McComb Mayor Zach Patterson told citizens at a “Chat with the Mayor” to “look for the common thread” in Selectman David Myers’ absences from city board meetings Tuesday, suggesting that a desire to avoid particular votes may have played a role.
“We have six selectmen, the mayor only votes in case of a tie,” Patterson told attendees. “The one way to make sure there is no tie is to have an odd number of selectmen. And then the voice of the ‘intimidating’ mayor cannot be heard.”
Patterson said he was obliged by law in his supervisory role as mayor to tell Myers “when he is derelict in his duties,” and said Myers “still collects a paycheck” for skipped meetings.
“He says he’s got good reasons: When will he tell us what they are?” Patterson asked.
The meetings in question were held March 27, July 10, July 24 and July 27, 2007 and Jan. 8, 2008.
Reached this morning, Myers said he was in military training in July and that over the course of an entire year, with two board meetings and a work session each month, four absences represented a good attendance record.
“If I missed a board meeting, I assure the general public that it was for a valid reason,” Myers said. “His whole thing over the last year has been to try to destroy my character and destroy my reputation. … He doesn’t believe that the people of the city of McComb are smarter than that.”
Patterson said his figures did not include work sessions and pointed to issues ranging from a proposal to build a fiber optic network for the city to fixing the city’s sewer system via the building of a wastewater treatment facility as topics on which Myers had not given a vote.
“That may be pure coincidence — I’ll let you decide,” Patterson said.
Myers said today he had no side in the fiber optics debate and that it was a mischaracterization to say previous boards had not addressed city sewer lines. Sewer lines were renovated in preparation for the larger treatment facility project, albeit not on the timeline the city expected, Myers said.
Patterson also said Myers was sure to attend meetings when the mayor was under attack, referring specifically to a special meeting on Aug. 21 that Myers helped set up. At that meeting, four selectmen removed the community relations department from the mayor’s supervision
“He can find the time to hold what I consider an illegal and improper meeting under the cover of darkness,” Patterson said.
The mayor also questioned what he said were changing political alliances among Myers’ backers, pointing to Myers’ photo at Halloween events appearing in the Enterprise-Journal. The mayor asked if Myers’ newest supporters came on board when Myers opposed Patterson.
“These people who are political enemies of mine, they’re not new enemies, they’ve been enemies all along,” Patterson said.
Meanwhile, he dismissed the length of Myers’ service, which came up during the work session before the chat, as posturing.
“I give no respect to longevity in office,” Patterson said. “It’s about what have you done for us. … The citizens of McComb will not take all this sleight of hand.”
Patterson also discussed attorney Norman Gillis’ presentation to the board Tuesday. Gillis asked the board not to put off hiring a city administrator any longer.
The mayor asked voters to consider the intent of the city administrator position as amended into the city’s charter, saying that it was intended to preserve power at a time when the city’s racial makeup was changing.
Patterson said such a structure put executive power in the hands of an appointed rather than elected official.
“I say government was made to hold these elected officials responsible,” he said.
Pointing to his own master’s degree in public administration, he said Gillis’ claims that the city is in a financial crisis for lack of qualified oversight are misguided.
“The past city administrator had a degree in journalism,” Patterson said. “I am not advocating that I am the city administrator. … (But), I am going to right this ship on some of the things that have been going on over the past 20 years.”
Patterson said that while he would not follow Gillis’ advice on how to hire a new city administrator, he did plan to recommend a permanent appointee after he’d addressed other priorities such as the wastewater treatment facility.
