A divided Greenwood City Council has voted down almost all of Mayor Kenderick Cox’s initial agenda.
The council on Tuesday rejected three of Cox’s seven appointments, declined to consider three others, rejected a job description for a new post and voted down a state of emergency proclamation to address ongoing gun violence and crime.
“Our number one goal is to move Greenwood forward with their support,” Cox said after the meeting. “Every person I gave as a recommendation was overly qualified, for every position. Not to have them appointed, in support of the vision that can move Greenwood forward, it’s kind of disheartening. I understand (the opposing council members) probably got mixed feelings or concerns about actions I made prior to the first board meeting that I had. However, I did everything within reason, within rights, (and) within the statute of the law.”
The drama played out in public at Tuesday’s meeting. Council President Ronnie Stevenson opened the routine items agenda by proposing a vote for a closed session to make a determination for an executive session, with the reason being discussion of personnel. This would have allowed the council to freely discuss Cox’s picks for various department heads privately.
Stevenson’s motion failed. Stevenson, Ward 1’s Johnny Jennings and Ward 7’s Carl Palmer voted in favor, while Ward 2’s Lisa Cookston, Ward 3’s Charles McCoy, Ward 5’s Andrew Powell and Ward 6’s Dorothy Glenn voted against.
“Alrighty,” Stevenson said. “Going as read.”
A vote to reappoint Vicki Lott as clerk of the council passed unanimously, as did a vote to reappoint Municipal Judge Carlos Palmer. Palmer’s father, Carl Palmer, recused himself before the vote was taken.
Angela Turner-Kimbrough was appointed public defender, with Cookston and McCoy dissenting. She replaces Liz Davis.
From there, more opposition began to mount.
Glenn made a motion to consider Shaunteria Flowers as the new chief administrative officer, an office that has been vacant since the departure of Cynthia Stanciel, who is now Leflore County administrator.
That motion died for lack of a second. The same happened for Glenn’s motions to consider Demetrice Bedell as acting police chief, to create a job posting for a director of a new department — parks, recreation and grounds —yet to be formed, and to appoint Antwoine Williams as acting head of that new post.
The council voted down Cox’s pick of city attorney, Margarette Meeks, with Jennings, Cookston, McCoy and Powell dissenting.
The same four voted against appointing Director of Recycling Darwin Greene as interim head of public works and Assistant Fire Chief Martrellis McDowell as interim head of the fire department.
Vallrie Dorsey was unanimously reappointed as special prosecutor for housing and other code violations. City Prosecutor Charlie Swayze was reappointed and City Attorney Don Brock was reappointed on a temporary basis, both on 6-1 votes with Glenn dissenting.
City Clerk Linda Osborne was also reappointed unanimously on a temporary basis. Cox, responding to a question from McCoy, said it is not a dismissal of Osborne, but, “There’s certain things I need to research. (The position) will be open for an interview phase.”
Jennings questioned some of Cox’s recent dismissals.
“Isn’t this kind of a critical time, all the budgeting going on and all the information that has to be compiled by somebody that knows where it is, where it needs to be and how it needs to be prepared?” Jennings asked.
“We’ve seen a couple of elected positions in Leflore County get elected, and they just ran it aground. We don’t want to be held responsible for running some of our departments into the ground by experiments at critical times. Budgeting is a critical thing.”
Cookston also expressed concern at the dismissal of the department heads at a time where budget work is nearing.
“We’ve lost a lot of valuable knowledge in the last three weeks that could have helped with getting a budget done correctly,” she said.
Charles Brooks and Margie Pulley, both suggestions by Leflore County supervisors for the open, jointly-approved hospital board seat, were tabled for later discussion.
To cap things off, Cox’s state of emergency proclamation that included a citywide curfew, a ban on ski masks and other face coverings in public places and enforcement of closing times on late-night establishments, also failed to pass, with Jennings, Cookston, McCoy and Powell dissenting.
“That brings concerns to me because there are a lot of things going on in our community right now that’s been affecting each one of those wards,” Cox said after the meeting. He asked whether those opposed to the proclamation were focused on the concerns of the community.
There was plenty of tension during the meeting. At one point, after Glenn made a motion, someone in the gallery said the motion needed a second. Stevenson asked police officers present to be prepared to remove people from the meeting if disruptions continued.
During the votes, Glenn expressed her frustration with the council’s lack of support for Cox.
“When somebody else was in this administration, y’all voted for these people,” she said. “But now, you all have issues now. It makes no sense to have this issue because, have a Black mayor in here, and y’all have some issues.”
Cookston said the opposition has nothing to do with Cox’s race, which Glenn rejected. Stevenson called the meeting to order and required the council to move on.
According to state law, a department head candidate rejected by the council cannot be renominated for that office for the remainder of the term. That means Meeks cannot be considered again for city attorney.
Brock said Wednesday that he believes acting appointments — such as Greene and McDowell — can be brought up again as permanent appointees.
It is not clear, he said, what this means for a candidate such as Bedell, whose consideration failed due to a motion lacking of a second. He said more research is required as to whether this counts as a rejection under law.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
