Twenty people attending a town hall meeting at the McComb library Tuesday left the gathering vowing to petition McComb’s city board to reconsider a $9.5 million bond issue rejected last month.
The bond proposal, which included completion of the McComb Sports Park and the construction of a skate park, among other city street and recreation facility projects, was originally approved by a 4-2 vote in July.
However, citing a petition against the borrowing signed by 1,432 McComb residents, two selectmen later changed their position and joined previous opponents in voting to rescind it.
Opponents of the bond argued the proposal would add a tax burden to a city debt that also includes a $34.5 million court-mandated wastewater treatment facility.
Meeting organizers, who said their petition had not yet been drafted, explained that the goal of the meeting was to mobilize support to return the issue to City Hall.
They said the bond issue would assist parts of the city neglected in the past and help with overall city growth.
A lack of recreational facilities, as well as pothole-ridden streets and an aging sewer system in east McComb, were mentioned as problems the city should address.
“We really need to take a look again at this $9.5 million and what it’s going to be spent for,” said Sherry Robinson, who headed the meeting along with McComb NAACP branch chairman Anthony Witherspoon.
“I live in Burglund, and I have never seen so many bad streets,” Robinson said.
“During the (former mayor Tommy) Walman administration, there was a great rush to overlay the streets on the other side of the tracks going out by the hospital. … Our streets are just as important as everybody else’s streets. … All of us here except the newsman are minorities. Our children have been neglected for a long time.”
Patsy Ruth Butler said repairs and replacement of damaged property from flooding apparently caused by hurricane debris clogging drainage systems could be as hefty as any possible tax hike.
“How can anyone who lives in those areas not know these conditions?” asked Butler. “It simply is two things: They don’t care or they don’t understand and they don’t want to understand.”
Butler related the power struggle to her work during the civil rights era.
“When I hear anybody or anyone who’s against progress and all that, I ask, ‘How in the world can you be against that?’ ” Butler said. “You better get some history.”
Eddie Smith, who said he would like to be on the next city board agenda, also was critical of missing recreational facilities.
“If we don’t provide recreation for these kids, they’ll provide recreation for themselves,” said Smith. “I’ve lived in cities that had all these services. We paid for it. And if you don’t pay for it, you won’t get it.”
Pike County District 2 Supervisor Lexie Elmore called roads near Baertown’s cemetery galling.
“It’s an embarrassment to take our loved ones back there in that cemetery without our streets being paved,” Elmore said.
“I don’t think the citizens mind paying for services. To say that we don’t want them because we don’t want to pay, I think that’s a scapegoat. We just need to hold elected officials accountable.”
Handouts at the meeting included a cost and economic impact estimation from the McComb Recreation Department originally distributed after the July vote, a July 9 Enterprise-Journal article on that vote, and information taken from subsequent articles concerning the proposed spending.
Another handout also included information on the increase in city taxes on sample homes in McComb from Pike County’s 2008 property appraisal, as provided by City Administrator Jim Storer at an August board meeting.
Witherspoon said the data and community conditions indicated a need for action.
“We have two people that changed their vote after a special-interest group came with 1,500 names,” he said.
“If it’s only going to cost me $35 a year to ensure that children in my neighborhood have a place to play. … $35 a year is peanuts. And don’t be deceived. In the most affluent neighborhood, $95 a year is peanuts. So we have to ask ourselves what’s the ulterior motive?”
Witherspoon said that even if those numbers were off, double or triple was still worthwhile.
He said comparisons between bond debt and car financing were misleading, saying that house payments were a more accurate analogy — something that would make sense to finance, but people would expect to have maintenance on.
And he said it was “a no-brainer” to bring jobs to McComb through the work the bond projects would require.
“We’re going to push this bond through,” Witherspoon continued. “That ain’t a threat; that’s a promise. We’re going to canvas. We’re going to proliferate the neighborhood with real, factual information. … We have to look at the fact that when a community has been underserved for a long period of time then you have to give that community just a little bit more to bring it up to a level playing field. … We’re going to have to start speaking truth to power. … When you’re a freedom fighter for your people, you better believe you’re going to be faced with some opposition.”
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Rep. David Myers, D-McComb, a former selectman, also attended the meeting.
Robinson opened the meeting by saying, “If you’re not in agreement with that $9.5 million, then you know you’re welcome to stay if you want to, but we’re not going to be debating it at all. We’re just going to be discussing what we can do to go to our selectmen and go back to the board.”
Myers replied, “I’m not in favor. But I’m here to listen, though.”
Myers was quiet for most of the meeting, but occasionally asked questions or discussed his time on the city board to offer advice.
His suggestion that the city build a swimming pool instead of a skate park was met coolly.
He also asked whether tax projections on the handouts included school and county taxes.
Most notably, he suggested that a city overlay program could handle road maintenance better than a bond issue.
“I voted for something which was a mistake some 15 years ago, and that was a $3.5 million bond issue to overlay the streets in McComb,” Myers said.
“We’re still paying that bond issue back. There was another way to do that … and that was to put money every year into a fund. And you prioritize.”
“Why did you decide to go on the other side of the track first?” responded Robinson.
While the meeting’s agenda listed discussion of street maintenance, recreation and city operating funds, an e-mail advertising the town hall suggested other topics, including charges against Witherspoon stemming from an incident after a city board meeting with Selectman E.C. Nobles.
The e-mail encouraged the attendance of local NAACP members at the town hall as well as a brief meeting beforehand.man.
Robinson opened the meeting by saying, “If you’re not in agreement with that $9.5 million, then you know you’re welcome to stay if you want to, but we’re not going to be debating it at all. We’re just going to be discussing what we can do to go to our selectmen and go back to the board.”
Myers replied, “I’m not in favor. But I’m here to listen, though.”
Myers was quiet for most of the meeting, but occasionally asked questions or discussed his time on the city board to offer advice. His suggestion that the city build a swimming pool instead of a skate park met with a tepid reaction. He also asked whether tax projections on the handouts included school and county taxes.
Most notably, he suggested that a city overlay program could handle road maintenance better than a bond issue.
“I voted for something which was a mistake some 15 years ago, and that was a $3.5 million bond issue to overlay the streets in McComb,” Myers said. “We’re still paying that bond issue back. There was another way to do that … and that was to put money every year into a fund. And you prioritize.”
“Why did you decide to go on the other side of the track first?” responded Robinson.
