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| Shelby County Commission
In an, at times, explosive six-hour long Shelby County Commission meeting this week, Commissioners tackled several big ticket items. The meeting began by reopening, as requested by District Attorney Steve Mulroy, an issue that had been defeated in the previous County Commission meeting. Mulroy was requesting that the Commission vote to accept grant funding from the state of Tennessee to continue paying four existing staff members who support victims of child abuse, domestic violence, and other issues.
The hesitation from some commissioners arose because the county is responsible for a portion of these salaries, though the state bears the majority of the cost. Some questions focused on the possibility of the grant ending or being removed, which would leave the county potentially footing the entire bill from the general fund. Mulroy assured the commissioners that there would be no legal obligation to provide those funds to his office.
In the end, commissioners opted to postpone action on this item until their next meeting, which will run up against the state’s deadline to accept the funds, which had already been extended by 30 days for Shelby County.
Later on, discussion shifted to the proposed new jail construction, which had also been delayed for several meetings. Community members in attendance spoke about the resolution at hand, which would remove the site of the old Firestone plant in New Chicago (an area in North Memphis) from consideration for the construction.
Attendees voiced concerns about placing this type of investment around their children when residents do not even have adequate access to education or fresh food. Additional concerns centered around the non-decomposed pollutants in the soil from its days as a Firestone plant, classifying the site as a brownfield, which could spread contaminants when disturbed by construction.
According to reporting from the Daily Memphian, the development team that owns and manages the site claims that the lot will be “capped,” meaning it will be paved over to lock in the contaminated soil. This is consistent with recommendations from the National Institutes of Health, though they also warn that recommendations must be followed closely and oversight conducted to ensure that risks are averted. For instance, fence posts cannot be driven through the concrete cap in this type of development, which seems antithetical to the construction of a jail. This also calls into question the safety of underground water pipes that will service those inside the jail building.
In the end, the commission voted to remove this site from consideration for the new jail, though Commissioner Amber Mills warned attendees that a simple majority of the commission can add it back to the list at any point during the process.
Next, the commission took up Mayor Lee Harris’s request to appoint two new members to the Shelby County Ethics Commission, which has not met or had any new appointees in seven years. A fiery discussion ensued, during which Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. accused the mayor of attempting to remove him from office because of his pending federal charges by pursuing an ethics investigation into the commissioner. The commission eventually agreed to withhold the nominations until February 9th, though Mayor Harris told the Daily Memphian that he will no longer attempt to reconvene the Ethics Commission during his final year in office.
Finally, the commission tackled yet another issue that had been delayed for several meetings, which would determine whether to align the election of all nine MSCS board seats with those of the 13 Shelby County Commissioners.
Discussion began with a motion from Commissioner Britney Thornton to change the year of alignment to 2026, which was the original text of the resolution sponsored by Commissioners Thornton, Wright, and Whaley. A substitute resolution by Commissioner Sugarmon had changed the date to 2030 and was accepted by a majority of those present during the committee meeting in which it was proposed. Thornton’s motion failed on a 6-6 vote, meaning that Sugarmon’s resolution remains the primary proposal. All four Republican commissioners voted with Commissioners Thornton and Ford Jr. in favor of Thornton’s proposal, while the remaining six Democrats in attendance voted against it.
Following public comments from several parents and advocates in favor of aligning the elections, as well as three MSCS board members who spoke against the proposal, Commissioner Ford Jr. proposed delaying the final vote due to the absence of Commissioner Whaley, whom he viewed as the tiebreaking vote. In keeping with the theme of the entire night, this item was held, this time until the next full commission meeting on September 22nd.
It may interest our readers to know that petitions to run for office in the 2026 county primary elections will be available on December 22nd. Any potential alignment of all MSCS board elections, if it were to occur in 2026, may require action prior to this date. We will keep you updated as this resolution continues to move through the county commission.
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| In a much less contentious Memphis City Council meeting this week, council members continued to address the issues present at the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). Without discussion, the council voted to entrust the finances of the bus system to a City of Memphis trust, which will now have direct control over the entirety of the bus agency’s $30.1 million budget. MATA, which now has no CEO after the expiration of the city’s contract with TransPro—the consulting firm whose CEO was serving as the interim CEO of MATA until the end of August—will also not be getting a permanent CEO anytime soon. The city cancelled the MATA board’s announcement of two finalists for the position just weeks ago, prompting five of the nine freshly-appointed board members to resign. |
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