Alternative New Media for the Gulf South
Lana advises that she made a presentation at the Wednesday Board of Aldermen meeting and after a discussion, “all agreed that no motion was necessary because new City Clerk Mickey Lagasse stated that the dockets will be on the website starting the end of next week.”
This bit of financial transparency is well overdue compared to the others Cities and County government but it is a welcomed development nonetheless. Live streaming the meetings should be the next step.
To set things up let’s do a quick comment bump from Gerald Lampkey (Slightly edited for clarity)
I’m told the alderman had two names on the table for consideration for city clerk, both came with excellent governmental qualifications and both turned down the job before Lagasse was offered the job.
I was told Charlene Black, who supposedly is a certified clerk for Bay St. Louis and a forever long time employee declined the offer. Not sure why she turned the job down, but she would have been a wise choice for Waveland. I’m just curious who was the second person that Waveland was considering?
Versions of this rumor have been circulating in Waveland ever since Mayor Smith made it known he would be backing local good ol’ boy Mickey Lagasse for the City Clerk position. The main incarnation of this rumor was that both Charleen Black and Sissy Gonzales, key Favre Administration employees in the City of Bay St Louis, applied for the vacant City Clerk position. Unlike Mr. Lagasse both of these women possess the qualifications to be City Clerk.
The only problem is the rumors about Ms. Black and Ms. Gonzales, which originated out of Waveland City Hall, are about 95% bullshit. Continue reading ““Bodyguard of Lies”: Waveland applies the maxim (poorly) to peacetime small town politics”
It’s on tonight in Bay-Waveland with both the Bay City Council and the Waveland Board of Alderman meeting.
The Bay City Council meeting has potential because Mayor Favre is making another school board nomination tonight. Rumor holds he will reappoint his son Casey Favre to the Board. I’m further advised the gang has checked out the legality of such an appointment and was told it is OK provided that Trustee Favre serves without pay. School Boards are not big spenders on their Boards with per diem set by statute so serving for free is not a big hardship. Given last year’s controversy that portion of the agenda has fireworks potential. The Bay City Council meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. sharp.
In Waveland the appointment of the new City Clerk is on tap. the Waveland Board of Aldermen meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.
Last week on Comment Bump: Mickey Lagasse tapped to be Waveland’s new city clerk I wrote the following:
Last time Mr. Lagasse worked in government he was the Hancock County Building official. I remember his departure was precipitated by a newsworthy event but that event was around 12 years ago. Any additional background in comments would be much appreciated.
Since then Lana Noonan of the Hancock County Alliance for Good Government spent two days going through the Seacoast Echo archives searching for the story I vaguely remember but came up empty. It doesn’t mean anything per se because there was lots of news in Hancock County back in 2006 and the Echo many not have covered it so work remains there, especially if Mr. Lagasse’s (termed “Meal Man Mickey” by certain commenters here) appointment as Waveland City Clerk is ratified as expected. That said, Lagasse’s career in Hancock County politics is long and I found something of interest doing Google searches during a short lunch break last week in the Court case Childs v Hancock County Board of Supervisors. The Plaintiff’s Appeals Court brief contains a nice summary and it is there I start: Continue reading “Let’s Hop in the Wayback Machine and revisit Childs v Hancock County Board of Supervisors”
Lana Noonan left the follwoing comment yesterday evening on the post Developing.
Confirmed by Waveland Mayor Mike Smith—Mickey Lagasse will be nominated to serve as Waveland City Clerk. Not to be accused of not liking Mickey, but does he have the credentials that the outgoing clerk had? She was a CPA and had experience.
Now, Mickey may have all of that. I am not certain of his education and job experience, or what he did for Compton Engineering. Certainly hope so because the City Clerk has a lot of legal responsibilities, lots. For instance reconciling the books of account for the independent auditor to do the annual audit.
When Paula Fairconnetue was appointed City Clerk in Bay St. Louis, the Council had to hire another auditing firm in addition to the independent auditor, to do the reconciliation of the books, because she couldn’t.
Just my opinion, but as one who will be contributing to this salary, our officials should have advertised for a Clerk. If Mickey wanted to apply, fine. Political appointments don’t always work out, and I am being charitable.
Last time Mr. Lagasse worked in government he was the Hancock County Building official. I remember his departure was precipitated by a newsworthy event but that event was around 12 years ago. Any additional background in comments would be much appreciated.
Local:
Critics take complaints over city clerk’s raise to Waveland aldermen ~ Geoff Belcher
Bay harbor commissioner resigns ~ Dwayne Bremer
Sports:
GOOOO’WOOD MORNING #SAINTS FAAAANS! #SUEDAT SAY DEY GONNA OWN DEM @SAINTS?
— Editilla the Pun (@Editilla) January 24, 2015
Rita Benson Leblanc???
Tom Benson has long harbored doubts about heir apparent Rita, friends say ~ Ramon Antonio Vargas
Business:
Chiquita-Charlotte divorce may cost up to $40 million ~ Jen Wilson
Bitcoin and the Digital-Currency Revolution ~ Michael Casey & Paul Vigna (Subscription required)
Heckuva job Barackie! Continue reading “Sunday Open”
Mayor Garcia gets a well deserved prop from Slabbed New Media as he puts the public back into public service:
First of all, a Happy New Year to all–hope your holidays were all you wanted them to be and the New Year will be successful for you. This year will be a year of “elections” or “decisions” if you will. Waveland will hold their municipal elections in the Fall, and if that seems far off, just wait. It will be here before you know it. Certainly the announcements and campaigning will be here soon. The Alliance will sponsor a political forum as we do for all the elections, so stay tuned if you are a candidate or simply a voter.
Events that have unfolded since the Bay St. Louis officials took the oath of office last July indicate that the Bay City Council needs to “elect” to see that their city’s bills get paid whether or not the Mayor does. They may have to “take the checkbook” away from him if need be. This is, of course, a figure of speech, but they do have the legal responsibility for seeing that the bills are paid, which could be to refuse to approve any more dockets until he pays the Solid Waste and Hancock County Utility Authorities what the city owes them. After all, these folks have dockets to pay as well. And using the excuse that they fell behind because they didn’t charge enough for utilities is ridiculous. That’s not the fault of the Utility Authorities. By the way, what happened to the $500,000 line of credit that was supposed to cover these utility bills? And, most importantly, what is the administration doing with the money the users are sending to city hall to pay these bills? The city does’t own any garbage trucks or employ any garbage workers. So what makes them think they can keep funds for a service they not only do not, but cannot perform? Amazing. Who knows what the list of delinquent bills looks like? Now we are hearing that Lowe’s has cut the city off for non payment; and heard it from RELIABLE sources.
Let’s hope the ad valorem taxes in the Bay are enough to take care of these problems what with the Harbor coming on board between March and May–built by the Feds, but to be maintained by the locals. The continuing long list of foreclosures in the paper each week is very disturbing. Continue reading “Guest Post | Hancock County Alliance for Good Government: 2014—-A Year of “Elections” and “Decisions””
HANCOCK COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER
For those of you familiar with the Broadway musical, “Cabaret” the local, state, and national news is beginning to sound like a refrain from one of the shows numbers: “Money.” This past month has been a numbers game for those of us studying all of the figures.
For example there are $259,955 in delinquent utility bills in Bay St. Louis. Seven of these delinquent accounts were city employees until we published the list, then one paid. Shedding light can sometimes have positive results.
There is $187,000 delinquent utility bills in Waveland which includes a former Police Chief and Mayor. We hope these accounts can be cleaned up so the rest of us don’t have to continue to carry the burden because many on these lists are more than able to pay. And, it is only going to get worse now that both cities have increased rates. For those who just will not pay, there is a remedy, if our public officials will use it, and that’s cutting them off. They sure wouldn’t get by with this with Miss. Power, Coast Electric, or Cable TV. To review the complete lists of delinquent accounts go to Slabbed.org.
Thousands of parcels of property in Hancock County have been abandoned by the owners which results in a loss of ad valorem taxes when they are returned to the state. The latest hit to the ad valorem tax base in the county is the new formula for assessing taxes on the Section 42 and Section 8 housing complexes. According to Jimmie Ladner, this loss could fall in the laps of the rest of us to make up the difference. We may not like the news, but at least Jimmie will always tell it like it is. Continue reading “Guest Post: Hancock County Alliance for Good Government October 2013 Newsletter”
Here is a sampling of some of the seriously overdue water bills per the following Aging report obtained from the City of Waveland by Lana Noonan of the Alliance for Good Government:
Habitat for Humanity—-$473.59
Ashman-Mollere–$689.75
Ronnie Artigues–$141.09
DaddyO’s—$68.26
James Varnell–$101.40
Cecilia Howe—$109.80
Oak Park Apartments- over $16,000
Gulfshore Properties–$39,763.46
Gulf Grove Apartments–$13,987.50
Click below to obtain the full 49 page aging as it includes other notables such as former Mayor Stella Frilot. Continue reading “Egg Water Delinquents Part Two: A collaboration between Slabbed New Media and the Alliance for Good Government”