GUEST VIEW: Issues worth fighting for in city of Meridian

Published 1:00 am Saturday, December 8, 2018

“A lot of people see this as petty bickering back in forth — what do you say to those people,” a reporter asked following the Dec. 4 City Council meeting.

My response likely didn’t fit into the allotted amount of time. If I wanted to tell the full story, it likely wouldn’t fit into a single article. While some may see the snippets on nightly news and think that the continued back and forth rhetoric between myself and city administration amounts to petty bickering, and the mayor of Meridian writes my comments off as “foolery,” there really is something worth fighting both for and against. The best way for me to convince you depends on your attendance at the next city council meeting at 5 p.m. Dec. 18.

Here is a list of things i’ve spent the last year fighting against:

Bad Development Deals

• In early 2018 a proposal was made to the council to sell the old Witherspoon school to a developer who was going to build so called “affordable housing.” In reality, he was going to cash in on federal tax credits while trapping people in a perpetual rent-to-own scheme that never actually ends with home ownership. This was being proposed in Ward 5— thankfully we were able to defeat it.

• The city council was made aware that the city was interested in selling our old police station on March 1 in an email. Members of the East Mississippi Development Corporation and others were having conversations a year prior — even misleading others who were interested in the property by telling them there was already a buyer or that the building wasn’t for sale. I advocated for sending out a notice for bids to ensure the process was above board so that everyone would have a fair chance at purchasing and developing the property. The council and administration disagreed with me, sold the property, and later faced a lawsuit as a result. The lawsuit dragged on for months, and we recently rescinded the sale because the earlier purchaser couldn’t close on the purchase due to the lawsuit. The city now has this building and will choose yet again whether or not to conduct business publicly or behind closed doors.

Mismanagement

• Many of the city’s best long-term employees have quit, retired, or have become limited/restricted from doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. Many undeserving, unqualified people have been elevated to positions of management where they are not only incapable of performing their job duties, but often they are not even expected to fulfill their most basic duties. There is no consistency in evaluations, promotions, pay raises, or hiring practices. There is no accountability for who our part-time employees are or how much they are paid, and many of them work full-time hours— essentially circumventing the civil service process. While the city’s ability to deliver basic services grinds to a halt, the cost of paying for services has increased by $4 million.

Corruption

• There is a ring of people who continue to profit off of the city’s rental facilities. This is evidenced by the number of events that take place at our various facilities that aren’t recorded in any log, have missing receipts, and ultimately lack cash deposits. Furthermore, a citizen has come to the council on two occasions to plead that we investigate where his money went. He has a contract and receipt showing his payment was made, but the city tells him that they can’t find his money. This is because it’s going in someone’s pocket. This could be costing the city as much as $200,000 a year. When you look at the varying amounts people pay to use the same facility, it only becomes more suspicious that “kick backs” are going on.

• Many months ago I discovered that there were employees receiving “guaranteed overtime.” I found out about employees getting paid while on vacation, several thousand dollar pay increases based on forged documents, and this led to the realization that there are 66 employees being paid more money than what the city council has approved.

• Many employee pay raises seem to be in relation to an employee’s knowledge of wrongdoing and willingness to participate. This seems to be the case across departments, such as Community Development, Finance and Records, and Parks and Recreation.

Here is a list of things I’ve spent the last year fighting for:

• To counter the bad development deal with Witherspoon school, I met with the mayor to discuss a proposal that might lead to truly affordable housing. I made suggestions such as establishing a public land trust — a solution that cities in other parts of the country have had great success with. After realizing that this wouldn’t please the wealthy “donors” who had previously expected to cash in on tax credits, the subject was quickly changed and I was asked if I needed any help in finding a job.

• Fairness in our employment practices, i.e. evaluation system as basis for raises and promotions, empowering Civil Service Commission, and transitioning part-time employees working full-time hours into civil service positions to increase accountability.

• Countering our existing status quo of increased spending/reduction of services with increased efficiency through common sense consolidation, thereby reducing spending and improving the delivery of services.

• Transparency — videos of council meetings are all uploaded to my Facebook page, as well as follow-up conversations and in depth discussion on the issues and proposed solutions.

All things considered, we’re talking about the very fundamentals of how our government works, and who it works for. Do we want increased costs for fewer services? Do we want decisions to be made with only a few people’s profit-motive in mind? Or do we want an increase in efficiency in services along with reduced spending, plus the removal of those who are in positions only for their own interests to be furthered? If this amounts to petty bickering, you can bet I’m going to be bickering until I exit office in 2021. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.

Weston Lindemann represents Ward 5 on Meridian City Council.