Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Vote on director of Crime Prevention hits another snag

Three councilors will be at conference instead of next meeting

With three members of Columbus Council attending a National League of Cities meeting, Mayor Jim Wetherington is facing another delay on a vote for his crime prevention director, the Office of Crime Prevention and a board to help run the office.

An ordinance to create a crime prevention director’s position using money from the Local Option Sales Tax fell one vote short on Oct. 27 by a 5-4 margin. Two other ordinances that would have allowed a seven- or 11-member board to help the director run the office failed by similar votes because Councilor Gary Allen was absent. It takes at least six votes from the 10-member council to approve an ordinance and the mayor is allowed to vote only if 10 councilors are present and there is a 5-5 tie.

Wetherington won’t place the proposals back on the agenda Tuesday because Councilors Evelyn “Mimi” Woodson, Evelyn Turner-Pugh and Julius Hunter will be in San Antonio for the National League of Cities Conference. That could force the mayor to wait until Nov. 24, the last meeting of the month, or he could consider calling a special meeting before that time.

“I’ll see what the feelings are then make my mind up next week to decide whether I’ll call a special meeting or not,” Wetherington said Thursday.

Wetherington said the special meeting was just a thought that crossed his mind. “I don’t necessarily want to rush into this,” the mayor said. “I haven’t been rushing. I have been waiting a long time.”

It’s been almost a year since the Mayor’s Commission on Crime Prevention was created on Jan. 13 to come up with ideas to prevent crimes. The group completed its report five months later with controversial proposals for a crime prevention director and a board to assist in the operation of the Office of Crime Prevention.

Hunter said it would be fine with him to call a special meeting if Wetherington can get 10 councilors there. “If he wants to call a special meeting that is fine,” he said. “If he does, he needs to make sure he definitely has 10 people.”

At next Tuesday’s meeting, Hunter said it would be a good idea to determine if anybody is going to be out of town.

Councilor Jerry “Pops” Barnes, a supporter of the board and crime director, is hopeful that council will get the proposals resolved. “We’ll get it started,” he said.