McComb Mayor Whitney Rawlings broke a tie vote Tuesday to reappoint an incumbent school board member to another term in a decision overshadowed by a city board member’s employment with the school district and grumbling about how the nominees were listed.
Maurice Chester’s fourth five-year term on the McComb School District’s board of trustees expires Friday.
Others vying for the post were Whit Grace, a former school district grant employee, and Lisa Brown Deer, a former administrative assistant with the district.
Rawlings sided with selectmen Melvin Joe Johnson, Andranette Jordan and Tammy Witherspoon in voting in favor of Chester’s reappointment, while selectmen Ted Tullos, Tommy McKenzie and Michael Cameron opposed.
Before the vote, Witherspoon said she consulted with the Mississippi Ethics Commission, which affirmed that she could cast a vote on the matter, and she did so at the recommendation of board attorney Wayne Dowdy.
According to the ethics commission’s opinion, “city board members may vote on appointments for school board when selectmen or spouses of selectmen do business with the district or receive compensation from the district.”
Though Witherspoon is the school district’s adolescent opportunity program director, Dowdy said her vote should be recorded in the minutes.
“I consulted with Mrs. Witherspoon prior to the meeting, and she is mindful of the law,” Dowdy said. “She has shown me something from the ethics commission. Based on what she has shown me, I would tell you that she can and should vote.”
Tullos, who voted against Chester, asked Rawlings before the meeting why Chester’s name was listed first when challenger Whit Grace, a former school district administrator, applied for the position first. Rawlings said that was done with respect to the incumbent, who he said was listed first on the agenda and considered first for the position.
With the tie vote, Rawlings voted in favor of Chester’s reappointment and ended the discussion.
“Mayor votes yes,” he said. “Mr. Maurice Chester will be the appointment to Term B.”
The board also:
• Authorized a $219,150 payment to T.L. Wallace Construction of Columbia and a $10,020 payment to Neel-Schaffer Engineering for the Summit Street east sewer interceptor project.
• Agreed to purchase a five-ton heating and air conditioning unit for $4,750 from Smith’s Heating and Cooling of Bogue Chitto for the McComb Police Department’s holding area. The new unit will replace one that is at least 20 years old.
• Authorized a $5,900 payment to grant administrator The Ferguson Group of Madison for work on the wastewater collection system rehabilitation project during the 2012-13 fiscal year.
• Authorized the city to submit a Certified Local Government grant application to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to conduct a historical property survey the northern section of the States neighborhood, with Delaware Avenue on the south, Kentucky Avenue on the north, Broadway and Fourth streets on the east and Peach and Jackson avenues on the west.
• Granted a permit to C Spire to install fiber optic cables underground along Parklane Road from Business Center Drive to Park Drive to Hart Road and along Delaware Avenue from Hart Road to Highway 570.
• Voted to advertise for the purchase of a knuckle-boom truck and dump truck for the street division of public works and for a dump truck and bucket truck for the utility division.
• Voted to advertise a vacancy on the Pike County Economic Development Committee that expired Dec. 31, 2013. The city will advertise for 30 days and plans to vote on a new appointee at the last board meeting in March.
