Alderman Macklyn Austin commented on the recent publicity the city has received, particularly with the disagreement between Mayor David Starling and former police chief Kenny Hampton.
“I usually try to turn a blind eye or just turn the other cheek,” he said, during Monday’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting. “But as many of you within the community who read the newspaper, you know there has been a lot of things said about different people on this board. Everybody on this board has been elected. We have done whatever we have done in order to build our reputation to be able to sit on this board. When something is being done with one person, or two or three people, it affects us all.”
Austin continued by saying that he was not going to say much about former police chief Hampton. But he added that “the mayor stood in his corner” more than any other board member. He then addressed The Yazoo Herald’s recent coverage.
“Mrs. Jamie, I know there is nothing we can do to stop what goes in the newspaper,” he said. “But believe it or not, whatever goes in there, for the good or the bad, it has a big outcome of things that happen, go on or what is being said in the city. Sometimes I feel when it comes to this board and certain board members, a simple phone call can change a lot of things. There are always two sides to a story. We definitely don’t want to fill the newspaper up with negativity, especially concerning us. And especially when things aren’t true.”
Concerning transparency, Austin admits he feels the board could do better.
“But when it comes to transparency, there are things that we do that is not being seen or not being said because we just don’t want to pat ourselves on the back,” he said. “That is our jobs to do certain things. The mayor was elected to run the city and deal with day-to-day operations. And none of us agree with him 100 percent of the time. And he knows that. But whatever decision he makes, we have to respect that and move forward with it.”
Austin said the mayor has assisted others within the community, especially in times of death.
“And a word is never said,” he added. “Him, along with a few other people on this board, get attacked for certain things that we don’t do. All we can do is continue to lead this city and do everything in our power to make it better.”
Alderman Jammie McCoy also said certain information spread over social media is false and not productive with moving the city forward.
“I just want everybody to know that you have people here who are trying to do the best job we can for the city,” McCoy said. “Whatever affects you, affects me. I have been here all my life, and we all hold Yazoo City dear to our hearts. Yes, we will make mistakes, but it is about what we do to correct them.”
