Hinds Board of Supervisors wants name removed as plaintiff in federal lawsuit against MDOT

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors wants its name removed as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against Central District Mississippi Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall and others.

The board voted unanimously Monday on a resolution clarifying that it doesn't want to be a party in the lawsuit although it is listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed late last month.

Previous story:Federal lawsuit says Hall, MDOT spending federal funds discriminatory in tri-county

The lawsuit plaintiffs are listed as the Board of Supervisors and three African American residents:Charles Holmes, Dwayne Starling and Terry Starling.

Board members said they never gave authority for the lawsuit to be filed. They said that in 2012 there was a discussion by the then-board, when Kenneth Stokes was a member, about looking into a possible lawsuit.

A majority of the current board weren't on the board at the time, including President Darrel McQuirter, District 4 Supervisor Mike Morgan and District 5 Supervisor Bobby "Bobcat" McGowan.

District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham, who was on the board, said no one brought it to the board before filing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges discrimination in how federal highway and bridge money is spent in the tri-county area.

The lawsuit says 50 percent of federal highway and bridge funds are to be spent in an urbanized area with a population of 200,000 or more and only Hinds County fits that criteria, but a disproportionate amount of the funds goes to predominantly white Madison and Rankin counties.

"Despite the fact that Madison County, MS, and Rankin County, MS, standing alone don't qualify as an urbanized area with a population in excess of 200,000 persons, ... MDOT (Mississippi Department of Transportation) and CMPDD (Central Mississippi Planning and Development District) since 1970 intentionally and deliberately joined Madison County, MS, and Rankin County, MS, with Hinds County, MS, in order to divert federal highway funds from black majority Hinds County ...," according to the lawsuit.

MDOT spokesman Jarrod Ravencraft said Thursday MDOT had yet to be served with the lawsuit. He said when and if MDOT is served, the assistant attorney general who heads the legal division of MDOT will address the lawsuit.

Hinds County is 77.9 percent African-American and comprises 50.88 percent of the combined tri-county population, but since 1990, the county has received 44.10 percent of the federal highway funds allocated to the tri-county area, and it is estimated that less than 20 percent of the money makes its way into the African-American community, according to the lawsuit.

"As a proximate result of the actions and inactions of the defendants, jointly and severally, ... the plaintiffs suffered a loss of road, street, highway, and bridge funding on an annual basis each year from 1970 and a diminution in their property values," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit seeks damages, including restitution at — current value, with pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest and future payments to reimburse the plaintiffs for the federal highway and bridge funds to which they were allegedly entitled but didn't receive from the defendants annually since 1970.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at 601-961-7212 orjgates@gannett.com. Follow him onFacebook andTwitter