The Stamps City Council meeting was held on Saturday, June 29, 2024. The meeting was held on Saturday as the city’s attorney had been unable to attend the regularly scheduled date. Saturday was the next day that all parties were able to attend. All parties were in attendance except Council member Anthony Sterling.
The agenda consisted mainly of updates with just a few items of new business.
New business related to approval of the fireworks permit for the 5th Annual Community Fireworks Show, providing police escort for the biannual SHS alumni parade and encouraging civic engagement.
Updates were provided on the recent recreational events in the community, the housing workshop and the ongoing Stamps Youth Job Readiness and Mentoring Program. The youth program will culminate the program’s end by taking the kids to Dallas to tour both the Dallas Cowboys venue and EJS Engineering, a recognized engineering firm with offices in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Other updates were provided on the city’s intention to begin work on construction of a pedestrian trail around Dr. Maya Angelou Memorial Park, the city’s move to improve service delivery and safety by integrating more technology into the city’s operations and the latest data collection efforts of those overseeing the watershed project to improve flood mitigation strategies in the area.
The city also revisited use of the remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)/COVID dollars. Several ideas were proposed including use for salaries, library improvements, cleaning the senior citizen center and clearing and grubbing the bank at the lake for fishing access. Some revenue generating uses were installing a water station and bait vending machine at the pond. No action was taken at this meeting on this item.
The Mayor announced the hiring of two full time officers and promotion of current Sergeant Patrick Morris (PJ) to Interim Police Chief. Though the new hires come uncertified, they will be enrolled in the September police academy putting them on track to be certified by year’s end. PJ’s interim chief role does not come with a raise. The officers start July 1st, just in time to staff for the July 4th holiday. The police hirings were met with some skepticism by the council, though the discussion ended with no action taken. Read the article in this edition to learn more about two new officers and the interim chief.
The meeting abruptly ended after some members walked out after the residency issues were raised about Council member Sheila Dickson. Several members of the community spoke attesting to her character and that she did not knowingly certify her eligibility under false pretenses. 5GNews news was said to be unethical for breaking the story. Dickson stated it was a conflict for 5GNews to report on the story since the Mayor served on the board. The Mayor stated she was not involved in the day to day but when she was made aware of the story she made several attempts to privately discuss the matter with Dickson. Dickson was said to have ignored or declined to discuss. She maintained that same posture at the meeting where she did not address whether she intends to resign from the council or if information reported in the story by 5GNews was untrue.
