Jackson attorney Chad Mask, who is representing the Citizens of Bellevue group supporting incorporation of the city, said Tuesday night he wants dismissal of the case without prejudice, where no restrictions are placed on another attempt at incorporation.
The group is seeking to withdraw its petition and dismiss the case during a Lamar County Chancery Court hearing on April 12.
According to court action filed March 7 in the 10th District Chancery Court, Special Chancellor Michael H. Ward will hear the two motions at 9 a.m. April 12 in the William J. “Pete” Gamble Chancery Courthouse in Purvis.
Mask, who is representing the City of Lumberton in an annexation case, attended the Tuesday meeting of the Lumberton Board of Aldermen. He said after the meeting, he has only one request.
“I just want to see the suit dismissed without prejudice,” he said.
The motion to dismiss by the Bellevue Incorporators follows through on a December 2017 announcement by proposed Mayor John Adcock to pull back the petitions for incorporation.
“The Petitioners have decided that, out of an abundance of caution, the best course of action is to voluntarily withdraw their Petitions, obtain additional signatures, and re-file their Petition to Incorporate,” Adcock said in a Facebook post. “Simply put, the incorporation of the new City of Bellevue is far too important an endeavor to continue without undeniable certainty.”
Mask is the lead attorney who filed the 4,118-page petition for Bellevue incorporation. He said in an earlier interview the group is not backing away from eventually becoming a city.
“The Bellevue folks are continuing to gather additional signatures with full intentions of re-filing their incorporation petition, probably later this year,” he said.
The question of having enough signatures on the petitions for incorporation came to the forefront last year after residents opposing the Bellevue move said discrepancies existed in the petitions.
William Ducker, the Purvis attorney hired by Lamar County residents fighting the court action, said about 1,000 signatures fell short of the number required by law to complete the process.
Ducker told about 50 members of the group, Citizens against the Proposed City of Bellevue, “We have a violation of statute. Unless a judge allows the group to amend their petition, it does not have the required signatures.”
The petition for incorporating a town – which was presented to the Lamar County Chancery Clerk’s Office on May 19 – must have signatures of at least two thirds of the qualified electors in the area. According to examination by the citizens group, the petition contains 2,184 signatures, about 300 short of the required number. With another 600 signatures that appeared to be invalid, the petition appears to fall between 900 and 1,000 signatures short of the required number.
