Council chaos

By Eloria Newell James, community@leadercall.com

September 17, 2008 10:49 am

— The City of Laurel’s Chief Administrative Officer should live within the city. That’s the decision the majority of the members of the Laurel City Council made during the group’s meeting Tuesday.
Councilman Johnny Magee last week proposed the order requiring the city’s CAO to live within the City of Laurel. The proposed order would become effective for the next term and thereafter.
“It has nothing to do with Mr. (Gary) Suddith (the city’s current CAO),” Magee said. “This will begin with the next administration.”
Following a lengthy discussion Tuesday by council members, the city administration and residents attending the meeting, the council with a 4-3 vote — with Councilmen Tony Thaxton, Tony Wheat and Manuel Jones voting against it — approved the order requiring city residency.
Wheat said more time to discuss the matter was needed.
Thaxton proposed that the matter be referred to the council’s personnel committee for more study. However, that amendment failed.
City attorney David Ratcliff said he had researched the matter briefly, however, he would like more time to gather more information.
Ratcliff told the group that an order requiring residency was not necessary.
“The state statute that provides for the hiring said an ordinance shall be passed, and the council passed an ordinance in 1989 concerning the appointing of the CAO,” the attorney said. “The statute states that the mayor shall appoint. ... It also states that members of the council shall not direct or dictate.
“I would like to research this more. This is an appointment made by the mayor,” the attorney said. “The statute doesn’t say they have to live in the city.”
Jones said this is not the first time this matter has been proposed.
“I think everyone should live in the city,” the Ward Five councilman said. “This is just coming up now because it’s a political season.”
Jones said the previous administration brought in a fire chief, a police chief and two recreation directors from outside the city.
Magee said the proposal has “nothing to do with any particular person.”
“We request people on boards to be residents of the city and they don’t have the same responsibilities as the CAO,” Magee said. “This will add to the recovery of Laurel.
“I feel like, personally that people who resides in the city of Laurel and have to deal with the issues facing the citizens of Laurel seem to have a better grasp on things,” Magee added. “If you don’t live in the house with me, you don’t know what I’m going through.”
Mayor Melvin Mack said Tuesday that he should have been informed about this order prior to it coming up in the agenda-setting meeting last week.
Mack asked council members if this was the beginning of more changes.
Council president George Carmichael said he supported the order requiring the CAO to be a city resident because of citizens’ concerns.
“The CAO is a little bit above the department heads,” Carmichael explained. “It’s not a personal thing. It’s something the citizens wanted done. ... It’s not about me. ... It’s about the citizens of Laurel.”
Residents at the meeting voiced their opinions.
Laurel residents Barbara Page, Maggie Williams, Dennis Keveryn and Thaddeus Edmonson spoke about their concerns about the order and the manner in which city officials were handling this issue.
“We don’t have anything against Mr. Suddith. ... It’s not a personal thing,” Page said. “Everybody is not stupid. We have some qualified people in the City of Laurel.”
Page said the CAO of the city should want to live in Laurel.
“If it’s too bad for you to live in here with us, it’s too bad for you to work here and make our money,” Page said. “If you want to be the CAO then you should be willing to live in the city.”
Council members said now was a good time to implement the requirement.
“In order for Laurel to get better we are going to have to fix it from the inside,” Carmichael said. “We are trying to do the very best thing for the city.”
Councilperson Willie Evans agreed that “it is a good time to look at this and make a decision.”
According to officials, the City of Jackson does require its employees to live within the city limits. However, the city gives the employee six months to relocate to the city.

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