Alderman Dr. Jack Varner said the operations within the city clerk’s office are a “sham,” and the citizens of Yazoo City need to know they are “getting ripped off.”
“The city clerk’s office as it is being run is a sham for the people of this town,” Varner said. “We are paying twice the money to get one job done. People need to know they are getting ripped off and laughed at.”
Varner expressed frustration during Monday’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting after a proposal was presented by the Acuity Group to potentially handle city’s payroll operations. He said he is not concerned about Acuity Group’s performance. But with a $60,000 price tag, he is concerned about spending more money within the city clerk’s office.
Varner added that Monday’s proposal was a “total surprise, with no warning.”
“We can’t keep all those people over there (in the city clerk’s office),” Varner said. “That is insanity, my gosh. We might as well farm the whole thing out if you are going to keep farming out.”
Varner said there are too many people in the city clerk’s office, noting that the office ran in the past with three to four employees. He said the office now holds a city clerk and two deputy clerks with contracts with a Cleveland accounting firm and the city board attorney.
Varner said the former mayor’s secretary Kaneilia Williams was first transferred over as the interim city clerk with a yearly salary of $42,000. Two weeks later, he said Williams was made the full-time city clerk with a $48,000 salary.
Varner said the two deputy clerks’ combined salaries run about $60,000. He also has reservations about the deputy clerks not residing in Yazoo City.
“The mayor came back to the board wanting to bend the rule about them having to live in Yazoo City,” Varner said. “The other 113 employees within the city have to live in the county.”
Varner said the city is also involved in a contract with the Jackson, Braswell, Mullins, & Bailey, P.A. accounting firm. He said the monthly bill from the firm typically runs about $5,000 to $6,000 a month.
“But last month we got a bill from them for about $21,000,” Varner said. “In a year’s time, I would say that we pay them about $60,000 to $70,000. Now we are looking at farming out payroll, which would be another $60,000.”
Varner said the city council minutes cannot be approved until they are read and approved by board attorney Lillie Evans-Bass at roughly $150 per hour.
“It’s crazy,” Varner said. “We need the money to pave our streets, fix potholes and buy equipment. We have the police department trading out their cars after shifts. With 180,000 miles, they are hoping to make it through the neighborhood and make it back to the police station. Yet, we are spending all this money in the city clerk’s office. We are buying the same real estate twice in there.”
Varner said he doesn’t feel the city can continue to spend that kind of money “farming everything out.”
But Mayor Diane Delaware said the city needs someone to complete payroll, which has been an issue in the past.
“Payroll is a problem for Yazoo City, and it continues to be a problem,” Delaware said. “We have to address it. Sometimes it is difficult to know these problems if you don’t encounter them every day. We may tend to think that everything is hunky-dory. But it is not actually.”
Varner asked where the city would find $60,000 within its budget to cover another expense.
“Maybe we should pay for the services just like we would pay our salaries,” Delaware said.
“I think it’s a service we need,” Varner added. “But I think you are going to have to give up something to get the money to do it.”
“Maybe you will have to give something up,” Delaware replied.
Despite Varner’s reservations, Delaware said she is pleased with the operations within the city clerk’s office. She said the city’s purchasing order clerk as recently made sure all the city’s invoices and bills from 2016-2017 are paid as stated by law.
“Seldom do I go around thanking people for doing their job,” Delaware said. “But this was a performance that we have been working on for three years. Last year I was called a gremlin and many other things to make this happen. I am ok with that...I got a lot of heat. But this has occurred, and it is important that a city follows procedures.”
Delaware said as the city enters its first month of the fiscal year, the finances within the clerk’s office are correct and updated for the first time in a few years.
“This is the first year in a long time that we are able to say that we know what we have spent, we know what our revenue streams are and we are able to project our revenue streams for the upcoming year,” she said. “We want to be seen as a city that is capable of getting this kind of thing done.”
