Meridian City Hall

The city of Meridian is working to raise up its middle managers after the City Council approved a contract Tuesday with Transform Now, a leadership consulting and coaching company, to conduct leadership training among city employees.

In a council meeting, Samuel Jones, of Transform Now, explained his training will have three distinct goals to help improve communication within the city’s workforce. The first goal, he said, is to evaluate and meet the city’s management where they are at. After the initial assessment, a training program can be tailored to meet the city’s needs.

The second goal, Jones said, is crisis communication and how to handle unexpected situations in a leadership position.

Finally, Transform Now will work to create a pipeline within the city’s ranks to build new leaders to carry the city’s work going forward.

Mayor Jimmie Smith said he believes the training will be highly beneficial to the city and help improve communication among city employees.

Jones said he will also be available to coach the council and offer feedback on ways to improve communication between individual council members and between the council and the city administration.

Councilman George Thomas said he thinks the training is a good idea, but it isn’t the right time. All five City Council members and the mayor are up for reelection in 2025, he said, and with the mayor appointing department heads, most of the city’s leadership could be replaced if voters so choose.

The time to undertake such a leadership program is at the beginning of the four-year term, Thomas said, not at the end.

“I think it’s a great program,” he said. “It’s just the wrong time.”

Councilwoman Ty Bell Lindsey said she agrees with Thomas that the timing isn’t ideal but supports moving ahead anyway. The training is an opportunity to help Meridian’s future leaders flourish and grow, she said, and such chances must be seized upon regardless of timing.

Although voters may choose to replace the council and mayor, and the new mayor may choose new department heads, the training will still be beneficial to the supervisors, team leaders and other middle management city employees who are not a part of the political process, Councilman Joe Norwood Jr. said. It is not fair to the city’s workforce to let the opportunity pass because the timing is inconvenient, he said.

The council voted 4-0-1 to approve the training, which will cost $90,000. Thomas voted present.

Grass Cutting

Council members also approved a contract with Weaver Management Group Tuesday to cut grass on the interstate interchanges, which span more than 400 acres.

Assistant Public Works Director Mike Van Zandt said the city bid out the work estimating about 10 cuts per season, which works out to about one cut every three weeks. Weaver Management’s bid was $169 per acre, he said, with the cost to the city per year estimated at $775,710.

This year’s cost is expected to be more around the $620,000 mark since the city is already part way through the grass cutting season. Van Zandt said he estimates around eight cuts will be made this year, with the full 10 cuts beginning in 2025.

The contract with Weaver is for three years but can be extended for an additional two years if the city is satisfied with the service.

Outsourcing grass cutting has been discussed for several years as the city’s public works crews struggle to keep up with the workload during the summer months. An estimate of what it would cost the city to do a similar job as Weaver came out to about $1.5 million, according to Public Works Director David Hodge.

While crafting this year’s budget, the council and city leaders set aside $760,000 to go toward a grass cutting contract, which the council transferred to its legislative funds, outside of the city’s control, for safe keeping. Council members voted 4-1 to transfer $620,568 of that back to public works to pay for the new contract, with Councilwoman Romande Walker voting against the action. Walker said she wanted to give back the full $760,000 and have whatever isn’t spent carry through to next year.

The contract was approved on a 3-to-2 vote, with Norwood and Councilman Dwayne Davis voting no.