Water Billing Still a Hot Topic for the City of Magnolia in 2025

The City of Magnolia Board met on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, to kick off the new year. The Mayor and all Aldermen were in attendance. The agenda presented was genericexcept foranagenda item addendum requested by Alderman Joe Cornacchione.

Normal business items discussed included approving the City of Magnolia’s 4th Mardi Gras Ball to be held Friday, February 21, 2025. It was not specifically discussed so the assumption is that it will be held at the Pike County Multi-Purpose building off Quinlivan Road.

The Board also approved the City of Magnolia Annual Mardi Gras Parade and Festival to be held Saturday, March 1, 2025. The parade is scheduled to start at 10am. It is assumed that permits for booths for the festival and parade entry floats are being handled at city hall. No cost was discussed for parade or festival participation by vendors or residents.

The city has selected WGK Inc for the FY 2025 CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) engineering services. WGK Inc beat out Neel-Schaffer in evaluation scoring conducted by the Board of Aldermen.

There is significant travel by the city’s administration scheduled for January and February. Board Members Becky Magee, Antonio Martin, Darrell Pounds, Clarence Burton,Jr., Mayor Tammy Witherspoon, and Attorney Ashunda Hampton will attend the MBC-LEO Mid-Winter Conference in Jackson on January 12-13. MBC-LEO stands for Mississippi Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials. Registration costs were stated at $150 per person. Travel, training, and lodging costs were approved.

Additionally, Board Members Becky Magee, Antonio Martin, Darrell Pounds, Clarence Burton, Jr., Joe Cornacchione, and Attorney Ashunda Hampton will attend the MML Mid-Winter Conference in Jackson on January 14-16. MML stands for Mississippi Municipal League. Registration costs was stated at $200 per person and per diem costs were approved for this event.

Finally, the Board approved training, travel, and lodging for Erica Brown and Craig Hampton to attend the Spring Municipal Clerk Training in Ridgeland, MS, February 12-14 with a registration cost of $300 per person.

Persons now using their private vehicle for official city business will be reimbursed at $0.70 per mile. This is an increase over the $0.67 per mile and is in alignment with the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration’s (DFA) updated mileage reimbursement rate.

The Board also approved payment of $155,443.08 for the CDBG Sewer Extension-Quinlivan Road Project.

Following the published agenda business items discussions and approvals, Alderman Cornacchione raised the issue of how late payments are assessed for Sewer/Water bills when the due date (the 15th of the month) falls on a weekend. Alderman Cornacchione stated that this is a problem for some residents trying to pay their bill after the office closes on a Friday at 12pm, or they drop their payments off before the due date but don’t get processed until the following Monday or next business day. The Mayor initially stated that any payment “processed” after the due date of the 15th was late and assessed a late fee accordingly. Alderman Cornacchione, Burton, and Ms. Magee endorsed the position that residents should be given through the following Monday (next business day) to make submit their payments (and be processed by the City Clerk) without being assessed a late fee. The Mayor and Board then agreed to make a policy change to allow for extra time and consideration to residents trying to pay their bills in a timely manner.

Alderman Cornacchione also raised a discrepancy in the policy about water being cut following non-payment of a water bill by the 22nd of a month and some bills showing multiple months due to water/sewer services. The item was not followed up on by the Board. It should be noted that for the month of December $12,520.55 in Sewer/Water adjustments were made with $27.04 processed for Sewer/Water refunds.

Reports by the city departments were minimal with no significant actions or events noted. The fines collected by the City’s Court Clerk were $898.75, which were noted to be low - but it was December.

City Hall will be closed Monday, January 20th in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

The next Work Session is scheduled for January 28th at 5:30pm and the next Board meeting scheduled for February 4th at 5:30pm.