The McComb city board will vote next week to fill vacancies on a number of boards next week.
The appointments will add new members to boards for the McComb School District, Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and McComb-Pike County Airport, as well as the city planning commission and electricians, plumbing and mechanical contractors boards.
However, the methods used for making the appointments came into question at Tuesday’s city work session.
In a Feb. 1 e-mail distributed to selectmen, Mayor Whitney Rawlings recommended Susan Hedges to fill the school board seat Dr. Kent Kebert vacated this month when his term expired. On Tuesday, Rawlings said the city also received an application for the position from Lynn Gilmore.
The mayor asked selectmen to reach a consensus on an appointee to vote on at next week’s board meeting, but selectmen Melvin Joe Johnson and Tommy McKenzie questioned the legality of choosing a candidate in a work session.
Prior city boards typically used work sessions to discuss matters for upcoming board meetings without taking any official action.
Johnson said Tuesday that the board should accept applications until Wednesday’s noon deadline to place items on the agenda and vote on all the candidates at the board meeting.
“We’re putting the wagon before the horse, or whatever,” Johnson said. “If we’ve got a deadline (Wednesday), we can’t do nothing here.”
Selectman Andranette Jordan asked if Johnson had another name to add to the list and said the board should move forward in filling the school board post.
“We were made aware these boards were coming up,” she said. “If we’ve come this far, I don’t think those few hours in the morning are going to change a whole lot.”
Rawlings said the candidates were picked in work sessions when he and Johnson served together on the city board from 1999-2002, but Johnson disagreed and said it was unfair to finalize the candidates so soon.
During the discussion over the school board post, resident Eddie R. Smith raised his hand to be recognized. The mayor did not do it, and he indicated that public comments — which have been allowed at every board meeting so far — will only be allowed at the end of future meetings.
“I was on the last board. This board took all the power away from the mayor,” Johnson said. “It seems like ... you’re controlling the board, and you only vote on split votes and ribbon ceremonies and kissing the babies. You can’t just come in and take over. I don’t think that’s fair.”
Rawlings said he was in charge of conducting the meeting, and added, “I think I have the discretion of running this meeting how I wish to run it. ... I’m just exercising my right as a presiding officer.”
Rawlings later reviewed the city’s agenda policy with selectmen, which allows “registered voters or property owners to ask questions of the board ... at the conclusion of the business agenda.”
Selectmen agreed on Rawlings’ nominations for the other posts, and will vote on the appointments next week. The board reached a consensus to:
• Consider re-appointments for hospital board members Renan Richmond and Steve Blue. Their terms expire this month, and both have asked for re-appointment.
• Consider re-appointments for planning commission board members Watkins “Noggin” Wild, Charles Crossley and Phillip Thompson. Wild and Crossley have requested re-appointments to the board, and Rawlings recommended Thompson’s re-appointment if he requests it.
• Consider a vote on Jeff Daughdrill to fill the airport board seat vacated by Selectman Michael Cameron.
• Consider re-appointments for David Smith and John Marsalis III to the electricians, plumbing and mechanical contractors board. Their terms expired in May 2010.
Given a chance to speak at the end of the meeting, Smith said the board should allow public comments during meetings because “a lot of constructive criticism can be given to you when you’re talking about that particular issue at that particular time. It makes it uncomfortable for a citizen, and they wonder if it’s worth it to come to these meetings.”
He added that Rawlings’ suggesting candidates in an e-mail gives an “unfair advantage,” and the “upper echelon” of city of government should reflect the city’s “66 percent black” ethnicity.
Rawlings invited Smith to contact the selectmen or speak with him in City Hall.
“Each of these selectmen is available to you for conversation and to voice your concerns,” the mayor said. “I would encourage you to speak to them so they can bring concerns to this meeting.”
