McComb Mayor Zach Patterson on Tuesday asked selectmen to present him with objections to prior meeting minutes and payment of city bills, after McComb’s city board refused at a regular board meeting to accept the two agenda items as presented.
In two separate 3-2 votes, with selectmen Wade Lamb, Bob Maddox and E.C. Nobles forming the majority, the city board disputed minutes from a Sept. 23 board meeting and questioned claims on the city docket, ultimately preventing their approval.
Selectmen Melvin Joe Johnson and Robert Earl Smith voted for the two measures.
The votes followed a Sept. 23 meeting in which the board entered into executive session and elected to remove City Administrator Jim Storer — a session Mayor Zach Patterson later said was improperly called and would not be recognized.
“Mr. Mayor, you and the city administrator left the meeting,” Lamb said. explaining his issues with the minutes on Tuesday. “And then all of us got up and came in here. On the regular minutes of the session where it says the meeting continued … it’s not proper procedure for you to adjourn the meeting by yourself without a quorum.”
“What we’ll do is we’ll ask that the three nays get together and reduce their objections to the minutes in writing,” replied Patterson. “We will ask the city attorney to change the minutes or at least bring us a written explanation to your comments.”
The disputed claims, meanwhile, included surveying of the American Legion hut in Edgewood Park and a February bill for flowers sent from former fire chief Jean Frye to former human resources director Jacqueline Martin.
“The florist kept sending bills and sending bills to the fire department,” Storer said. I thought it was best that the city pay the bills rather than not pay the retailer that provided us flowers.”
“I informed her that it would be her responsibility to make this payment,” Patterson added.
Discussion of surveying work also included questions about procedure, with Lamb asking why the engineering had been done at all.
“So that the city would see that amount of space that was available for other uses,” Storer replied.
“Is that in the minutes that we gave you permission to do that?” Nobles asked.
“No,” Storer said. “That does not require permission.”
Patterson, meanwhile, said he was obligated by law to pay the city’s bills and instructed selectmen to highlight exceptions that would require further negotiation.
“I will try to negotiate with the creditors,” he said. “Any others, I will give you an adjusted total. … But we will pay the bills and I will write the checks for them.”
