“If the newspaper was being unfair, this article would not even be printed,” Ryan said.
Patterson also said the newspaper and Southwest Broadcasting unfairly used his comments in a lawsuit alleging violation of the state open meetings law. The city board settled the suit Tuesday.
Patterson said the lawsuit is dividing the city, and residents should not stand for it. Plus, he said, “that’s the citizens of McComb’s money.”
He said he would discuss the matter in future public meetings.
In another matter, Patterson reminded the audience about his concerns with the McComb Sports Park and a state-mandated sewage treatment facility project. He said he wasn’t accusing anyone of wrongdoing, but questioned how the sports park came to cost $4 million and why the city waited so long to address the sewage treatment plant.
“These are the things we’ve got to look at,” Patterson said.
While he has been confronting these problems, Patterson said, some selectmen are trying to strip away his power, which he said is not constructive.
Patterson also took several questions from the audience. One man asked Patterson who City Administrator Sam Mims reports to. Patterson replied that, according to the city charter, Mims reports to him. But he said, according to the city board, he has “all the responsibility but no authority.”
Patterson said he recently ordered a full police escort for the funeral procession of a Liberty soldier who died overseas. City officials didn’t defy him then, he said. He said that’s an example of how the mayor’s authority needs to be preserved.
A woman asked the mayor what residents should do if they’re unhappy with the way their selectmen are voting. Patterson replied that residents should hold all of their elected officials, including him, responsible for their actions.
McComb NAACP President Anthony Witherspoon said residents should support the mayor and called the board’s actions to limit Patterson’s power “ludicrous.” Witherspoon suggested residents make efforts to change the city charter so there’s no question of the mayor’s power.
However, Patterson responded that he did not wish to change city code; that effort would have to be led by residents.
Another woman said she was tired of the newspaper and the radio “putting down the mayor.”
Before the chat, Patterson instructed Danny Esch, mayor pro tempore, to preside over a hearing in which resident William Page was appealing a planning commission ruling regarding junk cars on his property.
Page’s attorney Charles Miller said he would only deal with the mayor. However, after the mayor’s delay from his chat was apparent, the hearing was rescheduled.
