Political circles here in Bay St Louis have been buzzing since Mayor Fillingame conjured up Al Showers and WLOX earlier this week to promote raising the City’s Utility rates, which Fillingame claims are inadequate. Here is the interview for those that missed it:
When I saw the interview for the first time I viewed it through the lens that is based on my professional experiences in business and as a CPA/auditor. In fact it was a two day course long ago that included interview technique training from legendary CPA/CFE/CGFM Dennis Dycus aka the Joe Friday of Tennessee that I thought of wondering what Dennis would have to say about Hizzoner’s micro-signals. Here is a hint to that which I speak:
The Importance of Eye Contact in a Job Interview ~ Stacy Steinham, Demand Media
Make eye contact but avoid a sudden change in eye contact. “If you’ve been making great eye contact the whole interview and suddenly start blinking rapidly — more than 70 blinks per minute — when asked a question, this can indicate stress and a desire to avoid the truth,” said Patti Wood, body language expert
I mention this because Hizzoner’s eye shifting caught my attention and that is meaningful, especially since Al Showers and WLOX appears to be the City’s current state sponsored media. If Hizzoner can’t look Al in the eye which doing his sales pitch then we must assume there are other, behind the scenes factors at play. Let’s circle that for now.
Thursday ol’ Al followed up with an onsite John Q. Public type story for WLOX on the topic in front of Froogels. Sure enough he nabbed two nice ladies to talk on camera on the topic and both seemed to agree going up $9 a month on the Water bill wouldn’t bankrupt them. Fact of the matter is had Al been over at Neil’s restaurant over by Froogels yesterday at lunch I’d bet every person assembled there eating the wonderful, homemade food would have said the same thing. My exact quote would have been “No problemo Al, the Good Lord has blessed us greatly so sure I could afford it.” The problem I see is that Al is asking the wrong question though. Such is the way of the state sponsored media.
Here at Slabbed we’re always trying to look out for the little people like the cashiers inside of Froogels that Al really should have interviewed. My experience as a shopper there is the staff at Froogels is warm and friendly and the meat counter is excellent. And since we’re talking about the little people that are just barely scraping by making ends meet is $9 a month too much for them? Well sure it is just ask Al Showers. Al’s uncontrolled flapper value problem in the past has caused him to be perennially behind in his Bay St Louis water bill by several hundred dollars. For some reason, Al never gets shut off either. This brings us back to the state sponsored media and the behind the scenes factors we circled earlier. Worry not Al, since Slabbed is not co opted, we’ll look out for you along with all the other little people brother.
You gotta give the devil his due though. The Mayor is right that Bay St Louis has the lowest Utility and Property tax rates on the Coast. In the past, the City did a decent job providing services on the totality of the revenue streams including revenue from gaming.
Then again under Mayor Fillingame’s leadership, the budgeting process has become a game of fantasy. And until very recently the Mayor has steadfastly denied the City was having any money problems despite the fact the City was clearly broke. Once upon a time the City could rightly trumpet the fact that it could deliver water and sanitary sewer cheaper than any other municipality on the coast and hold its Utility Department out as a model of efficiency as the public’s money was working smarter, not harder. The bottom line is Mayor Fillingame inherited a City that was on sound financial footing 5 plus years ago and he since spent every dime of the City’s reserves and plunged it into debt for the excess.
This brings us to Geoff Belcher’s report on last week’s meeting for the Seacoast Echo because he provides a valuable public service in pinpointing the exact date the City completely went off the financial cliff and who is responsible:
In July 2013, Falgout and Ward 5 Councilman Joey Boudin balked when the mayor sought to use about $233,000 of the city’s then-$250,000 reserve on the Main Street lighting project.
“There are all kinds of reserve funds,” Fillingame said at the time. “It all depends on what these funds are for. … Bay St. Louis never had a true reserve fund. You always want to keep more operating capital, sometimes there is just more trouble.”
By that time, as per the FY 2013 draft audit findings, the City was already having trouble paying its vendors and yet here is Mayor Fillingame spending practically the City’s last dime on a capital project the City clearly could not afford all the while denying the City was having any financial problems. This fact set of reckless, compulsive behavior coupled with denial is little different from compulsive gambling or an addict hiding an addiction.
The fact of the matter is when the City had some dry summers a few years ago and revenue surged to over $3,000,000, the Mayor spent every last dime on additional salaries. At this point, absent addressing the problems that got us here, Fillingame’s rate hike proposal is a non starter and this is the reason the Mayor’s Utility increase failed last month. If the Mayor is on WLOX still yammering about needing more money, then nothing has changed since the City council turned down his proposal.
Stay tuned as the FY 2013 audit report release is imminent.
It is a shame no one has a video of stone-faced Mike Guel of Wright, Ward, Hatten, & Guel when he delivered the somber report to the Council last Tuesday, July 8. Fillingame seems to be functioning on a different frequency, or maybe there is too much static since he actually told the Council later in the meeting that he didn’t hear the Auditor say they were out of money when the Council turned down the Mayors’ request to commit almost $200,000 for a sidewalk and street light project for Old Spanish Trail.
Guel tried to shed some light for Fillingame, but apparently the Mayor would rather it be on poles than in his head.
This is going to be a looooooong 3 years.
I think I can shed a little light on the subject when the Mayor said he did not hear the Auditors when they said the City was broke.
The entire time the Auditors were giving their report, Mr. Mayor was busy on his cell phone either texting, reading or emailing. You would think the person we voted for to run our city would have a little courtesy to LISTEN for such an important report.
For some reason, it always appears that he is in total Denial on this whole situation. The next 3 years scare me also. Does someone need to hit him on the Head?
When you hire an Auditing Firm and they tell you that you are going to experience serious problems, maybe he should take them seriously. ???