Alderman “Disrespected” by Mayor After Asking Event Center Questions
October 28th, 2015 by Joe BurgessAfter all of the agenda items, at Tuesay night’s City Council meeting, alderman Cedric Leonard began asking questions about the legality of the previous meetings vote to pass on to voters a 1/4 cent sales tax to be used for an event center, specificly, was it legal for the mayor to cast the deciding vote at a special called meeting.
As Leonard was beginning to ask another question, Mayor Zack Tucker called for a motion to adjourn, as Leonard protested.
Council member Claudia Hartness answered, “Motion.” Tucker asked for a second, while Lenard continued to question, which drew a “Second” from board member Carolyn Brown.
The rest of the conversation and its emtions are best captured in the above video.
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Proud of you Alderman Leonard for daring to ask a question and way to go Al Peer for supporting a fellow council man. How disrespectful of u Mayor Tucker. Because Alderman Leonard is elect official and human being just as you are Mayor Tucker. And if he respect you he deserve the same in return, In the name of Jesus Christ please ,we need you right now because this city ( Monticello ) need some cleaning up and help right now
Yes, very disrespectful. Great job Cedric, after the water boondoggle we appreciate you watching out for the taxpayers.
sounds like there is a hole lot of problems with the convention center or what ever there calling it. i think the mayor is showing his true colors. he is the servent to the college not the PEOPLE. the citizens dont want this. so i will ask it again why is the mayor pushing so hard for this when the people do not need or want it. the only ones that are going to enjoy this building is the college if this is allowed to happen. its not for the people that is clear.
Do you ever post something positive about the Zack? You are part of the problem around here. I don’t care if you like him or not, he is the mayor and you need to show some respect, and support. Quit being a gossip girl and trying to be “cute” with your titles. You aren’t that funny at all. All you do is stir up drama. Go back to high school………..
If you have been keeping up with these meetings, any time someone starts asking questions that might get people to thinking ,this same sort of behavior arises. If you will just look back and see for yourself, he looks like a fox caught in the hen house.
It is a sad fact, but it is true, that most citizens in this country do not vote. Unfortunately this group of people with this agenda realize this fact and are attempting to utilize this for there benefit. They know that the majority of voters for this election will vote for their agenda. I commend the Quorum Court for not letting them run this down your throat. Now the citizens of the city, in my opinion, are fixing to be railroaded into this with the use of “Vague Language” on the ballot. This”Vague Language” is from the mayors own mouth. Seems to me there is a lot of vagueness and urgency being used in a deceptive manor to make the taxpayers of this county make hasty decisions. This is a vote by the city but it will affect the whole county, I live in the county and own a business in the city and I don’t even get a say in the matter. So this is my plea to the unconcerned citizens of the city, If you don’t have an opinion either way, please vote for me and the citizens of the county that do not get to have a say in this matter and vote no for the convention center until they get rid of this vagueness and can put it out on the table what we are really going to get for our money.
to, to bad..
Did you not see how this worked out. IT was not the problem of the person writing the article it was the problem of the councilman trying to get an answer to the question. When a reporter has it on camera and you still blame the reporter something is wrong with your view. I agree, the “Convention Center” is a bad idea, why wont the mayor answer questions. Does anyone not see that he is following the direct path of his predecessor. His actions have been showing this for some time. I knew Mr. mayor in college and his goal was to do what ever will best suit him, or the higher ups he follows not the people of this city. I am sure the Convention center will me named after a former chancellor as well.
And to answer the question, yes ,that was the most disrespectful act I’ve ever witnessed on this site. As for “To Bad” Mr. Burgess hasn’t had a whole lot to work with, as far as posting something good about your newly elected mayor.
The Tax will last for how LONG? Benefit Whom? I work out of town but live here and pay most of my taxes here, as well as sales taxes here. I am curious as to how long these taxes will last, will burden our already stressed economy. What do we need it for, anyone coming into Monticello will see all the trash along the roads and assume that our community is just that… Our young Mayor promised to address the problems in the Oakland Cemetery of the TREES damaging Private property before taking office, the city has the means, though closes His eyes to the issue… This will cost me $1000.00 to fix, or raise my Home Owner’s for the damages. We already pay for the city’s employee’s to Ride Around , let’s put the equipment to work!!!!!
After the Siemens water FIASCO, I am proud to see an alderman asking questions that NEED to be answered before millions of dollars are once again doled out.
As for Joe’s headlines, it’s nice to see a little life injected into the usual dull and boring headlines we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. Nice to see some creativity and a spark of humor!!!!
I am a monticello citizen with two young children….I support the community/event center. Monticello has to show growth and have resources in order for the community to thrive/survive. The event center …if completed properly could in the future be host to numerous events therefore increasing traffic and revenue to Monticello. I and my family are “PEOPLE” in the beautiful town and we want to see our town grow.
I dint think we need that center either and why would the other two council members second a motion when another was asking questions, I think they are hiding something that’s why they are pushing this thing so bad, you make my words if this thing is built somebodies pocket is going to bet padded in some shape form or fashion in other words someone is going to benefit from this and it won’t be the citizen’s of Monticello either.
When I need a laugh, I just log onto monticellolive. Geez, the town has turned into an absolute circus show. Event center for what? The football team stinks, the college team stinks and heck you can’t even read the online paper without reading about the next armed robbery!
I believe Mr. Tucker was a college debater…seems he’s forgotten you get nowhere by ignoring the other side. Also where is our Target that Mr. Tucker promised in his campaign? Can’t say I’m shocked that hasn’t happened.
Just what we need more taxes vote NO , let us spend what income we have on necessities instead on something the majority of folks in Monticello or Drew County will never benefit from
greg let the people speak for themselves.
I have watched the video, Alderman Leonard called for the motion to adjourn after saying he was going to “give a copy” to the other gentleman. The only disrespect I witnessed was Alderman Leonard’s interruptions. Small town politics, what a load of bull. Mr. Burgess I find this website very useful in finding out about things around the area, but sometimes you seem to post things just to have some newsworthy content without checking facts.
Wake up MONTICELLO!! You have to see the BIG picture….the event center is NOT just for UAM’s benefit. The event center will provide our town with the ability and facility to host area events. With the ability to host events, Monticello will have the possibility to increase hotel, restaurant, and small business revenue with the influx of outside traffic and money. Monticello has to come together and realize that we cant survive without outside traffic and MONEY…we must seize every opportunity we have to bring more people and resources home.
WAKE UP Monticello Citizen: you need to do more research yes the convention/event center is for UAM. After so many years it will solely be theirs. WHY should the citizens of Monticello pay more taxes to put another building on UAM campus? Yes it would benefit college students who are attending UAM however we as parents have grade school students that are our future so we need to do things that will benefit them in our city and county NOT on UAM campus. What happened to a city complex on the Whaley property to include city offices and a police department? To those who are not aware those 2 projects were suppose to be in the making for years and thankfully the fire department did get their much needed facility they have waiting over 10 yr for. Before you vote YES Go do a walk through the city hall and police department which is the main hub of our city and I think you will see where all this major money that is burning holes in pockets should be appropriated for instead of a center for UAM and the “money people” in our city.
Clearly there is great divide in the opinions of our community. The real topic of debate at this point is not to approve or deny a community/event center, the topic is whether or not to allow it on the ballot. I have watched this same scenario play out on many topics over the past few years. I cannot imagine why councilmen or aldermen, mayors or judges or justices of peace want to keep it off the ballot. I laugh when I read quotes saying “the people don’t want this”. If that is true, it will show in the results. I take offense to the notion that someone thinks they know better than I do about how I feel. A few years back I had a quorum court member tell me (in a very loud angry voice) that it didn’t need to go to a vote because he talked to his constituents and he knew their wishes. I took that opportunity to inform him that he was clearly confused because as luck would have it, he was the JP that represented me and he was certainly NOT representing my opinion. Put it on the ballot and let us speak for ourselves. If you are correct in your assumptions then it will not pass and you will have what you want.
Ok, I have a question. Has anyone asked about the maintenance on a facility of this size? Is this tax going to pay the annual insurance, electricity bill, lawn care, cleaning of the interior? I realize that you want the center to be self sufficient, but how long will that take and who pays the bills until then? Is it realistic seark can support a facility of this size? Will It be easy to get to, or will an access road have to be built? Kudos to whoever produced the commercial, but there is nothing in it that tells you anything about the center. Unless you can be a lot more specific I will not support this.
Monroe built the Civic Center in 1965. Through the years the city has had to bail it out time and time again because it hasn’t been able to make money. Monroe is a bigger market then Monticello. If they can’t support a their center how are we going to support this one?