McComb Mayor Zach Patterson has sued all six of the city’s selectmen, alleging they violated the law when they held an Aug. 26 special meeting to sign payroll checks after the mayor said he would not.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Pike County Circuit Court are selectmen Wade Lamb, Melvin “Joe” Johnson, Robert Maddox, E.C. Nobles, Danny Esch and Robert Earl Smith.
The lawsuit alleges that the meeting violated the law because a notice was not properly posted; neither the mayor nor Johnson, the mayor pro tem, attended the meeting or were given proper notice of it; and the board has not approved the minutes of the special meeting.
The suit seeks a declaratory judgement saying the special meeting violated the city charter and state law, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctions that would prevent the selectmen from holding meetings under similar circumstances.
The mayor also is asking a judge to void “all checks and warrants signed by the defendants following the called special meeting.”
Patterson wants a judge to issue a mandate “ordering the selectmen to comply with requirements under the Mississippi Code of 1972 when calling a special meeting; and adopting, approving and signing all minutes as required by law.”
He also seeks attorneys fees, partially because the lawsuit says Patterson “is without the adequate funds with which to pay his counsel to litigate this matter forcing the defendants to comply with the duties and their oaths of office and the law of the state of Mississippi.”
The lawsuit, which represents one side of a legal argument, alleges the selectmen didn’t follow proper procedure in calling the special meeting. The city code of ordinances stipulates “special meetings may be held at the discretion of the mayor or on call of two members of the board.” State law says “the mayor or any two aldermen may, by written notice, call a special meeting of the mayor and board of aldermen for the transactions of important business.”
Maddox and Nobles called the meeting the day after Patterson announced at a regular board meeting that he would no longer sign city checks.
At the time, Patterson said the board’s amendments of city ordinances diluted his powers, and he could not be held accountable for funds he did not have authority over.
At the special meeting, selectmen agreed to use electronic signatures to sign the checks and filled out signature cards for First Bank, where the city has its accounts. City Attorney Wayne Dowdy said state law allows either the mayor or a majority of the board to sign checks.
The lawsuit states the total of claims, warrants and checks signed on Aug. 26 was $621,107, and the defendants “have executed warrants and checks since Aug. 22, 2009, totaling millions of dollars.”
Patterson’s suit alleges Maddox and Nobles did not post notice of the meeting at City Hall or within one hour after they called the meeting, and his name was not included in the notice “as required by state law.”
A copy of the notice included in the lawsuit lists the selectmen, but not Patterson.
Patterson further alleges Maddox and Nobles did not give the required three hours notice of the call for the meeting, and that they issued notice to a police officer to notify board members named in the call at 11:15 a.m. Aug. 26. The meeting was scheduled for 2 p.m.
Smith presided over the meeting in the absence of Patterson and Johnson, who was the only selectman not at the meeting.
Patterson’s suit contends that state law provides “that only the mayor or mayor pro tem shall preside at a special call meeting” and the meeting’s purpose must be stated in the call.
The suit alleges that Nobles and Maddox did not state the meeting’s purpose was to “elect a presiding officer to preside over the meeting in the absence of the mayor and mayor pro tem,” pass a resolution directing City Administrator Quordiniah Lockley to obtain signature cards and pass a resolution directing Lockley to “arrange for the use of a standard check signing machine which may be used in lieu of the manual signing of warrants or checks.”
The suit’s other major point of contention deals with the adoption of minutes from the Aug. 26 meeting. It cites state law, which “requires that minutes of a special call meeting be adopted and approved by a majority of the board of selectmen and at the next regular meeting or within 30 days of the meeting, whichever first occurs.”
The suit said that has not been done. It added that the board also has not approved the minutes from its Sept. 8 meeting, when the board formally approved a claims docket that included the payroll checks from the end of August.
Attorney Charles Miller represents the mayor in the lawsuit.
