Council Doesn’t Want To Learn — By Tommy Purser

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. We need leaders who will do things the right way, not just the expedient way. That may not mean much to some folks and some folks may not understand what I mean, but I’m a guy who believes leaders should follow the rules. That’s not all that difficult.
Ward 4 City Council candidate Yashica K. Brown attended last week’s City Council meeting and, if I understand correctly what she was asking, I think she had read Hazlehurst’s City Charter and what she read didn’t jive with how the council was conducting our business. If, indeed, that’s what she was concerned about, I share her concern.
Back in the 1970s, I was a young newspaper man with lots to learn. I believed that a mayor could not vote unless there was a tie vote among the council. I was wrong. And longtime Mayor Buddy Spann informed me of my ignorant opinion.
Ms. Brown was right to question the council. But the three council members at that meeting didn’t get it. That’s disturbing. What’s more disturbing is that some of them don’t understand millage rates, tax digests, enterprise funds, rollback millage rates, etc., nor do they want to learn.