A proposed ordinance that would hold members of the Petal Board of Aldermen financially responsible for missing a certain number of meetings was shot down before making the agenda by a majority of the board members during the June 21 regular meeting.
Ward 1 Alderman Gerald Steele made a motion to put the measure up for vote, but four of the seven aldermen voted against it. Steele, Ward 3 Alderman Blake Nobles and Ward 5 Alderman Drew Brickson agreed to add the item to the agenda, but Alderman-at-Large Mike Lott, Ward 2 Alderman Steve Stringer, Ward 4 Alderman Craig Strickland and Ward 6 Alderman Craig Bullock voted to deny it.
“I made a motion to amend the agenda to add the attendance policy for consideration, and I was blocked from doing so,” Steele said. “Halfway through the meeting, I made a motion to add it to the agenda – which is different from amending the agenda, believe it or not, because I used different words.
“So two times in this meeting, they blocked me with a 4-3 vote from even discussing this attendance policy. Right now, the aldermen that are showing up were all there, and this (attendance) is not a problem. That’s why I want to introduce this bill now, because nobody will take it personally and nobody really needs to respond to it – this is about looking forward to the future.”
Bullock, for his part, voted against the measure because he felt like the board wasn’t given enough time to review the ordinance before the meeting.
“We typically try to keep it to where we don’t add agenda items the day of (the meeting) or the day before,” he said. “We typically try to hold those until Friday, because (city clerk) Melissa (Martin) usually puts the agenda together on Friday and sends it out.
“There are exceptions to that – obviously, if there are employee issues or something like that. But my reasoning for voting to not put that on the agenda was we were just sent that information less than 24 hours (before the meeting), and really had not had time to look at it much. So when you’re talking about creating an ordinance, creating law, you need a little more time to digest and discuss before you just put something on an agenda.”
Steele’s proposed ordinance would require aldermen to attend every regular meeting of the board; if an alderman fails to attend a meeting, that absence would be recorded by the city clerk. An absence would be excused if the alderman contacted the city clerk prior to 4 p.m. on the day of the scheduled meeting to let the clerk know of the upcoming absence.
Aldermen would be limited to five excused absences per calendar year, and absences in excess of seven per calendar year would be deemed unexcused unless the alderman’s absence was because of attendance at another meeting to benefit the city.
An unexcused absence also would occur if an alderman failed to notify the city clerk of the absence prior to 4 p.m. on the day of the scheduled meeting, or if the alderman had already accumulated five excused or unexcused absences in the current calendar year.
If an alderman were to accumulate more than seven excused and unexcused absences during a calendar year, that alderman would be fined 1/24 of their pay for each meeting that is missed, unless that alderman were to be granted forbearance unanimously by the remaining board members.
Petal aldermen are paid approximately $12,000 annually.
“That (fine) is basically their pay divided by 24 meetings in a year, so it comes out to about $500 that they don’t get paid, because they’re not there doing their job (if they don’t show up at meetings),” Steele said.
Stringer said he voted to deny the measure because he feels it’s a moot point.
“If our constituents think we’re not going to the meetings like we should, then they will get rid of us,” he said. “I’ve been in office 21 years and maybe have missed eight or 10 meetings in 21 years.
“It’s never been a problem, and I think it’s looking for a solution to a problem that we don’t have. It’s one of those things that instead of us having a lot of time to research these things, we get it brought to the meeting right before the meeting, and we don’t have time to look at it.”
Steele said he introduced the measure because he knows what it’s like to show up to meeting after meeting as a resident and not have representation for his ward on the board. At the same time, he made it clear that it is not a current issue, but one he wants to prevent from reoccurring.
“That went on quite some time (before I was elected), and it’s not happening now,” Steele said. “All the alderman on the board right now are there routinely, they’re on time most of the time, or they’re there early. So this is a good time to bring this up, so that the uncomfortable situations that have happened in the past don’t happen anymore.
“I’m really, really disappointed because we won’t even discuss this. There are other states where if you miss 50 percent of your days, that’s considered your resignation, and there are plenty of other municipalities in Mississippi who have similar attendance policies for their aldermen.”
Steele said most of the time, individuals who run for office have the best interest of the city in mind – but not always.
“There’s no recall (law) in this state, so technically, I could have won my election and never showed up to a single meeting and got full benefits,” he said. “That just seems morally wrong, and I’m in a position to where I can try to fix that for future generations.
“I don’t want to be an alderman forever, and I’m going to have a representative on this board because I’m going to be in Petal for a long time. I want them to be in that seat, and if they’re not, there should be a consequence. I’ve never had a paying job that was any different.”
