Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / Taxpayer-Funded Farewell Tour; Is City Hall Hostile? PLUS Local Non-profits Feel the Strain

Transcript

Taxpayer-Funded Farewell Tour; Is City Hall Hostile? PLUS Local Non-profits Feel the Strain · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is Between the Headlines.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Typically, we try to keep news and opinions separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: The Dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity and our reporting will always reflect that.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: And now Between the Headlines.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: This week on Between the Headlines, the Mickens DC Farewell Tour sponsored by the taxpayers of the city of Columbus.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: And an HR complaint surfaces where Mayor Keith Gaskin is accused of creating a hostile work environment.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: We'll get to that, but first.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Retirement looks different for everyone, so your plan should be built around you.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: For over 40 years, Financial Concepts has helped people create retirement strategies that fit their lives.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Our team in Columbus takes the time to understand your goals and build a plan that works for you.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Wherever you are in your journey, we're ready to help.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: We plan retirement.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Financial Concepts is a registered investment advisor.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Do you need help achieving the right?
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Look in your house At Lighting, Unlimited and Uncommon Living.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: You'll find quality, unique pieces that will elevate your home instantly.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Great furniture and lighting not only reflect a style, they also define a home With lighting, unlimited and uncommon living.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: You can expect more.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Visit them at 1116 Gardner Boulevard or online at lighting-columbuscom.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: And now a message from political candidate Bill Strauss.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: This is Bill Strauss, your 2025 candidate for mayor of Columbus.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: As election time draws near, ask yourself are you satisfied with our city leadership?
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: What has been done to eliminate our flooding issues?
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: What has been done to eliminate our housing blight?
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: Are our streets safe?
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: Why have we not kept up with West Point, starkville and Tupelo?
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: We must have new leadership.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: Out with the old and in with the new.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: Elect Bill Strauss, your new mayor.
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: Paid for by campaign to elect Bill Strauss mayor 2025.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: And now a message from political candidate Jason Spears.
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: Hello, I am Jason Spears, your Republican candidate for City Council, ward 6.
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: I am grateful for the citizens of Ward 6 support in the primary and respectfully request everyone's continued support in the upcoming general election.
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: It is time to restore fiscal responsibility, economic growth and optimism back to our city.
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: I, like you, believe we can get back on track and know that, as a community, we're going to make it happen.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: I approve this message and, on June 3rd, vote Jason Spears for Ward 6.
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: Paid for by the campaign to elect Jason Spears, ward 6.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: All right, you are listening to Between the Headlines with the all-hearing ears of the Friendly City and managing editor of the Commercial Dispatch, mr Zach Player, and my name is David Chisholm.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: The top headline today the severance package.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Can we call it that?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Whatever, mr Mickens goes to Washington for one last ride.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: You know I don't know what you want to call it, but yeah, the city council is considering very seriously.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: They're asking their lobbyist, worth Thomas Consulting, if now's the time to go to Washington, if they should go to Washington in June to see if they can lobby for funds for Fossil Park, watershed, a variety of their federal funding priorities.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Lots was said Tuesday that probably now wasn't the time.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Doesn't look like a great time for the city to go.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Uh, even so, you know Mickens has no business going and regardless of you know Mickens has confirmed he intends to be on the travel team here.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Like he talked to me yesterday about, it's in the paper Lame duck Mickens, lame duck Mickens.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I mean he's not even going to have a city position come July 1st.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: So I really can't fathom the utility that he brings to the table going to Washington.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I don't see him as being a master lobbyist.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: And look, I like Mickens fine.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I actually have generally always gotten along with Councilman Mickens, but I've never left a conversation with him where I thought, dang, I need to give that man some money.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine Roger Wicker or Trent Kelly sitting up there going.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: You know I was really interested in your fossil park project, but I was really looking forward to talking with Mickens about it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, I just don't think I can support it.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I don't, why is Mickens going other than?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to get one more, last taxpayer funded trip.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure I could put a fossil slash age related joke in there somehow.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Give him a break.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: I do want to give him a break because I kind of feel bad for him.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: I really do.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Here.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like have you ever just I've had this, just to be honest, where I'll be in a room and I'll tell a joke and then I'll laugh about it?
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: And then I will realize, hey, I'm the only fellow laughing at this joke right here, and it seems like that's what's happening here.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: I opened up the article from the dispatch.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Hey, they wrote an Onion article here.
• 5:51
  Speaker 7: And then I was like no wait.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: If it's about Mickens.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: It ain't done.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Mickens really does want to go to DC on the taxpayer dime on his way out of office.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Well, and I was asking.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I talked at length with Mickens about this and some other issues that we'll get to later.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I think that his response to the question of why do you need to go to Washington was pretty telling.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: You know, he not only did he, you know, he said I reject that question.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: I think that question is the wrong question.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: But also he starts, you know, talking about how he wants to give the last bit of himself to the city.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: But in the middle, there he goes on this eight minute rant about his loyalty to the city and how Keith total loser, worst mayor the city's ever had what can he put his name on in the last four years and 16 years?
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Mickens says I put my name on lots of things and I mean it was just over and over and over again.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: This, you know, just bashing of Keith.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: That didn't really answer the question of what do you bring to the table?
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: And the Shakespeare line in Hamlet says something like thou doth protest too much.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Methinks it shows exactly what everybody's thinking.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Mickens sees travel as he always has, and if you look at the records they're going to bear this out Mickens sees travel as a fringe benefit of being a city official and he intends to milk that through the very last opportunity of his term and that is why he believes he should be on this contingent in June.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: To you know, go see the congressmen and senators.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I think that's quite sad.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: Listen, I'm in favor of work-related travel.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: I'm in favor of doing the work, lobbying, and yes, that's going to involve a plane, yes, that's going to involve hotels, food, that types of thing.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: But it's a duty and it's an obligation If there's no purpose for it it's not recreation.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: No, it should not be at all, and even if it's fun that that part's fine, but there needs to be a distinct benefit for the city and there needs to be a utility for your presence that cannot be had without it, and there's just not, isn't here, and they're, uh, talking about it being, at minimum, two thousand dollars ahead to go.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: No, come on $3,500 easy.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think it's going to be more than $2,000.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: But still, if you live in the city of Columbus, that's your money.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: I have heard people out there saying they need to send Roderick instead.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, they need to send Roderick instead, and they need to go at a more opportune time, which is going to be after he takes office anyway, that's right.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Dc is not exactly in the mood to be shelling out funds right now, right.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: To put it rightly Right, all right.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: Well, you're listening to Between the Headlines with Zach and David.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Before we get to our next topic, a word from our sponsors.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Do you have knee pain, muscle weakness, swelling or cold feet?
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Call King Associates Cardiology for an appointment today at 662-368-1169.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: King Associates Cardiology we care and it shows.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Do you need a space for your next event?
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: The 7th Street Center has been just what you're looking for.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: We can accommodate groups of 50 to 800.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Call today 662-630-2442 to reserve your space.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Do you need furniture?
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Heck, even if you don't need furniture, you can't afford to miss Ashley Furniture's spring clearance sale Up to 35% off of floor samples.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: Some exclusions apply.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: 1721 Highway 45 North in Columbus.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Do you want to start your own podcast?
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: Catfish Alley Studio has the space, gear and support to bring your voice to life.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Whether you're launching a show or learning to play music, we help creators sound their best.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Book your session today at catfishalleycom.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: I want to let you know about a forum that will be with all three of the mayoral candidates Mr Stephen Jones, mr Darren Leach and Mr Bill Strauss.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: That is May 27th at the Lyceum at Lee, from 6 to 7 30.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: All three have agreed to be there and you will want to reserve a ticket.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: No cost for that ticket, but reserve that ticket at cdispatchcom slash forum.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: This forum is sponsored by the Dispatch and by the Lyceum at Lee All right.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Next on the agenda today we have a late-breaking news item, that is, a complaint.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Jamie Garrett, the name on the top of this complaint levied against Mayor Gaskin, dated February 13th Is that correct?
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: I believe that's right.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Yes, all right.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: What is?
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: this, yes, okay.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: So now, first of all, the complaint made a couple months ago.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: This is something that in the aforementioned rant from Mickens about how terrible Keith is, he just kind of drops into the conversation that there was this complaint.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Shortly after that conversation I had that complaint in my hand and you know it's on City Letterhead.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: It's signed by Jamie.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Everybody confirms that it happened and all involved parties spoke to it to some extent.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Essentially, it's saying that during all of that mess with Susan Wilder, the grant administrator, when Keith told her to file for that grant, whether the council approved it or not, the council had not approved it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: She applied for it anyway.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: And then she gets called in on the carpet.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Well, so Jamie is in charge of posting the special meeting that two councilmen had called and during that entire process, through that entire day, she kind of this complaint kind of takes through what she sees as her experience through that entire day, which shows of this complaint kind of takes through what she sees as her experience through that entire day which shows the mayor you know as as petulant.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: She calls him intimidating, bullying, pounding the table at one point while you know she's trying to explain something to him and he's not wanting to accept that information and that it created a hostile work environment at City Hall for her.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: And she wrote up this complaint and posted it to initially posted it to the agenda for the council to discuss, I guess during executive session of a meeting, and then it got pulled down and it was never readdressed and I don't think anybody intended for it to ever surface and Keith's response to this was he put together like a class to teach the staff.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Let's get to that in a second.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: So I want to go back to this complaint and I want to be very clear.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not commenting on whether I think the specific allegations in the complaint are true it wasn't't there but I will say that the narrative is pretty reflective of keith's behavior in at least 50 of the conversations I've had with the man over the last four years.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: That looks very similar to how he acts when he's talking to me, hell sometimes when he's on his press conferences that are on video.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Well, he's definitely an emotionally driven character he is he's?
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Definitely, shall we say, passionate, yeah, okay.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Well, there's something else that he is as well you know, and to talk about the 50 conversations that I've had with him or so, that have looked very much like what Jamie wrote down in this complaint, two of them we had with him yesterday.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: So I mean one of them about this subject and to your point that you brought up a while ago, I think the fact that Keith responded to Jamie Levy in this complaint by bringing in a lawyer to City Hall to have classes to mansplain what a hospital work environment actually is and how he wasn't creating one.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: That shows the exact level of self-awareness from Keith we've all come to know and love over the last four years.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I cannot remember a time, publicly or privately, where he's recognized any fault he has in a situation, and when he does start to own it it's always couched in a but so-and-so is worse or such-and-such did it too.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: And the thing about it is when I'm having those conversations with him I can leave.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: They end.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I go on about my business and about my day.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: You're not on the payroll.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if just what I've seen you know, the complaint aside if just what I've seen is what City Hall is like day to day, I couldn't work there.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: To me, I think, the whole idea of a hostile work environment is often over-touted.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: I'm looking at this and I'm thinking okay, did Keith Gaskin raise his voice?
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: I don't care.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Did Keith Gaskin use words that one may not hear in Sunday school?
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: I still don't care.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Did Keith Gaskin smash a salad bowl against the wall?
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, well, yeah, let's talk about that.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: You know, at what point are we really getting over the line into what actually creates a hostile work environment?
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: A culture of berating employees is a hostile work environment which started with the council right, well, yeah, that kind of bleeds over into City Hall To say that Keith is doing it and the council is not would be entirely unfair.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: The council has created a hostile work environment for employees for at least this past term, and look no further than Kenny Weigel and Susan Wilder for more information.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: But you know, and that's another thing, I mean this, this sort of outlines and what we already knew about Susan Wilder, that whole mess with that grant and Keith put them in a a terrible position.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Not only to put susan in a terrible position of I know what the council said, but I don't care, apply for it anyway, and then putting garrett in a position where she had to.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: She, she had to take the council's direction to call for this special meeting and then she had to hear she had to catch hell from Keith for doing her job.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Like that particular situation for both of those ladies was just like I'd have called in sick.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you I get that, I do.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you this Do you think that there is a way for the sitting mayor of Columbus to avoid carrying the stress of city council meetings into city hall?
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Self-awareness self-reflection, introspective and knowing and being able to own.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, I made a mistake in this moment.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Hey, I maybe shouldn't have.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Like, he denied the allegations in the complaint.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: You know, obviously he's talked to everybody or had somebody else talk to him.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I wasn't really creating a hostile work environment because, definitionally, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I mean he's basically saying I don't like your vocabulary, jamie, so your entire argument is invalid.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: You can't tell somebody how they feel.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: And she felt a certain way and he did not seem at any point, including yesterday, to acknowledge that she might have felt that way validly.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: And that has been.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: When you talk about his relationship with the council, when you talk about his relationship, obviously, with his employees, when you talk about his relationship with the media, when you talk about, you know, just the day to day, that's been his Achilles heel since he took office.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I get that and most of that sounds feelings based, which is unfortunate, but I see a lot of this as being policy based.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Ok, case in point at the last council meeting, what did the council need to do?
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: They needed to hire people immediately to get in there in the accounting department, where the people are running around like chickens with no heads, they can't write checks, they're making mistakes, but no, let's put that off.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Well, and they did hire one of them.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: That's kind of stressful, zach.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I understand that, I understand that, and the fact that they were going to kick both of those to July was kind of weird.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And they course, corrected on that and actually hired one of them, the one that they didn't hire.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: There's a pretty good reason why they didn't hire that person right now, and even Keith admits that that's something that they need to look into.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: But you're the mayor.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: And that doesn't make you not human, that doesn't make you above getting to have feelings.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: But because you're the mayor, that doesn't mean that the people around you who disagree with you aren't entitled to those either, and that is the dynamic that Keith has never particularly let resonate with him, and that's frustrating.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: But there's one more point on this that I want to point out, and it's on Jamie Garrett's side.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I feel bad for her that this came out.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I really do, because it was not a public document in the conventional sense.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: It was an official document that she wrote on city letterhead, but it was something that didn't necessarily have to come to light, but it did.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: But I don't really know what she was thinking.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Keith is not a city employee, he's an elected official.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: So the council doesn't have any firing or hiring power over him, can't discipline him.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: So this report was supposed to have.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: She was calling out to somebody, specifically to the council and to the HR director, to intervene on her behalf with Keith.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: That's what the complaint says that she was trying to do.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: She intended for this to have an impact on Keith and she didn't write it in a rage.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: The incident happened on the 6th.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: She wrote it a week later.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: So it was intentional to have an impact on Keith positive, negative, whatever, fair or unfair.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: She wanted it to have an impact on Keith positive, negative, whatever fair or unfair.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: She wanted it to have an impact on Keith.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: But she wrote it down and she shared it with who the council, many of whom are his political opponents or enemies or people who have political beef with him and she did it during an election season.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Anytime you write something, anytime you write something down and share it, you lose a certain amount of stewardship of that document.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: What an understatement yeah.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: So the council or council members or other people had this document and you have stewardship of what you have possession of.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: It's ammunition, it's ammunition.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: And so, during this political season, ammunition, it's ammunition.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: And so, during this political season, did she not think that, handing these people a cannon to shoot at Keith, that they weren't going to shoot it?
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I'm shocked that I hadn't gotten this in my hand prior to now, and I think that if Keith was running for mayor, I would have you know, I think the timing of this, as you say, is very unfortunate.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: And the timing of it, just in my view of things, makes it, at the end of the day, closer to being chicken scratch and something to really get in a twist over.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: That's just my opinion.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Right, and I mean to be fair to Jamie.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: She said their problems have been resolved.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: They've worked through them.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I believe her.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I think they're working fine together.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: She says they problems have been resolved, they've worked through them.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I believe her.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I think they're working fine together.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: She says they're working fine together.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: She's embarrassed that it came to light.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: But when it comes down to it at the end of the day and I appreciate the fact that they've worked through their whatever they were going through and they're working together fine now but at the end of the day she wrote this down, she put it on city letterhead and she signed it and she shared it with people who had the political onus to share it publicly.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: And that is a mistake on her part, I believe.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: All right, I have a bonus rant.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: If I have time to throw this in here, I'm looking at the city council meeting last night and the request for the rezoning of the former First Baptist Church building, and it was what's the gentleman's name?
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Mr Vincent Raposada.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: By unanimous consent of the city planning commission, let's rezone it, okay.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Well, what's he want to do?
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Executive apartments, 15 of them.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Very nice Office space, 81,000 square feet total.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: What does our leadership do?
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: We've got Mickens.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: He wants to ask what the address of this place is.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: He doesn't know what's going on.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: It's First Baptist Church.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: It's been there 200 years.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: Come on, stuart asks is there a place to park?
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Again, it's First Baptist Church.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: There's a public parking lot right across the street.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: Well, and they've got 140 parking places behind it.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: And then Jones, he's asking okay, what guarantee do we have that this will remain a high end?
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Well, the guarantee is that we have good leadership in city council.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: That's the only guarantee we have on this stuff.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: I think the efforts of Vince Raposada are met with unthanks and I think that's unfortunate are met with unthanks, and I think that's unfortunate.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: I think he should get a rose in the dispatch and, frankly, I think a thorn is in order.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: No-transcript, all right, at this time.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: We now have the Executive Director of the United Way, Ms Renee Sanders, and alongside her here is Lieutenant Rhonda Sanders from the Community Benefit Committee.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Welcome, ladies and the Lowndes County.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that's right, good morning.
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: Good morning.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: So just to open up.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Have you been feeling, ms Renee, the squeeze from Light Doge?
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Has big balls knocked on your door.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: How is that stuff going Took a?
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: minute, but it rolled on down we were keeping an eye on that, though, from the beginning, but didn't realize it was going to hit as hard as it did and overnight the way that it did.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: No warning, no official warning and really no official heads up as to what's going on.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: No clarity.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: That's the problem.
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: Like we are finding out things from the news outlet, but how do you make real decisions in your community with these workers based off of a news article?
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: That's just not the right way to make a decision.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: And the AmeriCorps Vistas that you guys have.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: We did a story a while back where I think it was last week, where a lot of Starkville organizations they lost theirs and they got notification.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Have y'all got that notification yet?
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Have not, and how many do y'all have when y'all's organization?
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: We have the ability to house three this year, nine last year.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: And just for clarity, vista Volunteers in Service to America is the federal program that we have been receiving funds from the federal government for several years in Columbus.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: A lot of people didn't know, but in our community in Lowndes County, we had the ability to house three to currently have locations, and so that's one at Contact Helpline and then there's one at the GenTech Center in West Point, Mississippi, and the third seat is open.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: We were about to fill that seat, but you have to.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: There's a certain time that you can actually have an individual to fill it.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: You just can't fill it the day that you want to.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: They give you guidelines on how to do that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, and backing up here a little bit, just starting with you, Renee, just short breakdown of what United Way does y'all service area and kind of what, that sort of thing.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: It's taken me 10 years.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: This is my 10th year.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: I don't know if you guys knew that 10 years I've been with United Way.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: Can't believe it, but it's taken me 10 years to articulate this one statement of what United Way is, because that's the one question that people ask all the time what is United Way and what do you do?
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: So here we are.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: We are a multidimensional, volunteer-led, multi-dimensional volunteer led nonprofit that oversees donor dollars with integrity.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: We raise the money to give it to agencies like Rhonda or the 22 that are currently housed, and all of our agencies have to apply and everyone submits an application and we have a team of volunteers that go out and they vet those applicants.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: And so in their local nonprofits in the seven counties that I now serve.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: So when I started I was the United Way of Lowndes County and now with the United Way the Golden Triangle region, serving Clay, choctaw, attiba, winston Webster, lowndes and Knoxville.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Rhonda, with the Community Bene benefit committee and other things that you touch through the sheriff's office.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: From a philanthropy standpoint, kind of explain y'all's role through that committee and through the sheriff's office.
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: Okay, the community benefit committee we are a team of seven now started off with 10 commitment committee members throughout the community.
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: We have um professors from colleges, social workers, um people who work in different agencies throughout the community that basically can give opinions and, um, you know, deal with the people here in Lowndes County.
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: So we're a nonprofit that was created by me and my husband.
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: We decided that we were going to start a nonprofit to benefit, really, police offices at first because we had so many police officers, believe it or not, that were in need and would have like crises.
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: The first thing we did was we had a police officer's house to burn and I don't know if people know this, but we don't make much money.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: What You've got to be kidding.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: I thought police were rolling Right.
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: I thought police were rolling Right.
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: So with the little insurance that he had and three kids he really couldn't afford to get back what he could and I kind of watched him go through that.
• 29:04
  Speaker 7: Being a female officer, we get to know a little more about our guys because they feel like they can come in and kind of talk to us about you know different stuff.
• 29:07
  Speaker 7: Well, after we got in there and we started our first fundraiser to help this guy out it was a big need within the blue community, so not just helping city police officers, we just spread it to help any police officer that really was in need.
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: Well, we got out there in the community really needed some help.
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: So in about two years from that, we built a board, became all legit and did all this stuff and we just started going out in the community and helping where we could.
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: We do Christmas for babies babies, we do.
• 29:46
  Speaker 7: Turkeys we um help people um that's lacking in their homes, um, we do we.
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: It's not just written rules on who we help, right, we help people by need well, how did y'all get involved?
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: I guess in the little pantries well, um, some ladies decided that they were going to start a pantry down I think the first one was down by the soccer complex and we started getting calls and stuff and you know, and we started feeling it and we saw that it was a need.
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: So we decided to partner with the sheriff's office where I work.
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: So we decided to partner with the sheriff's office where I work, went in and talked to the sheriff and said what about if we put some of these in the county?
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: Because we didn't have any in the county.
• 30:29
  Speaker 7: Well, it grew from putting one and two in the county until we have 30 today throughout the county and the city.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: And how quickly?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: How often are y'all actually getting those filled up by people and how often are they empty and out?
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: We?
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: try.
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: Oh, very quick.
• 30:45
  Speaker 7: We try to fill them twice a week.
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: Mr Pete, who passed, would help me get the food and take it out with the trustees, but now, since he passed, I get in this big van and me and the trustees, we go out and we fill it every two times a week.
• 31:03
  Speaker 7: That's if we have it now.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Right, and that's that's the next question I was going to ask both of you guys.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Like you know, we were talking about more institutional funding, federal funding, federal help, the doge cuts and different things like that.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: But what's happening with private donations locally that y'all have seen in a trend?
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: My thing that I see is different generations.
• 31:33
  Speaker 7: We were in my generation, we were givers.
• 31:39
  Speaker 7: We were born and we knew when you give, you're blessed.
• 31:46
  Speaker 7: So we were givers this generation not so.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: We're talking about millennials or the younger, like that.
• 31:55
  Speaker 7: Yes, yes, some of them are givers because their families teach them.
• 32:01
  Speaker 7: Me I have three kids.
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: I teach my kids to be kind and to give A lot of these young generations.
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: They don't.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Do you think that it might be symptomatic the fact that you need so many food pantries and they're emptying out so often that you're sort of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is?
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Do they have it to give that?
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: is Maslow's hierarchy of needs is do they have it to give that?
• 32:23
  Speaker 7: That?
• 32:23
  Speaker 7: That is, some do have it and they choose to do different.
• 32:29
  Speaker 7: See, when I was growing up, we knew that we were supposed to tie and we were supposed to give 10 percent of our earnings.
• 32:46
  Speaker 7: That's what that was, something that was instilled in us, right.
• 32:48
  Speaker 7: That's what that's was something that was instilled in us, right, and we knew that we were supposed to help people who didn't have food and we knew we needed to help clothe people.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: Parents are not teaching our kids that these days have, to a certain extent, relied upon government programs excessively, to the point that when they get withdrawn that you know that it's like.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm accustomed to having this safety net to fall on and therefore, why do I need to give?
• 33:17
  Speaker 7: Do you think that?
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: plays into it.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: I think so.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: Well, what can we do?
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: I want to help.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: I want to turn this thing around, renee.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: Nice.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: I was speaking with someone just a moment ago about the number one reason people do not give.
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: The number one reason people don't give they were never axed Right.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: However, the number one reason people do give is because they were axed, and a Facebook post is not an ask.
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: You have got to talk to the people and I think with the younger generation, they want to see something Right.
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: They don't want to give to a cause like this program.
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: These individuals work behind the scene.
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: United Way.
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: We're behind the scene.
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: People always call and want to know what we do, but we're behind the scene raising money to give it to agencies.
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: They don't really want to help that because they can't see it.
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: And the number one reason that they do want to help they want to get involved.
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: They want to be hands on.
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: I have seen Rhonda give out a call for remember when we wanted to raise the water.
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: We were in the water crisis and we were talking about how many cases of water Initially?
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but initially we talked about doing like a hundred cases and then we went to a thousand cases and then this lady fills up an 18 wheeler.
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: People will do that.
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: They want to see something and get involved.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: But when you start, asking for dollars.
• 34:50
  Speaker 7: That's a whole different ask right, and most people want something in return in return.
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: So our best fundraisers are like the hunting house.
• 34:53
  Speaker 7: Guess what?
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: you pay ten dollars and you're gonna you get to experience something and help somebody and help someone at the same time.
• 35:01
  Speaker 7: But people want you to be transparent with their dollars and that's why I like to show people where their money is going.
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: If I raise five thousand dollars, you better believe you're going to see it, because it's proof in the pudding right there.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: That's very good, because a lot of people are leery of non-profit organizations that are not transparent, particularly the ones that have heavy administrative fees that somehow get tucked away and that makes people nervous.
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: Trust me, we get paid.
• 35:32
  Speaker 7: Not one zero, not a dollar.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: So I want to go, I want to bank left from David's question to you all ago.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Without United Way, without the Community Benefit Committee and the other things that you guys do, what happens?
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: Well, I think a lot of people think that we're federally funded and we are talking about.
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: A portion of what we do comes from federal funds.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: Every time I speak, I tell people we are not federally funded.
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: You can't even imagine what the VISTAs were making.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: They just made enough for poverty level.
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: We didn't even call their payment a salary, it was a stipend and at the end of the term then they had options to get funds to pay back a student loan or they could get like $1,500 as a cash out option.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: But it was just barely enough for them to make it.
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: And, like I said, in our area we just had three VISTAs.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: In the Starkville community there were way more VISTAs and they felt that need.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: They're feeling it a lot harder than we are right now at this time, but I want the community to know that we are not federally funded.
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: We don't write that that's not the bread and butter of what we do.
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: This community is the bread and butter, like if the community doesn't give, then we don't exist.
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: Don't exist whether that's financially giving or if that's physically giving of the pantry.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: Without the community, there is no.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: there's no help, Right, and so to get to get to that, the second part of that question.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, you don't exist.
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: Then what?
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: who suffers and how is that suffering?
• 37:16
  Speaker 7: How's that suffering take place?
• 37:17
  Speaker 7: Yeah, people, kids, they suffer.
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: So true.
• 37:21
  Speaker 7: And these are nonprofits, Like she said, 10 years I've been in law enforcement.
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: For 29 years People don't write you a check because they just say, okay, she's the police or she's this.
• 37:36
  Speaker 7: These are years and years of relationship I built and truly become a lot of my donors.
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: We're like family.
• 37:47
  Speaker 7: They give because I'm transparent with the organization very transparent and they give because they trust us.
• 37:56
  Speaker 7: And they've seen the results and they've seen the results and people want results with their money.
• 38:01
  Speaker 7: That's our older donors the people who Know that they're going to give to a certain cause every year.
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: And this is what happened, and we produced.
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: David, can I go back to something that you touched on a little bit about?
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: I think you were talking about the givers really not having access to give the funds the financial ability to give, I think you kind of mentioned asked the question about that, mentioned asked the question about that and what I've learned about individuals on.
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: When I go speak to people about giving, I ask them now not to try to add United Way to their already tight budget, because all of us are feeling the cost of eggs.
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: I don't care you know where you are now or how much money you're making.
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: Eggs still cost $8 and $11, right, and for some that's harder to purchase than others.
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: However, I'm asking people not to add me to their current budget.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: Don't do that.
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: What I want you to do is look at your current budget and if you are eating out more than twice a month, whoops if you're eating out more than twice a month, take one of those meals and stay home and then give that amount to one of these agencies.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: And here's the number one reason that you should give to United Way.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: But I have I 100% support anything that Rhonda does.
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: If she calls, I look at my phone and say, oh, that's Rhonda, let me see what she needs.
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: And so I am 100% behind her.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: She is not a United Way agency, but anytime I can find a way to support her, I do that.
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: Anytime I can find food or volunteers that are needing to get something done, I point them her direction.
• 39:43
  Speaker 4: But the number one reason you should give to United Way it's taken me 10 years to articulate this too we give stability to the agencies under our umbrella.
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: This too we give stability to the agencies under our umbrella.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: Every month, they know that they're going to get their dollars donated or dropped into their bank account on the 15th of every month.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: It allows them to create programs and not have to wonder where their funds are going to go, versus an individual that writes a check every now and then and if something happens and they have a flat tire, they're going to take your donation and take care of the flat and you don't know.
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: So the stability of giving the United Way the monthly donation, a reoccurring donation to give the United Way allows me to give stability to agencies.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, All right.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: So how to give?
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: How do you give to the Community Benefit Committee?
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: How do you give to United?
• 40:30
  Speaker 7: Way, we have Cash App and we have PayPal for Benefit Committee, or you can write a check, you can inbox our organization.
• 40:43
  Speaker 7: We're on Facebook and Janie Shields is our treasurer and she will be glad to take your donation.
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, we're located at 362 Park Creek Drive off of Blue Cut Road.
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: I said the number one reason.
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: Another reason not the number one, but another reason people would not give to United Ways because they didn't believe that we were here.
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: They couldn't see us, and you don't support what you don't see.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: So I really wanted that location, or a location to be visible.
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: And now we are visible off of Blue Cut Road so you can swing by our new office, check it out, write a check, bring some cash.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: You can do all the other forms we do.
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: Payroll deduction.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: That's not our bread and butter anymore.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: Payroll deduction is if your company will allow your employees to give from their paycheck before they even get their check.
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: That used to be the bread and butter of United Way.
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: It's not anymore.
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: And then we have a huge fundraiser.
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: Can I say this?
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: Can I talk about it?
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: My huge fundraiser is our 50K giveaway.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: This is going to be our third year to give away $50,000.
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: And somebody said, renee, how are you going to give away $50,000.
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: And somebody said, renee, how are you going to give away $50,000?
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: I said I'm going to sell tickets.
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: I'm going to sell 3,000 tickets.
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: That's my goal this year.
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: We're going to give away the funds on September the 4th.
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: You have four opportunities, as an individual, to win $10,000.
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: So you buy a ticket for $100.
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: Well, excuse me, correction.
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: You buy a ticket for for $100.
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: Well, excuse me, correction.
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: You buy a ticket for just $100.
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: And then you have four opportunities to win $10,000.
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: The fifth $10,000 I'm setting aside strategically for a nonprofit, a church, a booster club.
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: And if a church or a nonprofit will sell 10 tickets help me by selling 10 tickets Then their name will go on a separate drawing and they will have the opportunity to win $10,000.
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: Last year we had 15 agencies just 15 agencies that had the opportunity to win 10 grand.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: So we're going to do that same thing again this year.
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: So our 50K giveaway.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Anything either of you guys want to add?
• 42:49
  Speaker 7: No, all right, anything either.
• 42:51
  Speaker 7: You guys want to add no, but I want to remind everybody that we have 30 food pantries throughout Lowndes County.
• 42:57
  Speaker 7: We also house food at the sheriff's office.
• 43:03
  Speaker 7: If you want to drop off at the lobby and we will distribute it as needed, please do so.
• 43:08
  Speaker 7: Donate to the community benefit committee, go to our Facebook page, follow us and see what we do in the community Also a big program I wanted to tell you we give beds.
• 43:21
  Speaker 7: We've given over 500 beds to children, partnering with Ashley's Furniture throughout Lowndes County.
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: Now police officer deputies go into homes.
• 43:33
  Speaker 7: They identify children who's sleeping on the floor throughout Lowndes County.
• 43:37
  Speaker 7: Even if the city police officers do this, let me know and we are purchasing these kids brand new beds and the linen that goes on the bed.
• 43:47
  Speaker 7: We're doing a lot of stuff.
• 43:49
  Speaker 7: Just go to our Facebook page two minute and we'll be here all day.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you all very much for joining us today.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: Thank you for having us.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, ladies.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: You have been listening to Between the Headlines.
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: Our guests today have been Renee with United Way and Lieutenant Rhonda Sanders with the Community Benefit Committee.
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: That will do it.
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: We want to thank our listeners for joining in today.
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: Be sure to subscribe, rate and share, and send us your comments.
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: We would love to hear from you.
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: Tips at cdispatchcom Again, that is, tips at cdispatchcom.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: You can also follow me on Facebook or x at the Chisholm 00.
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: Signing off until next week from Catfish Alley Studios in historic downtown Columbus, right across from the newly placed marker in honor of Dr Emmett J Stringer.
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: Your host has been Zach Player and I am David Chisholm.
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: Until next time, y'all keep it friendly and we will keep it real.