JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Jackson City Council is seeking an injunction against Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, days after the mayor vetoed the council’s decision to vote down an emergency contract with Richard’s Disposal.
Thursday, attorneys for the council filed a response in the mayor’s legal challenge in Hinds County District Court.
As part of the nine-page response, the council is asking that the mayor’s veto be declared illegal and that he be barred from taking action on the April 1 veto of the council’s vote.
At a meeting on April 1, the mayor vetoed the council’s 4-3 vote to reject a one-year, emergency waste-hauling contract with Richard’s Disposal.
The mayor entered into the agreement on Feb. 17 and had issued a notice to proceed, but never got the contract ratified by the council.
Instead, the council twice voted down the agreement on April 1. At that same meeting, the mayor read his veto message into the record.
That same day, Richard’s began picking up residential trash in the capital city. The New Orleans-based firm was still picking up waste April 14.
Attorneys for the council say the mayor cannot veto a measure that is voted down by the city’s legislative body, and that by allowing the veto to stand would turn the council into a ceremonial body only.
“The Mississippi Supreme Court has held that the executive branch (the mayor) only has a qualified destructive legislative power and never creative legislative power,” the attorneys write. “Allowing the mayor to act on a negative veto would blur the lines between the executive and legislative branches causing irreparable harm by giving greater power to the mayor than is afforded to him by law.”
The council’s response comes days after the mayor filed suit in Hinds County Circuit Court seeking a determination as to whether the mayor could veto a negative vote of the council, whether a vote to reject a contract submitted by the mayor is an adopted ordinance and whether the mayor has the authority to veto affirmative and negative actions of the council.
The case was assigned to Judge Faye Peterson. On April 5, she signed an order transferring the case to Hinds County Chancery Court. However, on April 14, attorneys for Lumumba filed a motion to reconsider the transfer order, arguing, in part, that the chancery case had been concluded.
A similar question over the mayor’s veto power had been presented to a special appointed judge in chancery court. However, following a hearing, Judge Jess Dickinson decided not to answer it.
Court filings found at the Mississippi Electronic Court’s database do not indicate whether Peterson has agreed to reconsider her order.
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