Meridian City Hall

The Meridian City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to overturn Mayor Percy Bland’s veto of a consent decree with the Southern Poverty Law Center and MacArthur Justice Center to stop jailing people for unpaid fines.

Only three council members voted for the measure at the last council meeting, with Weston Lindemann, of Ward 5, and Tyrone Johnson, of Ward 2, expressing concerns about being forced into an agreement. Matt Watson, one of the city’s attorneys with Glover, Young, Hammack, Walton and Simmons, PLLC., urged the council to vote for the initial consent decree and override the veto.

“If we don’t override the veto, we will be sued in a few weeks,” Watson said, noting the attorneys had negotiated the agreement down to two years, rather than three years.

Bland said he had vetoed the the agreement, which also stops the city from using bail in misdemeanor cases, because of discussion of the city’s municipal court. 

“I didn’t want the city to commit to something we couldn’t execute,” Bland said.

Municipal Court Judge Robbie Jones attended the meeting and spoke to the council, urging them not to override the veto. 

“We don’t have the procedures and personnel to carry this out,” Jones said. “This requires a hearing for every individual who owes money and a written opinon from the judge… we don’t even have a court stenographer.”

Jones also said that all of the city’s community service programs, meant to be used as substitutions for jail time, required defendants to pay, which violated another part of the agreement.

The agreement also requires that all defendants have an attorney, which Meridian Police Chief Benny Dubose previously said he supported, for misdemeanor offenses.

“It is unreasonable and going to cost the city a ton of money,” Jones said. “I’m not scared of the (SPLC), if they want to sue us they’re going to sue us.”

Watson pushed back, saying that the agreement allowed for the city to negotiate with the centers while also protecting the city from litagation for the next two years. 

“There are provisions if we’re having difficulty implementing any part of the agreement,” Watson said. “They allege they have 100 people willing to be named in a class-action lawsuit.”

Jones said the groups would have to convince a federal judge of wrongdoing in the Meridian court.

“We shouldn’t incarcerate them, I agree. But we can’t function without fines,” Jones said. 

George Thomas, of Ward 1, mentioned the possibility of recuperating unpaid fines from state tax refunds, but noted the new law would need to survive legal challenges.

Lindemann and Kim Houston, of Ward 4, asked Watson about procedures if the city didn’t override the veto and whether the city had flexibility with meeting the agreement. 

The council unanimously agreed to override the veto and moved on with the meeting’s agenda.