OPINION: Public dispute delayed budget approval

Editor's note: This column has been edited since initial publication.

There was a meeting that’s drawn plenty of attention within Madison County government that I’ve gone back and forth on how to report on it.

On the afternoon of April 19, there was a county commission financial management meeting in which two of the members – Mayor A.J. Massey and Jackson-Madison County Schools Superintendent Marlon King – reprimanded County Finance Director Karen Bell.

The reprimand was over a trend of Bell failing to “stay in her lane” when it comes to discussing and deciding things related to other department heads.

One instance that was brought up during the discussion was when Matthew Martin, the county’s parks and recreation director, came to Bell discussing a grant that he wanted to apply for, Bell’s immediate response was apparently to tell him not to waste his time with it because the County Commission wouldn’t approve of it – even though one of Martin’s predecessors went for, was approved for and received the same grant a few years ago.

The line from Massey regarding that specific instance was the job of telling Martin not to try to get the grant was the job of the Commission’s, not Bell’s.

King had two main complaints against Bell. One was when she had concerns about money JMCSS wanted to spend, she didn’t say anything about those concerns to anyone in the Central Office, but instead went straight to State Comptroller Jason Mumpower.

The other complaint was when she’s reported on the JMCSS budget, the last two years, she’s under-reported to the Commission how much under budget the district has come in. Her initial report in August – right after the budget process is completed in June – gave the unaudited numbers, and the audited numbers produced a larger amount by which the district came under budget. The audit is complete between November and January each year.

According to Bell and her assistant, Melissa Gilbert, during the meeting, each year the unaudited number had JMCSS coming in a little more than $2 million under budget. The audited numbers had them coming in at $4.6 million each of the last two years.

Bell’s defense for going straight to the Comptroller about issues was because she knew other counties doing similar things had issues with the Comptroller, so she just wanted to go ahead and address the issue head on.

After the meeting, Bell got emotional and was comforted by most members of the County Commission that were there.

There’s been two camps establish themselves among County government with those who thought Massey and King were too harsh with Bell on one side, creating a hostile work environment for her, and the other side is thinking the conversation was necessary, overdue even, so that other department heads could continue doing the work required of their departments instead of chasing rabbits that sometimes inquiries from Bell they deem unnecessary requires them to do.

This matter has increased in importance because Bell left her keys and phone on her desk, cleaned out her office and hasn’t returned to work since that day.

When rumors were swirling that weekend that she’d quit, County Commission Chair Mike Taylor – who’s also chair of the financial management committee and chaired the meeting in question – clarified that Bell had a family issue to deal with and had taken leave, so she hadn’t resigned her position.

But there’s been a gap during the budgeting process. The County Commission was on track to go through the first reading of their budget at their May meeting on Monday, which would be a month early. Instead, they’re pushing back to June when they normally do the first reading and then will meet a second time to ratify the budget on June 30.

So who’s right and wrong in this?

That’s difficult to answer if you’re not involved in the situation.

One important piece of info supporting one side is that there were apparently a handful of private meetings dating back to when Gary Deaton was the County Commission Chair and Jimmy Harris was County Mayor when they sat down with Bell and said this type of thing needs to stop. Deaton and Massey apparently met with her a couple of times, and in the months since Taylor became the Commission Chair, he and Massey have met with her – with no change.

Assuming that is true, the meeting – as uncomfortable being held in public as it was – seemed appropriate to a point.

And that point is when Massey made a point and compared Bell’s situation to a situation in his own home, and it came off as Massey comparing Bell to his 10-year-old son.

It’s not the worst point to make, but if he could’ve made it without evoking a child, it would probably have been OK.

Instead, Commissioner Karley Bond, who’s on the financial management committee but missed this meeting, said during Republican caucus on Monday, May 13, that she’s never heard one human talk so badly to another human in a professional environment.

I don’t know if it was that bad, but I don’t know what kind of experience Bond has when gauging such conversations.

During the budget committee’s meeting on Wednesday, May 15, Chairman Carl Alexander gave Gilbert – who’s taken on a lot of Bell’s responsibility during the budgeting process – and the entire finance department deserved recognition.

“This budgeting process isn’t about the seven on this committee,” Alexander said. “The last couple weeks haven’t been ideal for the finance department, but all the department heads and Melissa and everyone else has gotten us through it. And we thank them for it.”

Commissioners who support Bell hope to see her back next week. If it does happen, hopefully everyone involved will be able to move on and continue to do the job of conducting Madison County government.

So for anyone involved in the situation that’s willing to admit wrongdoing on their part, there’s two things to do to make Madison County government better. 1 – Correct the mistake. 2 – Never make it again.

No one is perfect, but as long as we’re learning from our mistakes, then hopefully we’re doing OK.

Brandon Shields is the managing editor of The Jackson Post. Contact him at brandon@jacksonpost.news. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or Instagram @Editorbrandon. The Jackson Post’s opinion/editorial page is meant to help launch public discussion of local issues or allow local people to discuss national or statewide issues. Publication of a column is not an endorsement of that column by The Post, its owners or any of its advertisers or employees. To join the discussion, send a guest column or letter to the editor to brandon@jacksonpost.news. Submissions for a specific week’s print edition need to be sent by Monday night. Sending does not guarantee publication that week as that is based on space availability.