Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / Trip Hairston Makes a Case for The W and His Choice for School President

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Trip Hairston Makes a Case for The W and His Choice for School President · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what he has come up with today to talk about.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not asking you to hide anything.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, put it out there.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Let the people see it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've never not worked in a hostile working department.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: You can't argue with anybody when they're putting facts in your face.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Zach.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's a hard question.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: I have no answer for it.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is Between the Headlines.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: This week on Between the Headlines, we are going to talk about the legislative asks of the City of Columbus.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: And Jim Brigham slash Mayor Jones had a guy in mind to serve as chief accountant, but that was nixed at the last council meeting.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: And you do not want to miss today's interview with Trip Harston.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: But first.
• 0:51
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• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: In the heart of the friendly city, here we are in Catfish Alley Studio in historic downtown Columbus.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Your host is the managing editor of the Dispatch, Mr.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Zach Plair.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: And my name is Dave Chisholm.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: For today, our top headline is a story that comes out of Columbus City Council where they were attempting to hire a chief accountant.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_06: Senior accountant.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Not to be confused with CFO, the position currently held by Mr.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: Jim Brigham.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: But the appointee, I uh uh a guy, from what I read, uh, did not get that position per the city council vote.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Was it 4-2?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: 4-2 voting nay.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: So what happened, Mr.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: Zach?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so my understanding on this is that it was a uh this is an accountant that they need for speeding up these audits.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_06: Uh-huh.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_06: Also somebody who I think that the consensus between the uh administration and the council was maybe we're hiring somebody that is going to that is going to create a succession plan for Jim Brigham who uh may want to go home at some point.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Right there.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: So I heard two different things immediately.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: Either we're gonna have the priest's acolyte to come in and you know.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Look, I don't mean that condescending.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, all right.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: But but but think about it.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: You're applying for a position.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: Either if you want to be the CFO of a city, you want to be the CFO of a city.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: You don't want to come in there and be Jim Brigham's lackey for a few months and then with no time frame available, then potentially be the CFO of a city.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_06: And David, I agree with you wholeheartedly on that.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_06: Like and then that's gonna go into one of the points that I'm gonna make here because I think that there were two mistakes in this situation, and I think that uh the administration's responsible for one of them, and I think that the council's responsible for the other.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_06: Um so we'll start with the administration.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_06: I'm not sure I mean this was a hand-picked deal.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_06: Um from what I understand, somebody knew somebody and thought that they ought to get the job and they were gonna and and they were gonna try to ramrod them through.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not that that you know our mayor simply does not have the rapport to make that kind of deal happen.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_06: Properly advertise it, properly vet, properly interview, that process needs to be handled the same way every time, especially for uh uh a position of that kind of note.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_06: However, and to your point, um I read in that story um about well, this is we want we want to be involved in this.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_06: Council members wanted to be involved in the interviewing process and the vetting process, and they wanted to be heavily involved in picking this person because this person could one day be the CFO.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_06: Uh BS.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_06: Hire them as a CFO if you're hiring them as a CFO, but if you're not hiring them as a CFO, then if you're gonna talk about processes, then you need to let that process the process of hiring below department head level work the way it's supposed to.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_06: So you've got your administration, you've got your mayor, you've got your COO, you've got your CFO, you've got your HR person, who is they're they're essentially the committee taking the applications, vetting the applications, and making recommendations to the council for who to hire for those positions.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_06: The council said we wanted to have heavier involvement in this because we're actually hiring him for a position that we're we're we're we're not actually hiring him for.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_06: We're looking at him as the future CFO.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, well, if that's what you're doing, then hire him as the CFO.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_06: If that's if if you're hiring a senior accountant that is going to work under a department head, then let that process work the way it's supposed to and keep your nose out of it until it's your turn.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_06: So Stephen should have advertised it, and uh they should have the administration should have done a better job with a broader search and a and a more uh and a process with more efficacy.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a big deal.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's a good idea.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_06: And the council should have kept their nose out of it unless they were hiring a department head, until it was their turn.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_06: So I so to your point, are you hiring a CFO or are you hiring a senior accountant?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_06: If you're hiring a senior accountant, then the council should have let that process work the same way that any sub-department head hire is supposed to work.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_06: And they didn't.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_06: And if they didn't have a broad enough search, which was which is something that I'm hearing, if they didn't have a broad enough search or enough of an opportunity for multiple people to apply, then that's on the administration.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_06: They should have done better.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's my biggest takeaway right there, is you've said that that it simply was not advertised as it should have been.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: And it you know, if you're Stephen Jones and you you you simply don't have the clout uh to just go out and pick somebody.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Nor should you.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: Nor should you, just as a side note.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_06: It is the mayor's um yes, go through the advertising process appropriately, vet them.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_06: The the bigger the process, the better.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_06: But if if if you're the mayor recommending the people who are going to be working under you, recommending those people to the council for hire, that's exactly what he's supposed to be doing.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_06: That's his job.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_06: So maybe maybe the mayor or the administration here didn't do that job with the highest level of efficacy that they could, but the council then did something that wasn't its job.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: Perhaps so, but as I read the story, it felt like there was some angst there.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I read uh something that Stephen Jones had said, and I'm paraphrasing here.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Jim Brigham's been doing the city finances since Jason Spears was in diapers, which by the way, I don't think is necessarily a good thing.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: All right, looking for.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Look, we gotta do two things.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we've got to catch up on the audits because you know we're we're losing out on money.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_06: We're losing out on fundage because department the roster that it needs to to to get that done is an important thing.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_06: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and with all due respect to to Mr.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Brigham and and the years and the expertise that he has put in it, I don't think anybody really knows how many of his toes are already out the door right now.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that that's created ambiguity and angst.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so I don't think somebody knows who they're hiring.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_06: If they're openly talking about creating a succession plan with this hire, then I think that the implication is that uh Mr.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_06: Brigham may be on uh short rows.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_06: Uh how short, I don't know.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean they're saying that right in front of him, and he's been involved in this process.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_06: So I think that there's a general consensus that Mr.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_06: Brigham's not going to be there forever, and they're trying to trying to create a succession plan there.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: No question about it.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: We will follow it right here on between the headlines and let you know what decision is made, if any, but I I guess the consensus that we've kind of come to, you and me, is you either pick one or the other, this whole idea of hiring a basically a glorified intern to help us catch up on the audits.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_06: Well, if you're hiring a senior accountant, hire a senior accountant.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_06: If you're hiring a CFO, hire a CFO.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_06: If it's a senior accountant, let the administration do its job.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: All right, you got it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: So next on the agenda, we're going to talk about the legislative asks.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: So, city officials um joined together with those listening, uh members of the legislature and whatnot, threw together a wish list totaling about 25 million give or take, with various and sundry projects.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I guess today let we're gonna rapid fire some of these.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: I guess.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, all right.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: There were some there were some that were pretty obvious that that were gonna be uh being asked, and then there were some that caught us by surprise.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: All right, first one, the bridge, the old bridge, you're on Tuscaloosa Road, and then it turns into Waterworks Road, and it goes across the Tom Bigby.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody knows that bridge is falling apart, but I looked into that.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: The pillars at the very bottom were so so according to the report, but the rest of that bridge, both top and bottom, is listed in poor condition, and it was a it it was basically a I don't know if emergency is the right word, but it was a deal where the state was gonna step in and largely pay for that bridge, but they didn't have enough money.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Quite because it's got water pipes inside it, and the water pipes have to be relocated.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: How big of a priority is that one?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_06: Uh well, I mean, they've got to they've got to do that.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_06: They've been holding on to emergency road and bridge money uh from the state, four million dollars worth for a couple of years now for that project.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_06: Uh they got to spend that money.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_06: Their bids came in uh$750,000 long, uh so$4.75 million is the bid they got, and they had four million uh in hand.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_06: So they're trying to get they're trying to get that$750 to another million to deal with that water pipe issue.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_06: And uh the legislative ask for that is secondary.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_06: Like that's the backup.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_06: That's the if we can't get MDOT to give us the money faster, then we'll leave that on our priorities list for the legislature.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_06: Obviously that's an infrastructure project, um, and that's gonna be something that I think is gonna, I mean, the legislators that were there in the delegation, which by the way were uh Kabir Kareem, uh Dana McLean, uh Andy Boyd, and Angela Turner Ford, uh uh Senator Younger had another obligation, couldn't be there, but he did know about the meeting and and and what they discussed.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the infrastructure part of this is it is something that they uh found very appealing, as did the number, because that number's not so big uh as some of these other numbers for the uh for these things.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but again the while that is one of the city's major priorities, I think they're gonna try to get the that money from MDOT because it'll come quicker.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: From a legislative standpoint, maybe table that one uh at least for now.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um and for heaven's sakes, enforce the weight limit.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's the biggest thing.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Look, cars aren't gonna make that thing fall, it's the trucks I'm worried about.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Speaking of bridges, yeah, the big one.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Here we go.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: How's about a bridge, all right, going from the island road?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: What's the name of the island road?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Island Road.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: The idea is that if you made that into a secondary thoroughfare, then you would have uh less trucks in the downtown area and you would potentially maybe see some businesses pop up on a road that's otherwise not traveled.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's the general idea, and um I think that everybody saw that as a really good opportunity, but maybe a little pie in the sky.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_06: You know, d Kevin Stafford estimated 10 million-ish on that br on on building that.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: One of those nice, round, perfect little numbers that that yeah.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_06: And you might uh we it took it it took the city um eleven years to build a uh a five million, six million dollar amphitheater.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_06: So um the ten million dollars is gonna take a while to get.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_06: And so um while that probably is uh that's very ambitious, and they might could do something on that.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_06: And I think it's a good idea, but I don't think that anybody realistically thinks that that's money that's gonna be coming soon.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: Million bucks for further improvements to the amphitheater.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_06: The if if they put the temerity of them even discussing getting another legislative appropriation for the amphitheater is wild to me.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_06: Crazy work, as the kids say.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Love to have watched the looks on faces.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_06: They were pretty funny.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's pretty funny.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: That was for a parking lot, green room, other such things.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um one thing that jumped out to me was um half a million dollars for a master drainage plan.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: How about this?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: Instead of half a million dollars to figure that out, why don't we just look at where the water is after it rains heavy, talk to Carlos?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: We already know.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: We already know where the drivers are up in front of Tempico Bay.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_06: Uh okay.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_06: So this is one of those deals where the the city's um the the city's current or or existing uh drainage plan was put together in the 70s.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_06: It badly needs to be updated.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_06: And um this uh from my understanding, this money would give them the opportunity to um do the uh it would afford them the opportunity to do the work uh looking into those pipes that they need to to create a master plan that would take into account what you know the ARPA work that has been done, the other work that has been done, the different deteriorations and improvements that have been made since 1977.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_06: There's a whole lot of those I would imagine.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_03: So that particular investment would open up other funds, is what I'm hearing, just because of the way that the federal budgeting works.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_06: Once they get that plan done, that opens them up to um uh that opens them up to qualifying for a federal program that can potentially fund millions in these improvements that the that the plan would identify are needed.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, here's a jewel between two million and five million for a baseball field for MUW to NCAA regulation standards at Probst Park.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: That one blew me away.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't see that one coming.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_06: Well, they they talked about that at a work session maybe a couple of weeks ago.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm all about doing something for the W just so that people see things happening there and so that uh we don't get this sense that the place is dying and dwindling away.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: But that one right there, I don't think it's gonna fly real well based on what Andy Boyd was saying.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean it may not fly in the legislature, but uh I mean the city's gonna build it.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_06: I think that they've got a partnership with the W now that and designs for that field that um uh you know the city can that maybe the city can issue bonds and the W can help pay them back or whatever.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_06: I um I that partnership is i that partnership exists so they can have a home field.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_06: Because right now they're playing, you know, they're gonna they're kind of Oliver twisting their baseball season.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_06: They're you're going here and there and yonder and and and they don't have a home.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_06: So um having a home field that's NCAA regulation um is gonna be a good thing for that program that's been pretty successful, all things considered.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_06: And um I think that I mean you know as well as anybody as a sports fan, you're a football fan, aren't you?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_05: No, yeah.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_06: Um you you know full well as a fan how um how a successful athletic endeavor that is properly resourced can serve as a r really good ambassador for your entire operation.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, good.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: I th but I let me approach it from this standpoint.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: They do some really weird things at Propes to Park, okay?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: You've got a they, them, the inevitable the the folk, all right.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: The folk.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: Look, you've got a beautiful train out there, yeah, but you wouldn't know it because there's the these enormous crepe myrtles that need to be sawed to the ground.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: You can't see the train.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: All right, why is there a train there if you can't see it?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Second to that, you have a T-Rex that's in a cage that needs to be freed.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna put this enormous T-Rex out there and expect children not to climb upon it.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Move the thing on top of a field house or something and let them look up at it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: Don't put it in.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's so weird looking, okay?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: And now we're gonna do an NCAA baseball field out there.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: This is the most random crap.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: We need a sense of direction for probes to park.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: I've just got to say that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Look, here's another one.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: Here's another one.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: All right,$150,000 for a pocket parking.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: Pocket park at the truck.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: Pocket park is not something vulgar.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's just a it's like a it's like it it it's something that's pretty.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: I guess it may have playground toys or whatever, but it's I don't think it's gonna have playground toys.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's got uh it's got um it's concise and it's publicly available.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: Other than that, I it's$150,000.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's the truth.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_06: That's the Rolls-Royce version of it.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_06: I think the uh they can do it for ten and and and do it kinda, or they can they can trick it out and do it for one fifty.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like with artwork and all that stuff.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and like a w a water feature is what Kevin Stafford said, the city engineer, when he was presenting it the other day, and I'm assuming that's a fountain.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: Let me ask you this if they keep waving the fees, how are they gonna build anything at the trotter?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_06: Well, you know, you were talking about the you were you were talking about Prop's Park.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but yeah, they're want they're wanting some some grandiose amount of money for the fossil park out there.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_06: What do you think about that?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: The the T Rex is it kind of made the the town kind of on edge about that, and and we really don't Has it?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, because th we don't know what's happening out there until we see it.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's like something's happening at the park.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: What's it gonna be?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Are those construction people or that no, those are disc golf people?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and so we finally get it built, and then we see what it is, and and we're either like, oh, okay, that's kind of nice, or well, the tail fell off.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_06: So I think we've had enough fun with the legislative priorities of the city.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: We'll take a break and uh after that Trip Arson's gonna come in here and tell us all about his responsibilities and ambitions.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: Hot outside, cold inside, that's exactly how we like it for three generations.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: Family-owned Brislin Incorporated has been keeping our neighbors comfortable no matter what our Mississippi weather throws our way.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: Brisling Incorporated comfort runs in the family.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: At this time, we are pleased to welcome into the studio Mr.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: Trip Harston, who is chairman of the county board, also representing District 2 in the county, also announced candidate for MS Senate District 17, among other duties as designed, probably feeling a little bit like Marco Rubio at the moment.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: A little bit of everything.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: But it's good to have you back in here, sir.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think Marco Rubio has a lot uh higher responsibilities than than I think I'll ever have.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: But uh appreciate the work he's doing out there.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_06: Well uh just to just start off something that I'm real curious about and have been curious about your Republican trip.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_06: What does David do?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: David I'm not really sure what David No uh David is the chairman of the Republican Party in Lowness County, so uh there's a lot of to do with that responsibilities.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: And when you have a party, just like with any of the two parties, it's a lot of what I would say just minutiae and things that you have to do about nailing uh uh notices on doors and having uh various uh elections of here and there.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_06: Martin Luther of Lower.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, he he is he is uh the 95 theses are I mean what uh wait, 90 is Yeah, that was it.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, the 14 points was Woodrow Wilson.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: So the five points are Calvinists, so I'm a I'm reformed theology and uh you know uh a good PCA Presbyterian, so I don't think we want to get into that.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Fair enough.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_06: I just wanted to I just wanted to know what you what what David's duties were.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_06: I've always I've always wondered, and I thought I'd ask a third party nominated.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so I didn't tell you a whole lot, right?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I think I think it's veiled in secrecy of really what David does.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: But no, he he's very uh much part of the Republican Party, and I have the benefit of sitting on some of those meetings uh and we we decide what we're gonna do as far as helping support the Republican Party and the candidates going forward.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus And the biggest thing we do is just push to get out the vote.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and like I've said on this podcast here, can't take anything for granted.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um either of y'all speaking of that kind of thing among the tens of people in attendance at the Kamala Cologne rally last week.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I can say that I I was not um a part of that rally.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_06: He went to Corinth probably.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh no, I did not go to Corinth either.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm probably could have gotten uh to where I could to go to that one, obviously, but I I um did not go to either.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_06: You're running for uh State Senate uh District 17, qualifying in January, but you went ahead and announced I did.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_06: You are looking to take the place of uh Chuck Younger, who's running for something else.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: So let's just start.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just start with the Trevor Burrus.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: We can all blame John Cowell for this.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, yeah.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because John is the one who decided that he was not gonna run for Transportation Commissioner.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: John and I are good friends, uh, and I would say Chuck and John are also good friends as well.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think John told me some time ago that he had made that decision a little while ago.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't a snap decision for him.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then when he decided he was not gonna run, that's Chuck decided that he would run in that position.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pulling for Chuck 100%.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think Chuck would make a great transportation commissioner.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I also think we'd we would be good to have somebody from here um from this area of the county, I mean of the uh state in that northern district from here.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, a lot of the northern counties believe that uh and they usually can because they have a voting block there that if they've trot somebody out there that they'll usually win the transportation commissioner.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm hoping that Chuck will uh break that trend and that we will have somebody from here to do that.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: We can all benefit from that for for a lot of reasons.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think ch the whole northern district would benefit from a person like Chuck, who's a very relational person.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, uh answers the phone, uh does all of those things.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think Chuck Chuck's certainly gonna have to be a thoughtful person in that position, and I think he'll work with those other commissioners very well.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: And that has always been an issue too.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um I of course being a supervisor, you know, transportation commissioners are some of our biggest uh can be some of our biggest advocates and certainly some of our biggest conversations go on with Transportation Commission because they we get a lot of phone calls about highways and and everything else, even though we have no jurisdiction over there, but we always have to have a really good relationship with them and it's always good to have that.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I think Chuck is very relational and I think he'll do an excellent job as transportation commissioner just amongst the other two transportation commissioners.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it it's real noble for you to campaign for him first, but why why why would you make a good senator?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, okay.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: So the again, I didn't think I was gonna have to uh make this decision.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was something that was in the back of my mind.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was if you're looking out of the windshield, it was farther farther away in the windshield, and then when Chuck made that announcement, then it all of a sudden I had to make that decision.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think that uh of course I I love my job in the county.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: I really do.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: I've really enjoyed it.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm continue gonna continue to enjoy it for another 14 months.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh plan on doing the job as best as I can do for those fourteen months.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't given up and I haven't mailed it in, and I plan on working as hard as I did on the first year that I got elected on the same job.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: However, I think some of those experiences that I've received in the county uh translate pretty well in the Senate.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um the Senate and the state government makes decisions that affect local governments all day long.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh what better opportunity it is to see firsthand or be able to really support your own district.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a that's another thing that I have to get used to too, that it's not just Lowndes County anymore, that it would be a portion of a good portion of Monroe County, some Octavia County.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: And uh with that, it you see those decisions that are being made in Jackson and how they affect the local, your local taxpayer in your local district.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I think my time is almost eight years now, would be eight years at the end of my term uh and serving as board president for seven of those years gives me a good opportunity to go and represent that district on a local level in Jackson and can help affect that.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: Also, as you know, I was a budget analyst for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee for five years in Jackson.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: I understand the budgeting process probably better than most people that would go in as a freshman senator because I worked for five years uh developing those budgets and I saw the I saw the budget start in the legislative budget recommendation and followed that process all the way through the House and the Senate with the appropriation bills that were signed by the governor.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so know how that process works.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh looking forward to getting back into that process.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot of fun uh for me to be able to see that process.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: I know David Yawning over here.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't blame him.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um but that does something that I do uh do look forward to.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I'd I'd I'd like to.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think that gives me some qualifications of being able to run.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean that's a that's a that's a pretty long list of qualifications for sure.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_06: I want to give you a practice run here, though.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_06: Um put you on the spot.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_06: All right, well.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_06: Something that we talked about earlier in the show.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Peter may have to edit this one out, too.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: No, Peter, you can't edit this one.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_06: Uh you were at that meeting uh with the legislative uh priorities.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_06: The Schmort's Board of Legislative Priorities at the city uh tossed at the uh delegation.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_06: Now you were sitting you were you were sitting in the gallery with me.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and and you were there ostensibly as a supervisor.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_06: Uh because you won't be in the legislature, even if you won this race, you wouldn't be in the legislature for this, but it does give you a look at the types of things that the city at least is asking for.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_06: So first practice run as senator, say that you are in that delegation in that meeting, and you get uh you are in there getting thrown those projects those$25 million worth of projects with uh no in no particular order.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_06: Um what are you thinking about how that went and which ones do you think they should have uh which one do you think that you would prioritize as their senator if you were their senator.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: If I in that position, right?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think it's good to ask, hey, what which one of these are really the issues that you see the most as probably the highest priority?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a fair question to ask the city.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: I expect the same question that be asked of the county.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: I thought I I do think that if it were couched, the whole request were couched in a way of, hey, these are a list of things that we are looking at in the future.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're looking at a strategic plan about the things that we think would help benefit the city.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um obviously a a$15 million bridge connecting going over the over the channel is is not a a cheap thing, it's not gonna happen overnight.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: I was told that was gonna be ten million dollars.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: You've already raised the price of it five million.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_06: It's inflation for when his term's gonna screw up if he went out.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's gonna be thirty million anyway.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, I in in I lived in the days uh I crossed that road, Old West Point Road, that went that direction.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it there was only one bridge.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we created, I say we, the global we, um an island was created when the channel was cut through there because you see the big bend and the river that comes right down the thing.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so that when they cut that channel through, they created that island and there was not a bridge there.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't need for a bridge.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: There was only one bridge, the old river bridge, and then there was the big highway bridge.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: And my dad reminded me some time ago that that was a second highway bridge, that MDOT built a bridge that was not tall enough that a car never crossed it.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: And they tore it down and rebuilt that bridge, the big Highway 82 bridge was a second bridge.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: The first one, first one never, car never went over.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's just until they started looking at it and d redoing the numbers and they built that one.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: So those were the two bridges, and those are the only two bridges.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um they I remember the day they cut that that channel through there, and we could no longer that's how I went to school.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I came to school because I grew up out on West Point Road.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh I remember that day, and we had to start going around, and then people made their own paths through a couple of pastures, and we found other ways to get onto the highways illegal, you know, getting on to Highway 82 just from the median.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the median.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so, anyway, uh all of that stuff.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: Plymouth Access Road, that was a new road.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think even there's people I know to this day that call it the new road, and it's been there for 40 years.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so anyway, uh I don't know where I was going with that, but I I do think that that is a really neat, neat project, and I I do think that it was probably something that ought to be really considered in the future, but that's not something that can be funded when a local uh on a local level unless they want to bind it out and then then work at it that way.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: You think it would revitalize that that area example?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: I I do.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: I I I really think that that it it's it's fun for me to think about.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, because you know, look some of the things that we do on a local level, we are so content with what we have and what we don't have, really, because we fail to think big sometimes.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um Lowndes County, in the county, we have thought big about industrial development.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um put a lot of investment in that.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: This is before my time.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh millions and millions of dollars of developing industrial sites because we thought bigger than what we just had with the hayfields out there.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and it things happen that way.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I like to think about that because hey, the opportunities that that would that would have over the bridge.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: Now do you would always have a lot of people?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: And all of that.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I remember the days when the soccer part was a waste of time to put it where it is and in and burns bottom, right?
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: But look at it now.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, well and look at it in a year when Parkview is correct.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's fun to think about for me and the future and what that might look like.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what my grandchildren may enjoy if we if we had a bridge that went through there, uh that we have fewer industrial traffic because they can go now go left instead of right through town.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I I just I like to think about that.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that's one of those things I've you know, three o'clock in the morning when I can't sleep, some of those things I think about.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um so in those, in that set, I wouldn't say that that was the number one priority, but I think that's a pie in the sky.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's something that should be thought about on a state level, um not necessarily on a local level, 100 percent.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: But uh the other priorities, I do think they ought to place some priority on there.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: As the legislature goes, though, um you see how many bills are dropped in the legislature every year?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh House and Senate.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh tons.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's ridiculous.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: Some of those don't even make it out of committee.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: Some of them never make it.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: Most of them tend to make it out of committee.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh never some of them are never even intended to make it out of committee.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: They're people are just making uh political statements by dropping a bill.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: Happens all the time.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's fine.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_03: You can read the title and tell that's just somebody that had an axe to grind.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then some of those, but there's some things that happen uh th as the session goes on.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think uh Representative Kareem has one of the better things that I've ever heard.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: He said, you know, we start in the session with a Clydesdale and end with a mule.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's that's about right.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and that some of the things may change, priorities may change in the legislature as the session progresses.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: So what was a priority at the first of the legislature might be uh might change priorities to the end of the session.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's good for, just like uh Senator Turner Ford said, I think it's good to have a list because to plug and play.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um the amphitheater probably is not gonna be their high on their priority list.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um and they've all said that to me.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think they've all said that to anybody in the city who will listen.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: Just said, hey, look, we need more skin in the game.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: The city has stepped up and put some skin in the game, but I think any other responsibilities for green rooms and that are gonna be on the city and not the legislature.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I think the legislature in in general is probably done with the amphitheater for now.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um once they get it open and get running, that may be a different story at some point.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: But but I think they're they're done with that.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um the fossil park doesn't seem like a real big priority for the legislature because a lot of that's a local level.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what uh Representative McLean was saying is, hey, why can't the C V B look at that?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because there's a lot of tourism associated with that.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: And any extra funding that they need there should maybe be considered by the C V B.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: I understand the CVB is doing a lot of extra funding for the amphitheater, but that may be something they look at in the future.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: But again, those winds of change may happen inside the legislature, and as things shift, they may find opportunities to to do that.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_06: Well, talk about I wanna I want to d drill down on something here um uh that was talked about in that meeting that I know that uh that you're prepared to talk about today.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_06: The W.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_06: Um the future of the W, the fact that it that there have been uh a couple of efforts to um dramatically change uh how the W functions and exists, um and uh and under what flag.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_06: And you've been a major proponent for keeping MSMS here, for keeping the W where it is and leaving it well enough alone.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_06: Um so looking at that, and so I wanna I want to ask this question two ways.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_06: Um I know that you know you're still gonna be a uh county supervisor for this next legislative session, um but what what are you hearing, what are y'all prepared to do to defend the W this time around, and then what's your posture gonna be if you become a senator in continuing that fight?
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: The W is near and dear to my heart, and you know that.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: I I made no bones about it.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think that I can make a cogent argument in the in the well of the Senate, so to speak, if if I'm given that opportunity.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think anything's gonna happen this year because it's an election year and it the intestinal fortitude of the of the legislature is not gonna be consolidating a bunch of schools, and that's my opinion.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: Mississippi State University, and this is my opinion, um is not really jumping or chomping at the bit to take over uh an aging campus.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: More buildings to maintain in another community, especially one that's only twenty some odd miles away.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: They're not they're not interested in that.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think they would be interested in some of the programmatic things that the W offers.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: But it's a very different school.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's a liberal arts school versus uh land grant institutions versus uh university flagship type type universities of Alabama and and Ole Miss or any of those larger comprehensive universities.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: The W is very different, it's niched.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good thing, in my opinion.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um I do not think for one minute, and uh, you've heard this argument before, that you're gonna save money by allowing a university in Mississippi, a southern or a Mississippi to part out the programs.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: First thing that uh Glenn Boyce and and and those guys are gonna do is saying, hey, I can't do this for the money that they were doing it on.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I need more money to run this program.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: And and they're gonna and and it's gonna be one of those things that people uh that the legislature will probably have to listen to if if they've got one of the larger university presidents saying, You've got to give me more money if you're gonna give me this program.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_02: And they will likely do that.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think the IHL budget will go up by consolidations of schools and operationally.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: Now I did not expect to hear that today.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I do.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, think about it.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: And and you limit access to that education because you're gonna raise a tuition.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: Tuition for that would be raised, yet I do think that they would lobby the legislature to say, hey, if I got to do this program, you gotta give me more money to do it.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_06: But I mean the the affordable tuition at the W is one of the one of the bigger draws to that university.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: And uh you smaller class size.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: Think about that.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um Scott Tollison did a great job at Rotary the other day.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh I thought of presenting the numbers, and some of those numbers he presented were the numbers of students that have transferred into the W that have started at other schools.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: And part of that is because smaller class size is what they what they offer, what they do, not because it's any easier.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think it's because uh it fits that student for what they need.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_06: And you graduate with uh uh a car payment worth of debt and not a house payment worth of debt.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_06: Correct.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: So tuition is gonna go up, access to education will go down, higher education will go down.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um in a on a general sense.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I haven't seen any I haven't been negotiating with the barbarians at the gate, and I don't plan to do that.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um so so I don't know what that looks like.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: But the only way that you can save money in consolidating schools is to abandon campuses.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: Because uh they would have to say, look, we're not gonna Mississippi or Ole Miss or Southern's not gonna run this campus here because the the cost of it's not gonna go down any, right?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: To save money.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: We've got to mothball it.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: Or lock the doors and just let it crumble.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like Mary Holmes College right over there.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: City of Columbus, Lowndes County, y'all figure it out.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, we're no longer involved.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: The state is going to withdraw.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's how you save money by doing that.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: Now, is there again, we'll go back to intestinal fortitude of the legislature.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure that there's a lot of intestinal fortitude to You don't think Rob Robertson would pitch that bill?
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: He might, but I I think there would be I think there would be some real issues with with that.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: And look, Rob and our friends.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I I think the world of Rob, to tell you the truth.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: Rob Rob is uh representing his district very well in the fact that he is uh I I think he's looking out for the best interests of startful Octavio County uh consolidated school district.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think for the university.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_02: He'd love to have MSMS over there because it helps them recruit um professors to the MSU because they have this high performing high school right there that their children can go to.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's one of the one of the reasons.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_06: Um why why doesn't the W why why is the W sl or why is the IHL slow walking the president higher?
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus That I don't uh that I don't know.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_02: And it may have been made more complicated by the local by local groups who have determined that they want a particular person to serve as the president.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, you've got you've got two schools that are putting out uh or two groups of people that are putting out.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_06: You do.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so now that makes the complic it makes it a little bit more complicated.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: And uh what comes first, the chicken or the egg, right?
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: Did did the do people say, hey, we're gonna get in this camp or that camp because IHL is taking so long to to uh try to figure this out or try to start the process?
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_02: Or d are they taking longer in the process because there's two camps?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I but I will say that uh that that is an issue, I think, on a local level.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's probably affected how they do that.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: I know Jackson State, when they went through that process recently, there was a lot of issues with that and the IHL, and they had to dot every uh I and cross every T.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so that does slow some of the process down.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um I wish they were quicker.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: I wish they would say, hey, look, this is who we want.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I mean, do you think that there getting into conspiracy?
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_06: Do you think that there is a uh an effort or a strategy here to hold the ball and let the clock run out?
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_06: All right uh instead of I mean, allowing a school in crisis or a university that's uh that is under the legislative gun to sit there with an interim leader instead of hiring when there are uh very obviously two uh people who viable candidates.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, who who are qualified on paper anyway.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: One of the reasons I don't think that's the case.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_02: All right, so IHL is a lot like Congress.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody loves their congressmen.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: But everybody hates Congress, right?
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I I know of our local, I know several members of the IHL board, and I like I like them a lot.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um find them very smart people, very deliberate all over the city.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_06: Well we we find them to be very quiet.
• 47:37
  unknown: Right.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: But for the in general, but everybody hates the IHL board, right?
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: So but you know, for for me, I like the fact that I like that our individual representatives on IHL.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: I can talk to them, I think they listen.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um They're appointed by the governor.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so the two local ones that we have here are are the current governor appointees.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um Sally Doty, who we're talking about, one of the two candidates, she was the governor's appointee to the beam.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_04: Okay?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: And and she and the governor are pretty close, tight.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think the governor would allow her under that thing saying, hey, yeah, go out for this position, but in the at the same time I'm gonna stab you in the back and tell you that uh that no, you shouldn't be going to v or at the same time saying we're just gonna we're gonna kill the W this way and stab her in the back and doing so.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that that I think there's too much involvement there and it's kind of interwoven a little bit.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think IHL is just taking a deliberately long time, partly because I think um partly I I don't think it's because they want to see that the W in some of these close.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't think so.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_06: Well, are you on Team Doty or Team Taylor?
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well um I know Yeah, I I do know uh you know, obviously I think this is my personal opinion.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and I'm uh I don't speak for the Board of Supervisors, I don't speak for anybody but me as an individual.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm I'm not speaking even in my capacity as a president of the of the Board of Supervisors.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_02: I I think it's a strong argument to say you gotta know who your audience is.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_02: And the audience are the people who are making the decision of the legislature.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: Sally Doty f checks those boxes.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that there's some criticism or some thoughts saying, well, we don't need a political appointee to be the president of the university.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, she's much more than that.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think her politics, and because she was a state senator, and some of the things that she has served in the capacity before, she's a governor appointee of the of Beam, which is a a good organization, and done a really good job of leading that organization, doesn't necessarily make her the political appointment, but it does give her the experience to talk to those legislators and be able to talk directly and advocate directly to the people who are gonna be making the decision.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: So if I were to stack them up both, I have I have a ton of respect for um uh Dr.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: Taylor.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_02: I really do.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think she's she is probably the most accomplished W alumni uh living, right?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and she has a lot of credit to her for being that person.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_02: However, I think right now, this is my opinion, only mine, as a private citizen, I think Sally Doty is my would be my uh uh f favorite for going in to speak directly to the people who are gonna be making the decision.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that decision is gonna be made next year, but I think there's gonna be with a new term, Lieutenant Governor, uh I think those I think that's gonna come to the forefront pretty soon in the next term.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's my opinion.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_06: Looking now at what would be um your final term on the Board of Supervisors.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_06: Um on the Board of Supervisors.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_06: Um how what does that look like for Lowndes County, Lowndes County's priorities, whether they be legislative or otherwise, and and how do you want to leave it?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're working on some of our our ass to the legislature, and so I was glad to get that from what the city is because uh you know we we try to make sure that we don't step on each other's toes.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_02: And even last year, one of our legislative priorities was actually one of the city's priorities.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: So we said we would like for that to be uh part of your priority.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's good to know that going forward.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_02: We we're working on that now and starting to really kick some things uh around in my head, at least uh, and I think all the supervisors are about where they want to go with the legislative parties when it comes to that.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um we we're going into an election year too.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it it it gets a little crazy at times.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um you have some posturing, you start to see uh uh the own agendas really come to the forefront, right?
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I tell you our board is in a in a much better position now than it was even in even before the last election.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it certainly is before the election before that.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um and one thing that I'm very proud of of the people that I serve with is that everybody's willing to come to the table and less work some of this stuff out without getting uh without just getting in the news about personal vendettas or whatever it may be.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_06: A lot less 3-2 on that board.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_06: It's a lot less.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: And and and look, we we don't agree on everything.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and but there's times where you try to work things out that need to be worked out, and some of that may be individually.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: If I've got a problem, or if if uh uh one of the other supervisors has a problem and say, look, I can't support that, I can count in my head.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know what?
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'm if I know that there's not enough votes there to do what I want to do, I'm not gonna bring it up.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: Just because I don't want a public display of uh uh issue.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: I can count.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so can all the other supervisors on the board.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: Early on, um when I first became president, and and I came to the conclusion even before I was elected, and this is the way I've approached a lot of things, you know, in the county and and how we do things.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_02: A fifth of the county sends each of us up there, right?
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: And and that district, my district's very different than district three, for example.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's different than district five.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: All of those districts have come together and sent one person as their representative to that board.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_02: There should not be any attempt from another supervisor or anybody there.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think the same with the Senate, I think the same with the representatives, I think the thing same with any representative type government, should try to silence another person on there.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_02: Say what you're gonna say, make your argument, and then we'll vote and count the votes.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: And the most votes win.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh in a proper representation of government, whether it's again, county, municipality, um any of those things, especially Senate, legislature, uh, you you you should not try to silence another person.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_02: That a portion of that district or that district sent that person up there to represent you.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: So and also if you represent that district, you do your best effort to represent them in a and and they are they are voting for you to to vote your own conscience.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_02: But you need to represent them by being there, answering the phone, all of that, all of that thing.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a Republican, but I get a lot of phone calls from Democrats, and I am just as happy to answer those phones and work for those people than I am people in my own party.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so um I think that's the way we we have conducted business over the last seven years.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think I think we're better for it.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think the county's better for it.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't like being in the news uh reading disputes, you know, when they when they when they're there.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh certainly don't like being in USA Today or the New York Times or on Fox News.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that is not my intent.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think I think we've done a lot of good when it comes to that.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_02: In the seven years that I have served on the board, um, we have developed almost four billion in capital investment in the industrial park.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's huge.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh our in-lou payments, that's the taxes that we receive in lieu of of regular full boat taxes, that's a usually with a 30, you know, a a discount, of course, on the payments for 10 years.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: Our in lieu payments this budget year alone went up more than 40 other counties' entire budget.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_02: Just the increase in the Lowndes County budget.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh or the in lieu payments, not the overall budget.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_02: But just the increase in loo payments are more than 40 counties have for their entire budget.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty remarkable when it comes to the to industrial development in Lowndes County.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: So you've got f almost$4 billion since I've been in office that we have added to the tax rolls in capital investment.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_02: Almost 2,200 jobs being added to the amount of jobs in industrial parts since I've been in office.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_02: At the same time, the cost of roads have gone up about double from the time I received an office.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: And uh there are real challenges when it comes to the budget.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I've told you this before, Zach.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh inflation doesn't stop at the government's door.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_02: It it doesn't.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: And um and so the cost of diesel today uh cost the county just as much as it cost me.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so um we can't control the cost of diesel, we can't control what it costs to pave roads and do all that.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_02: So we have to budget for those and have to really tighten our belt and try to find ways to do that.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: Another thing, too, that I'll say that I I'm proud of from the time that that I've gotten first gotten on the board.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: The county, the city residents are county residents also, correct?
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um there is some benevolence that e every county gives to the cities because the city pays county taxes.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh I I hear that often in a lot of the context of, hey, you just ought to write us a check, meaning the city.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_02: You just ought to write us a check for all the taxes you receive in the county.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's not that that that's not a proper way to do it because we do things like circuit court, chancery court, you know, all of the things that are county sort of the jail, which is a big issue.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's gonna be a big issue in the legislature this year, um, from a local level.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so all those things that we we do in there, but we serve the same taxpayer, correct?
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so um one thing that I've really wanted to do over the years, we have been supplementing the supplanting the road budget with in Louvre dollars, okay?
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_02: So we kept the road millage flat.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a portion of that road millage we've always given back to the city because we're levying road millage to the city residents inside the city limits in the county.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_02: So over time, over the last few years, I have really pushed to increase the amount of road millage that we're levying to run the road department.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_02: As a result, the city gets more of that rebate back.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_02: So over the last three years, I think we've given the city back more than$250,000 a year back in in millage that was levied in the county that goes back to so we've increased that amount, almost doubled it.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm really proud by that fact.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't I don't really care that it um I I'm I don't play territory, right?
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we ought to levy as much millage as it costs to run the Sheriff's Department, to run the road department, and to do whatever we need to do on that on that standpoint, even if it's more rebate that go back goes back to the city.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned these fees in lieu and you mentioned how they are discounted.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: Is it true that these discounts aren't a forfeiture, it's more of a deferment.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_03: Are we going to get that back on the in the future?
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, it it's it really is a what I would say a rebate type thing.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's a it's a reduction in the full boat taxes.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_02: They do pay for 10 years, and then it goes to full boat.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_02: So um so if something were to be valued, then it's valued at that amount, but there's some uh there is some depreciation set in over those ten years.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_02: Luckily in Lowndes County, if you look at somebody like an SDI, um the the flat road steel, over time, they have in been investing back into the mill.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_02: On an they added, you know, the galve line, they've added the various lines, and then they come and get more fee and loues for those particular a uh uh additions.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't see a a point in the near future where you're gonna see aluminum dynamics or uh steel dynamics, any of those two that are gonna be reducing the amount of investment that goes back into there.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_02: So they're always gonna have a fee and loo that's gonna be either rolling or they're gonna have it in place as they expand.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_02: And they're constantly that's one good thing about our industries here, and we look at it often, is okay, who's investing and reinvesting?
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_02: And those companies are really thriving, and uh we're lucky here in Lowndes County to see that happening again and again.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_02: All right, you want to talk about um um data centers?
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, real quick.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh real quick on data centers.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_06: You've uh uh you talked to us for that story that we uh uh uh did recently looking at the sort of the whole issue and the and the local side of it, and you seemed pretty cool to the idea of at least from the standpoint of uh when a mill comes to you guys or or a manufacturer comes to you guys or or y'all are trying to recruit for Cinco, y'all are putting the sewer in the ground, y'all are getting the power there, y'all are y'all are doing a lot of public investment in that infrastructure.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_06: And you seemed pretty cool on the idea of doing that for a data center uh because of its of the possibility that it may be a fly by night.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh course, hardly any of them are gonna be fly by night because they're they're they have a specific purpose for the um everything to do.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_02: We all use AI on anything that we have.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_02: This phone here that I'm holding in my hand, okay.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um when I was at Ole Miss 1990, that we had a supercomputer and it had this big building there, and that was probably a would have been a data center.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_02: Mississippi has a data center, by the way, on campus.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um but everybody in the state uses it, and and other states too.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_02: Does a really good job for generating statistics and whatever else, and nobody really complained about that.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_02: I uh but that there is a it's not a hyperscale, but it is a data center on campus that is generating a a bunch of that requires a lot of power and this, that, and the other thing to run, and it's a benefit to the state.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's a benefit to our whole region, it's a benefit to economic development, and you name it, it's a big benefit.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_02: But in my hand, I hold a telephone that probably has as much computing power as that supercomputer had in 1990 on Oldman's campus.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_02: So you look at what took to put on the moon, I got a lot more computer power than they had to get to the moon and back safely.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so I think over time, and I've told you this before, that there will be a better mousetrap built.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um you see constant updates in those that you're gonna see it's gonna take less and less power to do the same generation of of computing knowledge that it takes today.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um over time.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_02: So there's two schools of thought.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, do you take everything you can get right now from a standpoint of these are jobs?
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_02: They are real jobs.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_02: AWS has real jobs.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh AWS has uh done a lot of things when they constructed that facility that the first round or first generation of hyperscale data centers did not do.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like recycle water, and they've been good partners.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um I didn't like the fact that they were refuting their tax bill.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't think that was a good good look for AWS, but they may have figured that out by now.
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_02: But for the most part, you know, they've been a very good partner for that.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_02: That was done the right way, in my opinion.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_02: So do you go that route and say, okay, for the next, I don't know, 10 years, right?
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_02: Fee and loo, you have all these big fee and los before the technology really changes, you take the benefit.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_02: It'd be stupid not to, if you if you had that opportunity.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_02: However, I do think for something like a sync omega site that you have a you have a potential there to get a longer term industry or industries that are there that are doing true manufacturing that aren't just manufacturing data.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's true manufacturing, but I'm just saying that it's a it's a More um, I guess a tangible thing.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_02: You you don't have a qu it's not technology is not as quickly changing.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or do you do a high or you know, if a hyperscale data center comes into that spot, which I don't think is a good spot for that in general, um hyperscale data center comes in there and then you're having to scale back over the years and then what you're left with is a a smaller center that you're having to repurpose a bunch of space.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um because I do think, you know, Elon Musk said, hey, we're gonna we could go to space with these things.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, people laugh, but I don't know, I saw on TV it was not AI generated, a car actually flew over that semi-truck.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um and if there's enough people that can make a car fly, I figure they can figure out a way to do all these other really neat things when it comes to uh new technologies.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I see the technology changing, I see that thing happening, and I've said before, hey, we're gonna invest in infrastructure long-term industry.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't see that being as long-a-term industry.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_02: Also, too, there is another issue when you have a hyperscale data center that's paying all these taxes and Avalorum taxes.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure that those communities need they can they they're great to have it, right?
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you probably shouldn't rely on that 30 years in the future because uh in my opinion, that mousetrap's gonna change and it's gonna be different ways that we're gonna have computing power that's not gonna generate generational uh time of income for Avalorum's standpoint.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we saw this with the solar farms, okay?
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um I the last solar farm that we gave a fee and Lou in on, I was one of the ones that hung it up because I really thought maybe we shouldn't give them a 30%.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um and what we came to the conclusion, or finally I came to the conclusion was we have to do some incentives for solar farms.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the reason is I want to know we want to know where they're going.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_02: So same thing with a hyperscale data center, any data center, they could go to straight to TVA, their direct serve power.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_02: They don't have to put it, they don't have to put it on the Lowndes County, any of the LCIDA property for industrial.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_02: They can get a group of landowners just like they did with the solar farms, get a conglomeration and build one, right?
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_02: Now there would be some environmental issues, they would have to go through the state and TVA would have to serve the power and whatever else, but we're looking at some of the same thing.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_02: So does the county really want to be at the table?
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_02: I say yes, we do.
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a uh data center who's looking here, like seriously looking, right?
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think you do need some incentives to either be offered or be considered just so you can say, hey, we're not gonna allow you to you're gonna have to do a closed circuit water, you're gonna have to, you know, be good partners, you're gonna have to stay within the decimal uh decibel levels when it comes to noise, um, not be a nuisance, and this, that, and the other thing.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think you have to do some things to stay at the table just so you can control what happens.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_03: That right there is the biggest concern.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_03: The things that you've mentioned.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_03: People want trees around them, they want them to be quiet, they don't want their land value going down.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, if the counties say, okay, we're not going to be involved in them at all.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_02: Or the city.
• 1:09:34
  SPEAKER_03: Then that's when they do what the heck they want.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh let's let's spitball here, okay?
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_02: This would never happen because the building is in such disarray.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_02: But um let's say the uh the old Sanders plumbing building.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's about as in good a shape as that bridge over here.
• 1:09:55
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this is no chance of this happening, so nobody get all really worked up over this.
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_02: But let's say hyperscale data center said we want that that building, and we're gonna put a a data center there.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um the City of Columbus needs to be at the table.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, and to say, well, this is what you're not gonna do, and this is what you will do.
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And the only way they can do that is to be able to offer those incentives.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_06: Gotcha.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why I think you have to look at them on a case-by-case basis.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be at the table because you do want to make sure that those community concerns are addressed.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um on the other side of that, I think the community concerns need to be concise and they need to be realistic.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they need to be based in fact, right?
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, all of that stuff.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll also say also I don't like the fact that that various people are saying, hey, we need to put a a moratorium on all data centers until we do do this, that, and the other thing.
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Number one, we're in a we're in a data race with other countries, and those countries aren't necessarily benevolent to the United States.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't think that's my opinion.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_02: You should probably shouldn't just say blanket, say no, we we no more data centers, period.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um because uh our local industry here, we've got one right now who is doing a ton of work in building racks or providing uh you know uh custom fabricated metals for racks that go into these data centers.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's our economy.
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's people that you and I know and love that work in those places that are building those those things.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_02: So it affects our our local economy.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_02: One of the one of the downturns that we saw when they said no more fracking, um one of our industries here had to retool because they were providing a lot of the pipes that go into fracking.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_02: So people may say, hey, no, well, I want a moratorium.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that means that somebody may lose their job locally when it comes to that.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_02: So those are the type of things we need to be thinking about in general when it comes to just blanket statements about no more data centers or or whatever it may be.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that that could affect, you know, what that what that looks like from a job standpoint, even locally.
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_06: Well, uh one more thing, the uh uh switching topics one more time.
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Councilman Jason Spears has announced that he wants to run for uh the District 2 seat uh on Lowells County Board of Supervisor when you run for Senate.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know if you've heard of any other people coming to the fore.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_02: My question for you is uh I have heard one other, Stan Bates put out that, you know, Bates Tire.
• 1:12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay announced that he was uh going to run also for District 2.
• 1:12:55
  SPEAKER_06: In the event like I know you're gonna be campaigning for the Senate, but after these after folks start qualifying in January and the campaign gets going, is there so are you gonna are you going to endorse and campaign with someone who would be looking to replace you?
• 1:13:12
  SPEAKER_06: Are you gonna are are are you gonna pick a horse and ride it?
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_06: Well or are you going to just run your race and let that be what it is?
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Picking a horse and that in that race, you could alienate a whole another camp, right?
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_02: So right now, before the primaries, I I will not be endorsing a candidate before the primaries.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'll make that decision once the primary's over um of of of of that.
• 1:13:33
  SPEAKER_02: I I uh right now I tell you, unless something goes crazy, I'm gonna endorse a Republican um candidate because I'm a Republican and I'd like to see a Republican replace me.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um provided it's not a flawed candidate that gets in there.
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_02: And right now, the two that I see that are running as what I think would be running as Republicans, I I know Jason is and I'm pretty sure Stan will.
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I have no problems with either one of those guys at all.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think they're both smart people.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, I'm really um impressed with Jason and some of the things that he's been able to do in the city.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think that's important.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_02: I've I um without going into a whole lot of detail, I I've got a lot of respect for both those guys.
• 1:14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm glad to see that there's viable, really formidable candidates running.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that that makes me feel good about my decision because um I really do love my job in the county.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_02: I've really enjoyed it.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's times where I haven't, obviously, but I think we all do that serving public office.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_02: There are times where you just really have to, you know, muscle up and and and deal with things.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um but for the most part, it has been very enjoyable for me uh to be able to serve the citizens in District 2 the way that I have.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I'm gonna miss that post a lot.
• 1:14:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and you know, so but I'm I'm grateful that there are two viable candidates that I think will serve either one of them will serve very good.
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna, again, I can't pick a horse right now.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um I shouldn't.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh any any political consultant say you better not.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_02: And and same with Chuck.
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_02: If I have a candidate come out against me, Chuck's not gonna say, hey, you're my man, you know, either one of us, because he can alienate a whole group of people.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_02: So you don't want to do that right now, but I will be very likely once the Republican candidate and once the primary is over with, I will be uh supporting that person.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um one thing I I have learned, I learned this early on as supervisor, and I appreciate what you uh your comments that you said, uh talking about Jan and what she said.
• 1:15:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, I I do appreciate that, and I can I can certainly do that.
• 1:15:48
  SPEAKER_02: I will tell you the first few months when I was supervisor, I was wishy-washy.
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um my whole my whole goal was to try to learn what was going on, try to really stay under the radar.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um I remember Ronnie at WCBIO and he called me and said, You gotta get on camera.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, man, I really don't want to get on camera.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I resisted that for a long time.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_02: And now I think I'm on there every week, it seems like.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, but I really did a lot of resistance to that just because I wanted to be the guy behind the scenes doing the work, you know, really learning, not not having a big stance on anything just yet, just trying to learn the job, right?
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Fast forward ten months of being on that thing, and there I was having to m really make some real decision.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_02: I had to do that before then, obviously.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the first things I learned how to do, and and I know knew how to do this just in my business, working in my business areas anyway, but one thing I had to bring to the board is you can't you can't please everybody.
• 1:16:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you try to please everybody, you please nobody.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um and one thing that I I learned how to do was when somebody would call me, if the answer is no, tell them no.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Just say no.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um but it's better than just kicking it down the road, keep kicking it where you say, well, you know, let me look into that.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_02: When you know what the answer is, don't don't look into it.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_02: Just tell them no.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_02: Or yes, or that's something I could get behind.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Or I'll make this phone call, or I won't, or I don't know.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you know, call them immediately back and tell them what you know.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I got pretty good at telling people when I called them back to say, look, I've got something to tell you that you're not gonna like, or you're not gonna like this answer when I give you this answer.
• 1:17:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and just say it.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_02: And and people ten times out of ten, that some might hang up on you, but they can't eat you through the phone.
• 1:17:46
  unknown: Right?
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I really find I find some pride in to be able to just say, hey, look, I I'm gonna tell you something you're not gonna like, and this is what it is.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_02: And they're usually generally very, very receptive to that because they don't want to be fed a line.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know.
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that was one of the things I learned.
• 1:18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't learn that.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_02: It was one of the things that I put in practice early on as being a supervisor, and I would recommend to anybody who replaces me on a board or does in public service, a number one, tell the truth.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_02: And if the answer is no, say no.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um Harry Sanders told me years ago when I fur before I got on the board, he said that his dad told him that no could be a complete sentence.
• 1:18:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that's probably pretty good advice.
• 1:18:33
  SPEAKER_06: Well, Tripp, we really do appreciate you coming in today and talking with us, and uh uh good luck to you.
• 1:18:39
  SPEAKER_06: Uh in in your race and and in your last year on the Board of Supervisors.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Special guest here today in Catfish Alley Studio is Mr.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Trip Harston, who is on the county board and vying to serve in the state senate.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_03: All right, that was quite a ride there.
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Having Mr.
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Harston in here.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um boy, he's well versed in that stuff.
• 1:19:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'll tell you what, he That's a lot of conversations with a lot of different people uh condensed into uh 50 minutes or however long that interview was, just coming in here talking with us.
• 1:19:13
  SPEAKER_03: So we're grateful for that.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_03: But at this time, three things to know, Zach.
• 1:19:18
  SPEAKER_06: All right, Under the Oaks, the Arts Festival at uh Mississippi University for Women is going to be from 10 a.m.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_06: to 3 p.m.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_06: Saturday, hosted by MUW and the Columbus Arts Council.
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_06: The event will feature food trucks, live music, and handmade art by MUW students, faculty, and community members.
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_06: Number two, a Friends of the Fossil Parks organization has formed to help locations like the Jack Kay Park on the Lux continue to develop.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_06: The Columbus Fossil Park has$7 million on its development slash amenities wish list, and this nonprofit hopes to help raise as much of that as possible.
• 1:19:53
  SPEAKER_06: Number three, we talked last week uh about the Possum Town documentary.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_06: Uh well Monday's showing at Malco Theater was so well attended they had to move it to a larger screening room.
• 1:20:05
  SPEAKER_06: About a hundred people showed up, including filmmakers, uh, some of the people interviewed in the film, and even Mayor Stephen Jones, from what I understand, from Friendly City Books owner uh Emily Liner talked to her today about that.
• 1:20:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, Friendly City Books, who organized the screening, is looking to do it again in the future, maybe by the end of the year, and is hoping to find community partners to help advertise the event and build the crowd.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_06: If interested, email nonprofit at friendlycitybooks.com.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_03: Reach out to us, tips at cdispatch.com.
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_03: You can also follow me on Facebook or ex at d Chisholm Double Zero and leave a public comment.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_03: Keeping it real here in Catfish Alley Studio and Historic Downtown Columbus, your host has been Zach Player, and I am David Chisholm.
• 1:20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all stay friendly out there.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just a simple old country boy, but um I think that makes sense.
• 1:20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've stepped out and I've said what I had to say.
• 1:21:01
  SPEAKER_03: You've been listening to Between the Headlines with Zach and David.
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's what old people do.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_01: That is.