Council votes against mayor's emergency declaration

The Jackson City Council has voted down Mayor Tony Yarber's new infrastructure emergency declaration.

Yarber initially declared an infrastructure emergency March 27. It expired after seven days. Yarber then signed a second, 30-day emergency declaration, but it requires City Council support.

The declaration has been on hold for the last two weeks as the City Council didn't take it up, with some members asking for more specifics about the plan from Yarber.

"It just means we will call an emergency when it happens," Yarber said. "It won't stop us from working."

Near the end of an almost four-hour meeting Tuesday night, the council voted against Yarber's new emergency declaration.

Council members De'Keither Stamps, Tyrone Hendrix, Melvin Priester Jr. and Ashby Foote voted against approving the declaration. Councilman Kenneth Stokes voted for it. Councilman Charles Tillman abstained. Councilwoman Margaret Barrett Simon was absent.

"Regardless how we vote, I don't want people to think we don't see this as a crisis," Priester said.

The council members said there were too many unknowns about Yarber's proposal to approve it at this time.

Yarber is believed to be the first mayor in the country to declare an emergency for infrastructure that is not related to a natural disaster or catastrophic failure.

"We didn't want to do what we have being doing: declaring emergencies when they occur," Yarber said.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at (601) 961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.