Washington County Board of Supervisors President Carl McGee deserves a handshake after what he allowed to happen in Tuesday’s meeting. He didn’t have to let almost 20 people address directly the board.
He didn’t have to do that.
And supervisors Tommy Benson, Jerry Redmond and Mala Brooks didn’t have to consider the motion made by supervisor Lee Gordon to enter an executive session to discuss decisions regarding appointments made at the previous meeting for board attorney and county engineer.
But they could have.
Instead, those three supervisors stared at the collected group of standing-room only attendants in a specially set aside courtroom, and said their opinions didn’t matter.
Not that those people who were there to ask the board to reconsider its decision to remove a locally owned business — Hooker Engineers — and replace them with Jackson-based firm IMS Engineers for the position of county engineer expected every member of the board to change their mind.
One of them could have done enough to simply allow the board to go into an executive session by raising their hand to second the motion.
They didn’t do so, and one of the most contentious decisions this board has made in many years went on to die without discussion by the board.
That’s what is truly galling to most of those who packed the courtroom that day.
It’s as though supervisors Redmond, Brooks and Benson said, collectively: We’ve heard your concerns, and we don’t care.
While many of the folks who trod forward to speak to the board president about the decision asked the supervisors to reconsider their decision and keep the business local to Washington County, others wondered aloud about racial issues.
As Gordon and Benson both said, “the other can’t see the world through my eyes,” but lots of people tried to see the world through the eyes of three supervisors. They looked at the decision and saw race.
I don’t want to believe that.
Because if that’s the case, and our board is making decisions based on race, then we’ve lost hope of rescuing our homes and place from decline.
As former Greenville Mayor John Cox pointed out, making decisions based on race is a sin. It always was, is and will be.
One speaker, Larry Mohammed, pointed out the demographics of the community.
“Black people are 78%,” Mohammed said. “We are the ones that got the problems now. We’re going to have to do more for ourselves.”
I’m not sure exactly to what problems Mohammed was referring, but I know none of those problems came because of work done by Hooker Engineering.
That’s the most infuriating part of this process.
Through seemingly no fault of their own, only by the whim of board members, has a local business lost its nearly 30-year long association with the county.
That’s just low.
Without warning, without a hint of disapproval and with no concern for community response, the board of supervisors pulled the rug out from under a local business that still has work to complete bridge projects throughout the county.
Now comes to the table IMS Engineers who have an admittedly uphill battle to climb in this community.
They walk into a situation where the county is flush with cash after four years of prime management.
The board decided to change directions — direct words from board members — when it is seemingly in the best shape it’s been financially for many, many years.
If I was one of the principles in IMS Engineers, I’d have serious misgivings in making any permanent investments in Washington County.
Because if a board will take this type action after 30 years of a strong, mutually beneficial relationship on the whim of a first-day member, then anything is possible.
Jon Alverson is proud to be the publisher and editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. Write to him at jalverson@ddtonline.com or call him at 335-1155.
