Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / In Studio: Pierre Beard and Robert Johnson IV get heated over Ward 4

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In Studio: Pierre Beard and Robert Johnson IV get heated over Ward 4 · 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.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: This week, on Between the Headlines, we have an exclusive interview with the Ward 4 candidates, independent incumbent, mr Pierre Beard and Bobby Johnson.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: God dang it, bobby.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Welcome.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Here you are on the ballot as Robert Johnson IV.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Gentlemen, I thank both of you for being here.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Before we get to the interview, let's hear a word from our sponsors.
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• 1:32
  Speaker 3: And now a message from political candidate Bill Strauss.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: This is Bill Strauss, your 2025 candidate for mayor of Columbus.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: As election time draws near, ask yourself are you satisfied with our city leadership?
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: What has been done to eliminate our flooding issues?
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: What has been done to eliminate our housing blight?
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Are our streets safe?
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: Why have we not kept up with West Point, starkville and Tupelo?
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: We must have new leadership.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: Out with the old and in with the new.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Elect Bill Strauss, your new mayor.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Paid for by campaign to elect Bill Strauss mayor 2025.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: And now a message from political candidate Jason Spears.
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: Hello, I am Jason Spears, your Republican candidate for City Council, ward 6.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: 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.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: It is time to restore fiscal responsibility, economic growth and optimism back to our city.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: I, like you, believe we can get back on track and know that, as a community, we're going to make it happen.
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: I approve this message and, on June 3rd, vote Jason Spears for Ward 6.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: Paid for by the campaign to elect Jason Spears, ward 6.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: All right, you are listening to Between the Headlines with managing editor of the Commercial Dispatch, mr Zach Player, and my name is David Chisholm.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: In the studio today we have Mr Pierre Beard and Bobby Johnson.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Welcome, fellas.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you all for coming.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I appreciate being here.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Very much glad you are here.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: And we did invite Ms LaVon Harris, the Democratic candidate in this race, and she sends our regrets.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Work obligations kept her from attending, so I'm just going to jump right in and also throw just a little bit of friendly shade at my co-host here candidate forum at his conference room that got live on Facebook with Republican candidates for counsel, including Mr Johnson, here Now.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Mr Johnson didn't say this, Mr Chisholm did.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: He characterized Ward 4 as a war zone and I want to start with you, Pierre.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: How does that hit you?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: What do you think about that kind of rhetoric and how would you characterize your ward right now from a health and safety standpoint?
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: It's most definitely not a war zone.
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: I mean, I guess when you say war zone, you look at destruction, but when you look at Ward 4, you look at progression, you look at things that don't look nowhere near how it looked six years ago when I first got there.
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: So we can go ahead and, you know, delete that rhetoric.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Can you give some examples of things that?
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: have improved.
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: Example of things that have improved I have 85 percent of my roads in my ward main roads, the largest percentage of roads in the ward paved of roads in the war paved.
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: As far as dilapidated houses because I heard that was a major issue that dilapidated houses are becoming more so involved in a program, a federal program, with George Irby who's now purchasing those homes, in the process of purchasing those homes to rebuild those homes and starting some type of first homeowner buyership program.
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: These are things that are already in the work.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: As far as people taking pride back in their home, you know, just pride back in their garden, in their yard, keeping their yard maintained, own complaints and fixing issues like keeping the gutters cleaned and keeping the drains, the leaves and different things graded off, cleaned off, so it's more so as a pride thing.
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: That's coming back into war, for what I call the forgotten war.
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: We got the multi-million dollars, different grants going into the watershed issue to fix that flooding issue.
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: You know, since I was a child, people always talk about flooding in Ward 4.
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: Well, whether I'm there or not, that issue is going to be resolved 3.4 million give or take grant that was approved through Neal Schaefer, plus the million dollar match that.
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: We did Speak with our CFO who said we had the money in reserve to match that.
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: We did speak with our CFO who said we had the, the, the money in reserve to to match that, to match that grant.
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: So war, for, like I say, my motto is a progressive roar.
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: It has progressed.
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: People taking pride back in their things, people taking, you know, they just feel included.
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: Okay, is that?
• 5:59
  Speaker 7: how you see it, mr Johnson?
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: Absolutely not.
• 6:01
  Speaker 7: Um, no-transcript.
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: The whole of Columbus is pretty much a forest.
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: Even the antebellum homes, the magnolia trees, are overgrown.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: An overgrown war zone.
• 6:51
  Speaker 7: I'd probably say um so trees trees against houses, trees that are just too big.
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: Yes, we call the city of columbus.
• 6:55
  Speaker 7: If you go to any other city, you won't see as many overgrown trees as close to structures here.
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: Uh, in that, in these places, so is that a city issue or a homeowner issue?
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: Uh, it's a little bit of both how is that a city issue or a homeowner issue?
• 7:08
  Speaker 7: It's a little bit of both.
• 7:08
  Speaker 7: How is it a city issue?
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: Well, if you look at Sanfield Cemetery, it's overgrown.
• 7:16
  Speaker 6: It's been overgrown for before we were born, all of it.
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: The historical side is maintained by the city, but the other side has private ownership.
• 7:23
  Speaker 7: The historical figure Robert Glee.
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: So there would be a liability if the city would go in and do something to private ownership.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Unless, it violates code.
• 7:31
  Speaker 7: Exactly.
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: Private ownership.
• 7:34
  Speaker 7: Are we saying that the cemetery is privately owned?
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: The cemetery is privately owned.
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: The owner of the cemetery receives money to bury.
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: However many bodies they bury over there.
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: I have a question.
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: There's two sides of the street.
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: Right you got Sanfield, the main area, and then you got Fresh Graves being put on the other side.
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: Are they owned by the same people?
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: No, they're not owned by the same people.
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: The city owns the historic side of it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: Okay, how long have they owned that?
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: I don't know when we had our discussion.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: I told you that that cemetery was moved into Ward 4 through redistricting.
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: Up until Kentucky it had been taken care of.
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: I can't control what happens in someone else's ward, but once it comes into my ward, then I have full disclosure and discretion to do what.
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: I can see how long has Sanfield been in the 4th Ward.
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: It just got in there this year through redistricting, because that's one of the reasons why I'm running sir, because I asked you about Sanfield and you couldn't tell me whether it was in there.
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: So let's put this out.
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: You told me that you would support me.
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: You told me that you would help me.
• 8:34
  Speaker 7: I did not say that.
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: Yes, you did.
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: I got the text message so I can go through the show Support you, and then we had a conversation pertaining to Pros.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Park.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: We had a conversation pertaining to no sir, you called me.
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: I have all the text messages.
• 8:49
  Speaker 7: You called me.
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: I have every last text message.
• 8:52
  Speaker 7: Stephen Jones gave you my number, mr Johnson, mr.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Johnson.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I want to jump in here.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Mr Johnson, you did, and we've talked about this.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I think we talked about it several times during this process.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: You jumped in the race, then you got out of the race and when we talked about it you said you didn't feel like you were ready at that time.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: And then you jumped back into the race, saying that you had talked to some of the other candidates I guess including Mr Beard, mr Turner, ms Harris and decided no, I think I am going to run, explain kind of what happened there and why you made the decision that you made.
• 9:29
  Speaker 7: These people called me, marty Turner called me, pierre Beard called me.
• 9:34
  Speaker 7: I reached out to Stephen Jones.
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: My mother was a fan of Stephen Jones.
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: Rest in peace, stephen Jones.
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: After I had told him that I was going to run and started asking questions about what I wanted to do, I said I could probably do this as a private citizen.
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: Just get behind the candidate who wanted to champion my issues.
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: At that point, stephen Jones gave Pierre Beard my number and he called me.
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: That's why, when I answered the phone, I was confused as to why you reached out.
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: I was not a fan of you, which is totally fine.
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: You don't have to be.
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of people not fans of me.
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: But, like I stated, since we're going to go to the beginning of the conversation, yes, I did reach out to you and I told you.
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: I said Stephen Jones told me to call you.
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: You said I don't know what that, what was that about?
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: And what did I tell you?
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: I said I don't know either, but I'm just doing what I was asked to do.
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: Do you have any issues or concerns or what's going on?
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: And then you went on a list and a rant of different things that you had going on.
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: And what did I tell you?
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: I said well, I can help you to the best of my ability.
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: Then you asked about Pros Park.
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: And then I told you that we had that Pros Park meeting at the Trotter that the county and the city had did together.
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: Then you called me back after that because I invited you there.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: And then you called me back and what did you say?
• 11:09
  Speaker 7: You said that's not the meeting that I was thinking about rewind.
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: Then you ask why they're not.
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: Let's talk.
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: Let's talk about pros park you're coming to.
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: I'm trying to explain to you, sir.
• 11:13
  Speaker 7: One of the one of the things I asked you in that first conversation is why doesn't pros park have a basketball court?
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: Because the local residents are asking for a basketball court and they ask and then, what is it?
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: what was my?
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: pickleball.
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: I don't have anything against pickleball, I said the design was not made for basketball.
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: The design that they put was for softball and baseball.
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: I said Pros Park was not designed to be a basketball center.
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: Did I not say that it's a park?
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: Did I?
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: Did I not say that to you?
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: It's a park.
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: So the money that we put into and you know what?
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Do you remember what I said to that?
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: Money that we put into, and you know what Do you remember what I said to that you said good luck.
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: You said thank you and good luck Absolutely not.
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: And then you went and registered the next day.
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: I said the sport of baseball, the sport of pickleball, it requires an investment from the people playing with it.
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: I said the barrier to entry for basketball is lower.
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: Just grab a ball, you can go out there and play by yourself.
• 12:05
  Speaker 7: Now, in order to play baseball, you got to have other people, you got to have equipment, you got to have.
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: And the same thing with pickleball.
• 12:13
  Speaker 7: I said if you were thinking about the residents, you'd consider a sport with a low barrier to entry.
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: Pickleball was something that the citizens of Columbus wanted in Pros Parts.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: That's nothing that we wanted.
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: Did you walk the neighborhood?
• 12:29
  Speaker 7: around there.
• 12:29
  Speaker 7: Those were the people who would be visiting the park, the people of Columbus did a survey.
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: I don't think you were here at the time because you're not from here.
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: Well, you're originally from here, but I think you were out of town.
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: Hold on, hold, on hold on Hold on, let on hold on, but the people Hold on.
• 12:43
  Speaker 7: let me jump in here.
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: I'm born and raised here.
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: I'm born and raised here.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Let's jump in here and change the subject a little bit.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Kermagee site in Ward 4, that's something that has come up a lot.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Mr Beard, you've had some of the pine yard for redevelopment so you have continued to say nothing goes on there until it's all clean.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: This is the same EPA that tested this site not once, not twice, but three times before they discovered that something was chemically imbalanced over there.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: This is the same EPA that's saying that they cleaned off 22 acres of land with no cap, with nothing to block it from contaminated land.
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: So you're telling me that if you put clean land and dirty contaminated land side by side with no cap, that the rain, weather, all of that things are not pushing that chemical?
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: So what do you want to see happen over there?
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: The only thing that I can see going over there was a solar farm and I made clear of that to cut down costs on utilities.
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: In that aspect, on whoever, I don't feel like the land is able to be developed.
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: But I don't work, for I'm not a chemist either.
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: But this is just going off of common, my personal common sense, and we're talking with people that that that contamination has hurt, harm and killed people for so many years and whether just taking a chance and saying, hey, this is clean and let's put this over here, and 50 years later we got this major thing going on yet again.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Well, what about the residents that live around that?
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: area.
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: They don't want it.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, should they be there?
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I mean hearing what you're saying.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Shouldn't they be encouraged through public program to go somewhere else?
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: Of some type of form, shape and fashion.
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: Yes, I feel like that.
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: And fashion, yes, I feel like that, but the the way that the epa saying it is the chemical is not as strong in these neighborhoods.
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: But the chemical has flown because of the, the way that the chemical was being, you know, produced, has flown from north side to south side.
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: It had traces over there or wherever they have traces.
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: Then you got the water that's pushing these chemicals.
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: So, yes, I mean the entire Columbus may be contaminated.
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: Who knows?
• 15:28
  Speaker 6: Let me ask you.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: this Mayoral candidate, Darren Leach, has kind of made this his hobby horse for quite some time and he's ready to do something out there.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Do you think that he's acting in bad faith or do you think that he's naive in trusting the current data that's out there?
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: I can't speak for his personal beliefs, but from a professional standpoint I honestly feel if all of that land is not clean, nothing should go over there, and somebody that goes home to clean land should not be too much focused on placing something on contaminated land without the full understanding and the full knowledge.
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: Look at what, what just happened with the epa.
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: A lot of those people lost their jobs.
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: So who, who, who, who can we rely?
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: on now that a lot of those people lost their jobs because of an abundance of waste, fraud, fraud and abuse on the federal level.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: There was an ungodly amount of money spent per lot I would say in many cases more than the lots were actually worth to dig out tons and tons of dirt, haul it to wherever they put it and bring in fresh dirt.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Was that a waste?
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: No, that's something that I can't speak on because, like I said, I'm not involved in the in the chemistry aspect of that.
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: I only know what I see at face value.
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: What they show us and what they're showing us is 22 acres of land is clean, but they're not showing is the contamination flowing.
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: I, when I go to these CAG meetings that Darren Leach hosts at his church, I ask these questions but never can get a clear answer, never can get a clear understanding.
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: So if I'm the councilman representing that district, representing that ward, and I can't get a clear understanding on what's going on with the chemical imbalances and things in this land, then no, nothing should never go over there.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: I think one thing that you and I have in common is we have a healthy distrust of government.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: And you know one thing that I can tell you from a historical perspective you know, when I was a teenager and I would drive down 14th Avenue, the stench was very strong.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: I played in it, it was awful and so.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: But now you don't.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: You don't smell anything, I mean just from a from the looks of it.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: You know, I made the joke that I would eat chicken spaghetti off of the gravel out there just, it does not look um to me like a contaminated site.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: And we're just at one point.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: At what point do we say, hey, let's, let's trust at least some of the data?
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I just it's just.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: I don't see any problem with putting something there, a road.
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: A road okay.
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: A road, like I want to continue MLK all the way to 7th Avenue, but the only obstruction okay, my mother's buried in Union Cemetery, which is straight ahead, straight ahead.
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: So right there at the end, uh, with a railroad track and Sanderson plumbing meets, I think we could put a road straight right through there to avoid that train, safely, avoid the train.
• 18:40
  Speaker 7: That train is an obstruction.
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: That's something that we could do with that.
• 18:44
  Speaker 7: That that area Solar.
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: I like solar panels, we can agree on that.
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: But at the same time, uh, I'm looking at other people's solar panel capacity.
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: If you go out towards West Point, you got about two sides of the road a square mile of nothing but solar panels.
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: And I'm thinking, if that much solar capacity is used for for Clay County, that little small area of of Kerr-McGee is not going to be enough to supply the entire Columbus.
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: I would like those solar panels to to supply that solar energy to lower the cost of the people in that area affected by the contaminant To your point.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I'm looking back at the grant that was um applied for, uh, against the city council's wishes.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you, pierre, do you think the council pissed in the whiskey by turning down that grant money?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: I do not, okay.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: But at the same time you did say you were in favor of having solar panels out there right now to be clear they, they did.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I mean it was retroactively.
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: They, they've agreed to accept the grant if they, if they receive it we did agree to, we didn't go through all the whatever to cancel it.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Stop it just so it's still a possibility then.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Yes, that's a good thing you're listening to between the headlines.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: We've got to come.
• 20:10
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• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Councilman Beard.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I want to jump back in here and talk about something that has come up during the last term several times, especially in the last couple of years, and it's come up in the campaign when citizens are talking, when your opponents are referring to you.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: They're talking about your arrests, one, what's going on?
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: And how do you I guess, how do you respond to concerns from from citizens that Councilman Beard and individual Beard maybe behaves differently?
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: I can tell everybody to take it away.
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: And what do you have If you take that away?
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: What do you have?
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: That's all you can say.
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: That's one.
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: Two I was a strong supporter of Initiative 65A medical marijuana in the state of Mississippi, of which it passed astronomically in Columbus and Lyons County.
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: I need to go get my med card.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: I have seizures.
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: Diagnosed with seizures.
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: But you crossed that state line and you're in trouble.
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: And I need to go get my med card.
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: That's that.
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: Third, your Republican president has had how many felonies against him?
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: That's life.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: People are dealing with it.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: It happens.
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: Move on from it.
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: Accept it.
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: Learn from.
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: Move on from it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: Accept it.
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: Learn from it and keep going.
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: I don't want to interrupt.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry you can't interrupt about my personal life.
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: So make sure you're interrupting about something else.
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: You know what, go ahead.
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: Thank you, I'm sorry.
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: And that's all I got to say about it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: So I mean people who are concerned about that behavior, you or those arrests there's.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: Has it stopped them from getting limbs picked up when they call?
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: Ok, has it stopped them from?
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: What has it stopped them from receiving?
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: It has not affected Ward 4 at all.
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: It's affected me.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: It has taken a toll on me in my life.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: You cannot speak on my personal life.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: How has it taken a toll?
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: on me in my life.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: You cannot speak on my personal life well, how is it taking a, how is it taking a toll on?
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: you, your arrest record, have nothing to do with each other.
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: Exactly, you just made my point valid, but I'm telling you just made my point valid no, you, you just made the point that I said that they don't have absolutely anything to do with each other.
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: Valid, you just?
• 23:52
  Speaker 7: did that columbus.
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: Columbus has a perception and it's not a good one.
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: When I was working a while back in aberdeen uh, someone asked me where you from I said columbus, oh, kill umbus, kill umbus.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, listen that kind of talk is about every town you know Tuscaloosa has Holt, jackson has Jackson and Columbus has Ward 4.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, I hope that you're right.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: I hope that Ward 4 is on the verge of a renaissance and turning itself around, but I stand behind what I believe to look like a war zone currently.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Now let me talk about that briefly when I say that I really see three things there.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: I see poverty.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: A lot of that is things that you know.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: It's in education, it's state level issues.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: It's poverty, it's a education, it's state-level issues.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: It's poverty, it's a problem.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: Another thing is mental health.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: I see people walking around.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: They're talking to themselves and they're not talking pleasantly.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: They're angry about something and I worry about those people and I think a lot of it.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Thirdly, is drug-related.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: So you've got these three things working against Ward 4 and it's not exclusive to them.
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: Those three things are in all six wards.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: They are.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: You're exactly right.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Do either of y'all have any plans to help with those issues that I've mentioned there?
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: Well, with the homelessness.
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: You have the Homeless Coalition that's been moved into ward four after redistricting.
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: It's on airline.
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: So we got the homeless coalition that's already working on aspects and getting people with help with homelessness.
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: You got the community outreach department with the police department and with the city that's been helping with issues of homelessness.
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: But, as stated and has been reported several times, some of these people just don't want help.
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: Some of these people are, are, are, are, I guess I could say, comfortable with with their, with their, with their living, dwellings and stuff like.
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: And with people like that, how can you make them?
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: You can't make anybody do anything.
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: You can give them resources, you can educate them or inform them on what's going on, but it has to be for them to accept those things.
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: When it comes to that, they're not harming anybody, they're not bothering anybody, they're not doing absolutely anything to anybody.
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: That's just their preference.
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: And whatever happened in their life, like if something was to happen in either of our lives in here, whatever we feel like our preference would be, that's what.
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: That's just what happens.
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: But there are resources out there for homelessness.
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: In Columbus there has been an uptick in that, not only in Columbus but in the entire state and in the entire world.
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: I mean, that's that when it comes to that.
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: As far as the other two, can you state the other two again?
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Well, I mentioned mental health and I think that, in terms of the health of Mississippi, mental health is a very big issue.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: And I think that it's.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: We are way behind other states when it comes to that.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: I hope something that can be done.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: But I mean, at the same time, look at, we were talking about certain neighborhoods East St Louis, missouri, no, east St Louis, illinois.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: It's right across the river from St Louis, probably one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: The cops will tell you to run the stop signs.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Do not stop there.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: I can't tell you how many federal dollars have been poured in there.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Money is not always the answer, right, but um d, are you guys willing to make the phone calls and and and look up the grants and see what help is available, to just just lift ward four out of the mire?
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: And look, I'm not saying this disparagingly, because these are, because it's all wards yeah, it's all wards right.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: It seems to be a little more concentrated there.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Um, what kind of lobbying do you have on your agendas?
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: I mean we we hired susan wilder, who's an excellent grant writer, I may add, who's been doing a great job.
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: I can actually get with her if she's not already looking for these type of, already looking for these type of actively looking for these type of things.
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: She's actively searching and looking for different grants in our city that can help with all of those things that you noted.
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: And when it comes to mental illness, I can brag on the Columbus Police Department that's a training, mit training that they have 10 officers right now certified to assist with mental issue calls that are coming through, of which they have been proactively doing that with the attempted suicide that we had and the different things that we've been having going on.
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: So all of these things that you are focusing on, are speaking about, are issues that are already being attacked, are issues that people are already working on, people that the embattled Ward 4 Councilman has been talking to, people to already do these things.
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: So when you speak about all these things, like I say, make sure you speak about them in all wars, especially in Ward 6 and in Ward 3, because Ward 3 consists of East Columbus and I see the same thing over there and in Ward 6, it happens there too.
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: So let's not just you know we're here talking about Ward 4.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: But when we talk about these issues, let's make sure that we are saying that these issues are city and the crime that is happening within Columbus.
• 29:26
  Speaker 6: This is not organized crime.
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: This is not crime that oh my God, I, I'm gonna go outside and shoot me 13 people today domestic stuff.
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: This is not that.
• 29:35
  Speaker 6: This is things that's out of our control.
• 29:37
  Speaker 6: This is stuff that's going on within people, homes that once the law is involved, then they take an action to to solve these things.
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: But this is when the, when the, when the, when the ratings and when the, when the, when the um, when the.
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: You know what I'm trying to say the stats, the stats come out.
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: When all of that stuff come out, like they say, it's a decline in crime, not only in the city but in the county as well.
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: But then when you put that information out, that crime is declining in the city and in Lyles County, you have people that say, well, the city is hiding their data, the city is not reporting all their data, while praising the county.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: But these are two entities that should work hand in hand.
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: They should, all of us should be working hand in hand.
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: All of us that are elected have taken an oath to all working hand in hand and we should all be on the same goal, regardless of party affiliation.
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: That's why I never chose the party, because you have this side doing this and you got that side doing that.
• 30:36
  Speaker 6: I can see both sides, I can hear from all aspects and that's why I was elected well, let me.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Let me jump in here, pierre, because one of the things that even the chief has said uh and and yes, uh, the statistics seem to show that crime is going down, not only locally and in the county, but nationwide.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Violent crime is trending down.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: But one thing that even the chief has said is a large portion of what's going on in the news cycle.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: He keeps characterizing it as the same handful of knuckleheads that are going around every ward, shooting in the air, shooting at houses, shooting at cars, and sometimes are getting caught, sometimes are not.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: Or they may not be adjudicated.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Well, what resources do the police need?
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: What does the city council need to do to, you know, mitigate the thing that your chief says is aggravating the public the most about crime right now?
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: Well, you, know I'm a major supporter of Columbus Police Department.
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: Shout out to our chief, who's the chief of all chiefs of Mississippi.
• 31:48
  Speaker 6: But to get that underhand, we have the NOLA cameras.
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: We have all of these camera systems that we have, but we don't have anybody actively watching them.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Yes we have.
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: NOLA.
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: Don't say that I can't say that we have NOLA, the people in New Orleans, the people that we are buying the cameras from.
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: Yes, they are monitoring them.
• 32:09
  Speaker 6: So let me back up and say we have no one locally that is watching them.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Y'all don't have the screen room with the three people that are rotating.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: That's why we're advertising for a petitioning to the people for the legislator, for a crime center.
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: But once reelected I want to.
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: During budgeting season, I want to get a figure out, a way that we can get at least two certified officers to be monitoring our cameras here locally.
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: That's the goal for the.
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: To the camera thing because we have a camera.
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: If a gunshot go off, the camera zooms directly to where that's half.
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: If we have someone that's actively sitting in front of that, then they can actively call in and say this is where it going.
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: The little a minute 30 seconds, however long it takes for them to call and get somebody at the actual facility.
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: That can be however long that we already had.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: But the technology of the camera.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: Here's the gunshot and it zooms directly to that area.
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: That's a good thing, Is that enough, Bobby?
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: How do we intervene to where the crime maybe isn't happening as much to begin with?
• 33:22
  Speaker 7: Mr Beard wants officers watching the cameras, but he has an officer retention issue.
• 33:30
  Speaker 6: We're at 49 staff capacity.
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: We're budgeted for 55.
• 33:34
  Speaker 7: So if we've lost if we've lost so many officers, then a lot of new fresh officers, and I'm glad I'm glad that we have new certified officers in the city of Columbus Mr Beard let, Mr Johnson respond.
• 33:49
  Speaker 7: I'm glad, as I said the night before, the shot spotter is a good thing.
• 33:55
  Speaker 7: If a shot spotter picks up a shot, it should be an officer en route to that area before 911 is called.
• 34:06
  Speaker 7: I've called 911 before after hearing a gunshot, but this is after I saw a news report of a gentleman.
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: He was shot dead in his own home.
• 34:17
  Speaker 7: People in the surrounding area heard the gunshot but did not call.
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: Now I hate.
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: I'd hate to be in that position being shot and no one called the police.
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: Now every time I hear a gunshot I want to to call 911, which is the proper response.
• 34:32
  Speaker 7: The police need tools.
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: Shot spotter would be excellent.
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: We talk about federal grants to get that kind of stuff.
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: I'm in support of every kind of law enforcement grant possible.
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: We need more money to our officers.
• 34:50
  Speaker 7: We need more money to our officers.
• 34:51
  Speaker 7: I'd also like to solve our officer retention thing that we've had in the past before getting so many new officers.
• 34:57
  Speaker 7: I am totally in support of increasing the officers pay.
• 35:02
  Speaker 7: I want the Columbus Police Department's officers to have the highest pay in the Golden Triangle.
• 35:07
  Speaker 7: That way that allow us to hire Higher, slow and fire fast.
• 35:16
  Speaker 7: You know what I'm saying?
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: It to put the power back in our hands instead of all of our officers going to the Lowndes County Police Department.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm 100 percent on the law enforcement side.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: I have no opinions of how things are being done now because I don't know the situation.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Are you as optimistic as your opponent?
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: Is that the tides are turning and things are improving both optically and in terms of crime?
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: No, I feel like you could be complacent.
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: You could think things are good and all of a sudden it's not.
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: I think their uh, perfection is ongoing.
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: Perfection is evolution.
• 36:00
  Speaker 7: You always have to worry about the next thing maintenance is ongoing.
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: Uh, this is the thing that, if you look at it administratively there uh, jason Spears talks about the vulnerabilities and the levers that you can pull on an operation you got to know your soft spots, the sensitive areas, and in the recipe for maintaining a city, you have maintenance.
• 36:31
  Speaker 7: You got overgrowth.
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: You a city, you have maintenance, you got overgrowth.
• 36:34
  Speaker 7: You got crime, you got population growth.
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: You know what I mean.
• 36:37
  Speaker 7: All these things to worry about is proper maintenance.
• 36:40
  Speaker 7: That goes into this.
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: The police are something that you need to continue to allow to get better, more technology to our police, more weaponry.
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: I don't want to militarize our police force, but they need the latest, updated tools.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Right, I want to jump in here.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Everything that y'all have talked about has been deterrence and enforcement.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Everybody that is on the ballot at one point or another has mentioned youth intervention to prevent these types of things, to prevent the handful of knuckleheads from, you know, going to jail or going to juvie.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: The question for both of you guys is what does that look like practically, and what can the city actually do for that?
• 37:37
  Speaker 7: Youth employment.
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: I want to make a way for these young people to make money, because I've had young people knock on my door hey, you got work for me, you got some leaves, you got a yard I can mow.
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: I feel like if we could help these young people put money in their pocket, I think they'd stay out of trouble.
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: What about you, mr bear?
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: he nodded toward Bobby.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: I think he agrees with that particular sentiment.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: Maybe all I can say is, when it comes to all of this thing, people on the outside looking in don't have an earthly idea.
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: If they were so invested on what's going on in our community, they should be invested on what you guys report in the news about the community.
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: As far as the Columbus police department because he did state that Columbus police department they just got a raise.
• 38:29
  Speaker 7: And this is a raise that the chief of police asked for himself.
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: I want him to get another one.
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: The entire city of Columbus has moved up to $15 an hour minimum wage of something that I fought hard for.
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: For all of these things, with the help of my colleagues the ones that did approve of it, I've been fighting for city workers.
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: I've been fighting for the police department fire department.
• 38:47
  Speaker 6: Since I got here 2017, I wasn't even a councilman.
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: I took to the current mayor a program about hiring homegrown police officers.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: That's why I'm so proud about these young officers, because people are taking an interest in being a police officer, something that is frowned upon at this day and time.
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: So anybody that's wanting to be a public servant by police or fire, I applaud them to the utmost and whatever it takes.
• 39:14
  Speaker 6: I'm actively every day talking to the chief and talking to our CFO about raising the pay, not just for the police department, before our entire department.
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: When it comes to the youth public work, public works has a program that goes on during the summer.
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: The Columbus Park and Rec has a program that goes on during the summer that we just put more money into to hire more people to be down there.
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: So these things are already in place.
• 39:41
  Speaker 6: So I guess, as far as a city, the promotion of these things I could take the fall for, and that's just me being here on behalf of the city.
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: But all of these things that you speak of are already in place.
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: It may be that we are not performing well enough with the pushing the things out to the people to know that these things are going on.
• 40:06
  Speaker 6: And you say, every time you hear about a gunshot or something in your neighborhood, that that's your right as a human being.
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: If someone is shooting around your house or you hear gunshots anywhere, that you should call 9-1-1.
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: Me being a councilman, every time I hear shots I call 9-1-1.
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: The last time I heard shots and called 9-1-1, they called me back and told me that they picked up someone on Shady Street.
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: That's where the shots were coming from.
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: So I don't know if that's the same time that you were scared to call 9-1-1 or you didn't call 9-1-1.
• 40:36
  Speaker 7: Hold on, you, said he did call 9-1-1.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, you did OK, I'm sorry.
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: I had tuned out a little bit.
• 40:41
  Speaker 6: I do apologize for that, but but they do they do report if someone calls.
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: And I stress that at every meeting that I go to, because I hear constituents always say that well, we call 911 and the police never come.
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: Well, the police has to come anytime they are dispatched.
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: If you do not see them, that can be a different thing.
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: But, like I called, and when I called I said I heard shots on Shady Street Street.
• 41:11
  Speaker 6: They called me back and said the shots were not on Shady Street, they were on Moss Street.
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: So I would not see them if they were to come to Shady Street because they went where, to Moss Street.
• 41:19
  Speaker 6: So if you call or someone calls and says, well, I call, well, do you want the police to come to your home and talk to you?
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: That's something that you have to let them know.
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: And also, dispatch is not ran by the city, dispatch is ran by the county.
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: That's one of the things about the officer retention.
• 41:36
  Speaker 6: People lose, people quit jobs every day.
• 41:39
  Speaker 6: I mean every day.
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: People walk off jobs every day when it comes to officer officers.
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: At Columbus Police Department we are at the highs that we have probably been in a while at this current moment in time and we got five more officers that are about to go to the academy now, but pierre, let me jump in here because the city used to be uh, I want to say that the city used to be budgeted for 70 officers at one time.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: And so the standard for what is capacity has actually lowered by 15, and y'all still aren't meeting it.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Other cities are I mean they're still dealing with turnover, but other cities in the Golden Triangle are staying closer to capacity more often.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Y'all have been in the 30s recently.
• 42:25
  Speaker 6: And we're not there now, thank God.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: Right, but I mean, how do you keep it from going back?
• 42:29
  Speaker 6: but and with those statistics that being given and a report came in that crime is declining, I feel like those two can actually cancel each other out.
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: But in the next budgeting cycle, like I stated how, how supportive I am of the police department, I would like to raise the pay, I would like to increase the budgeted limit for officers.
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: Like I said, we have five that are about to get ready to go and that'll take us up to 52, I want to say Okay.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: So if you raise it to 60, though, and y'all still bandy between 44 and 52 for that entire budget year.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, what's the point of raising it to?
• 43:10
  Speaker 6: 60?
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: .
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: That's why we should actively start back recruiting like they've been doing.
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: Keep recruiting.
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: We got old officers that used to be officers coming back.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: I know that there are fire departments in other areas that are doing the same kind of thing.
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: We got people that once they leave here we're putting things in place.
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: Once you come here, you have a contract you have to sign.
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: Now you have to stay for so many years because you're not going to get us.
• 43:33
  Speaker 6: Let us train you and then just leave and go somewhere else.
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: So now we're putting things in place to retain these officers, to keep them here.
• 43:40
  Speaker 6: But we also have officers that go to the county that you spoke of and then they come back.
• 43:45
  Speaker 7: You know, we also have officers that go to tuscaloosa and then they come back you know the amount of new officers do how many senior officers on hand, because that's a brain drain issue.
• 43:55
  Speaker 7: Overall, you have people that get a degree here and leave.
• 43:59
  Speaker 6: Are you an officer get?
• 44:00
  Speaker 7: experience at the cpd and leave I just spoke on that.
• 44:04
  Speaker 6: I just spoke how many senior officers do you have?
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: It seems like we have a brain drain issue.
• 44:09
  Speaker 6: Answer it for me, because our whole command staff are senior officers.
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: We have a lot of people with five-year or more.
• 44:17
  Speaker 6: So what is your interpretation of a senior officer and how many have you came in contact with?
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: Well, you said how many new officers that we have.
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: Everybody should have new officers, right what's considered an experienced officer.
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: You, you answer that.
• 44:31
  Speaker 6: You asking the question.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: I can't answer your question to kind of wrap things up here, and I know this, this question is going to be.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: You know when, when you answer, mr johnson is going to be outside looking in.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: I want to start with you Looking from the inside, pierre the current situation with the council and the mayor and getting things done in the city.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Not to say that there aren't things getting done, but it's been pretty maligned how poorly things are working together between the administration and the council.
• 45:06
  Speaker 6: The administration may not work good at all.
• 45:10
  Speaker 6: May or may not.
• 45:12
  Speaker 6: When I became councilman, we were at an $800,000 deficit.
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: We are at a $5, $6 million surplus.
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: Give or take.
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: Don't quote me on the numbers.
• 45:24
  Speaker 6: The council, the way that we're set up, is strong council, weak mayor.
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: Right, we got six people that collectively work hand in hand, that try to make the business of the city better.
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: The city without the six of us that was there this year, if all of us had a part in enhancing the city of Columbus.
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: The city of Columbus has grown tremendously, despite what people say.
• 45:54
  Speaker 6: You got businesses popping up every day.
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: You got downtown that's growing, according to Ms Barbara Bigelow that they're getting closer to capacity.
• 46:05
  Speaker 6: You got all of these different entities working and that are growing, that are pushing Columbus forward.
• 46:11
  Speaker 6: But when it comes to our administration and getting along, I feel like we got along great.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: OK, so you don't, you, you don't think anything needs to, but what needs to improve for better functionality next term between among the council and between the council?
• 46:26
  Speaker 6: a better communication.
• 46:27
  Speaker 6: Better communication without without um violating the open meeting act okay, how is that achieved?
• 46:35
  Speaker 6: just basically in work sessions, different meetings, if the, the person that we had in charge now came up with these ideas to not violate the Open Meetings Act.
• 46:47
  Speaker 6: But when we get in these meetings and get in these public meetings and public, where we can talk about things and handle things how we should handle feelings, get involved, emotions, get involved and to actually be a part of this and a part of this.
• 47:04
  Speaker 6: Whatever going on government, that's one thing that you cannot wear on your shoulders is your feelings and your emotions, because things will be said that you may not agree on, things will be said that you, that that's, that's your core value.
• 47:20
  Speaker 6: But somebody may say something and it hurts everything that you ever thought about.
• 47:25
  Speaker 6: But if we're all here saying that we're working for the betterment of the city of Columbus, then we should all be able to compromise, we should all be able to negotiate, we should all be able to come to a common ground to make the citizens of Columbus feel like something good is being done.
• 47:41
  Speaker 6: But through this administration we've been attacked, we've been all type of things been done to each and every one of us on that board, on that council, but at the end of the day, the city of Columbia who's doing the?
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: attacking.
• 47:56
  Speaker 6: I wouldn't dare say their name on y'all's platform shame the devil.
• 48:03
  Speaker 6: But what was I saying?
• 48:06
  Speaker 6: You made me mess up when you brought those.
• 48:08
  Speaker 6: You brought those knuckleheads names up, but we're all if, if that, if that would not have happened, the city of columbus would have crumbled because of the, the the main person that's, that's in charge who came in thinking that they had all this power from heaven and earth when all they really needed to do was try to communicate with the people.
• 48:33
  Speaker 6: Yes, you do day to day operation.
• 48:35
  Speaker 6: Yes, we are single individuals like this, but we talk to people from all aspects of life because we're actually out here trying to to do the work, trying to assist with the work, etc.
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: Out here trying to do the work, trying to assist with the work, et cetera.
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: Okay, you are listening to Between the Headlines with Zach and David.
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: Before we conclude our interview today, I would like to put a plug in for the mayoral forum that will be on the 27th of May.
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: Is that a Tuesday night or a Thursday?
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: It's on the calendars at 6 pm.
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: I believe that's right.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: Yes, Okay, and seating is limited.
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: So you do want to get a Thursday?
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: It's on the calendars at 6 pm.
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: I believe that's right.
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: Yes, Okay, and seating is limited.
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: So you do want to get a ticket.
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: This is sponsored by both the Lyceum at Lee and by the Dispatch, no cost for the ticket.
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: But, like things go with that, we do want to have a head count and I hope it'll be a good showing cdispatchcom slash forum.
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: Do you guys have any predictions?
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: Will you be there?
• 49:30
  Speaker 6: I got my two tickets.
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: Who's going to win?
• 49:34
  Speaker 6: Win.
• 49:34
  Speaker 6: What the debate?
• 49:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 49:39
  Speaker 6: We should all go and find out.
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: I think we should.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Who's going to win the election?
• 49:44
  Speaker 6: You already know that.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: I know who you're supporting.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Well, you really don't.
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: Speaking of that, I do have an interesting question to you.
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: This is a matter of public record.
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: At your address, there are 18 registered voters listed on the city roll.
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: You got 18 people staying at your place.
• 50:05
  Speaker 6: You know, when you said you were remodeling, my grandmother, retired business owner, 17 years, worked at UT, one of the first women to ever work in factories out at United Technologies in East Columbus.
• 50:17
  Speaker 6: Her house burned down in 2017, I want to say, and when she rebuilt she added a bedroom and a bathroom.
• 50:26
  Speaker 6: My grandmother's blessed to have a six bedroom, three bathroom house.
• 50:29
  Speaker 6: My mother stays with her.
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: The same people that we are not speaking of sent the ethics commission to that house.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: And you're talking about ABC's, leslie.
• 50:40
  Speaker 6: Sorrell.
• 50:41
  Speaker 6: The ethics commission came in that house and called out every name on that list.
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: You know where they came to the front room.
• 50:48
  Speaker 6: This is not a small house.
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 50:52
  Speaker 6: I have seven brothers and sisters of all voting age.
• 50:55
  Speaker 6: I'm the oldest.
• 50:56
  Speaker 6: Who do you think they stay with my mom?
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, that question's been answered In closing here.
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: Unless you have something, I've got one here.
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: I've got a little pet peeve of mine.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: Lord yeah.
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: Zach's gearing up for it.
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: Historically, Highway 82 has been called a bypass.
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: Okay, I guess, because it originally bypassed downtown Columbus.
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: It's not really a bypass because it goes right through the middle of town.
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: Okay, Do you think that, as is in the case of many small towns out there, that the building of that freeway kind of caused, like, let's say, Waterworks Road and areas like that to be forgotten, simply because there's less traffic going through there?
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: And then you know if, if there's something that's blighted or a problem but nobody really really drives past it and sees it, then it's less likely to get addressed?
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: You think that's part of it.
• 52:06
  Speaker 6: No, I'm not going to say that, I'm not going to put any emphasis on anything like that.
• 52:10
  Speaker 6: What I'm going to say is the lack of things that happen in any war not just war for determines the person that's in in that position and whoever in that position, whether if it's me or if it's not me they have to have a heart for the people, they have to want to work for the people because, like I said before I got there, war four was the forgotten war.
• 52:36
  Speaker 6: Now, what all you hear people talk about pierre beard, ward four and police.
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: So war four is not forgotten in your hand, and hand I got you.
• 52:41
  Speaker 7: That's the problem, that's the.
• 52:43
  Speaker 7: That's the problem.
• 52:44
  Speaker 6: I got perception I gotta get this in here you can't have councilmen in the newspaper, like that, and we can't speak on personal people's business, because I can speak on you, you're publicly elected Aren't you a.
• 52:53
  Speaker 6: Republican?
• 52:54
  Speaker 6: Have you always been a Republican?
• 52:56
  Speaker 6: You're publicly elected.
• 52:57
  Speaker 4: Does your Facebook?
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: show that you are a Republican from the past.
• 53:00
  Speaker 7: What, okay, don't speak on.
• 53:02
  Speaker 7: I've been a Republican since 2008.
• 53:04
  Speaker 7: Look, I've been in the Republic since 2008.
• 53:07
  Speaker 7: Look, I'd like to clear it.
• 53:08
  Speaker 7: Don't speak on.
• 53:09
  Speaker 6: Don't speak on Today marks the death of the GOP Republicans and a new day for the Affordable Care Act.
• 53:14
  Speaker 6: Remember Obamacare upheld the Supreme Court, so it is the law.
• 53:18
  Speaker 6: The more people signing for Obamacare, the cheaper it gets.
• 53:22
  Speaker 6: I think the Republican Party is scared it may end up being free.
• 53:25
  Speaker 6: Hmm, I can't let that happen.
• 53:27
  Speaker 6: How long will this continue?
• 53:31
  Speaker 6: How long will we continue?
• 53:31
  Speaker 6: How long will we continue to celebrate?
• 53:33
  Speaker 6: How long will we continue to celebrate 9-11?
• 53:38
  Speaker 6: That happened so long ago.
• 53:40
  Speaker 6: Get over it.
• 53:41
  Speaker 6: That's how you feel.
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: And you were in the military.
• 53:43
  Speaker 4: Don't start with me sir.
• 53:46
  Speaker 7: Have a great day.
• 53:46
  Speaker 7: What year was that?
• 53:47
  Speaker 7: Have a great day?
• 53:47
  Speaker 7: What year was that have a great day?
• 53:48
  Speaker 7: What year was?
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: that I think we're going to.
• 53:49
  Speaker 7: All right, check this out.
• 53:50
  Speaker 7: Hold on, I would like to clear this this man has said I'm not from Columbus.
• 53:53
  Speaker 7: I'm born and raised in Columbus.
• 54:01
  Speaker 7: I don't know you.
• 54:01
  Speaker 7: That's why I I'm just past Hamilton called Lackey Mississippi, I know.
• 54:06
  Speaker 7: Lackey Well my grandmother's maiden name is Lackey and my great-grandfather's buried somewhere out there.
• 54:13
  Speaker 7: I am a part of the dirt here.
• 54:16
  Speaker 7: I'm born and raised in Columbus.
• 54:19
  Speaker 6: I left in the thousands.
• 54:20
  Speaker 6: Get your Republican running in the blackest ward in the city.
• 54:22
  Speaker 6: That's right, that's right.
• 54:23
  Speaker 6: It tells me that he's a free thinker.
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: My values are Republican.
• 54:28
  Speaker 7: I'm a conservative, you know, you know.
• 54:30
  Speaker 7: The thing about that is, I was invited to be a Republican too, by the.
• 54:35
  Speaker 7: Federation of Women.
• 54:37
  Speaker 7: Black people historically were Republican.
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: You know I lean more towards that side sometimes Robert Glee was a Republican.
• 54:42
  Speaker 7: He hated the Democrats Conservative.
• 54:44
  Speaker 7: While we wrap up here, let's wrap this one, let's wrap it up.
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: I've got Zach, I've just got to ask this question oh.
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: Lord, which one of y'all are going to take a sump pump to that swamp behind the old toilet seat factory?
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: Have you seen that between Hunt School and that toilet seat factory?
• 55:02
  Speaker 6: I want to roll there.
• 55:03
  Speaker 3: There's alligators out there, man.
• 55:05
  Speaker 6: We're working on that now.
• 55:06
  Speaker 6: I've been talking with Kevin Stafford about seeing what we can do with that area over there.
• 55:11
  Speaker 6: But that's something isn't it.
• 55:12
  Speaker 6: That's definitely like I me personally.
• 55:16
  Speaker 6: I'm so glad that y'all did this.
• 55:18
  Speaker 6: I want to thank y'all again for doing this.
• 55:21
  Speaker 6: But, I feel like there is absolutely something that needs to happen from a city's perspective so that we can start getting you know more of what we're doing, so it won't look like we're hiding or not doing things within the city.
• 55:33
  Speaker 6: But every, every issue that I can say that people bring up, they are being honestly, they're being looked at, they're being addressed and I would say that if I can try to do it before I, before the election, before whatever happens, is to try to get someone that can be more on the inform.
• 55:50
  Speaker 6: We did have a PIO that we had, joe.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Dillon.
• 55:56
  Speaker 6: Joe Dillon was great about getting information out and I feel like that's a void in our, in our administration, in our, in our city, that we need to feel so we can get these questions when people have different issues like that, because everybody needs to have a voice when it comes to city government.
• 56:11
  Speaker 6: If they're paying taxes, if they're not paying taxes, if they're homeless, if they have a mental issue, whatever wrong with them, if they're in the city of Columbus, everybody needs to have a voice and I will fix that.
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: I want to thank both of you for coming in here today.
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: It does take a lot to put yourself out there, and so I congratulate both of you for choosing to do so.
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: We also thank our listeners for joining us today.
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: Be sure to subscribe, share and rate, and send us your comments.
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: We would love to hear what you would like to say about this interview here today.
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: Tips at cdispatchcom.
• 56:44
  Speaker 3: Again, that is tips at cdispatchcom.
• 56:46
  Speaker 3: You can also follow me on Facebook or x at dchism00.
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: All right, signing off until next week from Catfish Alley Studio in historic downtown Columbus.
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: Your host has been Zach Player and I'm David Chisholm.
• 57:01
  Speaker 3: Until next time, y'all keep it friendly out there, and we will do our best to keep it real in here.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: Opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the Commercial Dispatch.