There are 149 article(s) tagged Edmund Ford Jr.:
The absence of four county commissioners, including three of the “yes” votes for the $3.45 property tax rate set two weeks ago, was crucial to undoing the tax hike. However, the issue is likely not over.
Some of the changes proposed and outlined on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast address issues that came up in the allegations made against county commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. in an independent investigation made public last month in The Daily Memphian.
The legal opinion will be about the chain of events at the June 7 session that led to the first approval of the $3.46 county tax rate.
The commission approved Monday a basic property tax rate of $3.45 that generates the same amount of revenue as the current tax rate, taking into account increases in property values. But the rate must be rounded down by 0.001 cent, which comes to almost a quarter of a million dollars in revenue left on the table.
Monday’s commission agenda includes prep for the budget season that begins later this month in county government.
A February exchange of letters between County Mayor Lee Harris and County Commission Chairman Eddie Jones shows there are difficult questions about whether the legislative duties of Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. should be limited when he hasn’t been charged with a crime.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and a representative of County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. sparred Wednesday, March 24, over accusations that Ford violated the county charter with a 2019 grant and Harris’ involvement in the allegation.
An independent report concluded Ford failed to disclose a county grant he proposed in 2019 would be used to buy computer equipment from Ford totaling $45,000.
An independent investigation by attorney Brian Faughnan flatly accuses Ford of deliberately deceiving his fellow commissioners by failing to disclose to them his obvious conflict of interest. To call Faughnan’s report damning is an understatement.
The 15-page report obtained by The Daily Memphian details a nearly year-long investigation that initially faded for lack of corroboration but came back to life as paperwork confirming the grant emerged. Ford has contended he recused himself since he left the room during the vote on the grant. The report says that doesn’t resolve the conflict of interest and could lead to his removal from office.
Transfer of vaccine distribution will likely leave some Shelby County Health Department vacancies unfilled, county leaders say, as email trails from last month show those now in charge of vaccine distribution had questions that weren’t being answered as vaccine miscues piled up.
In this fight, Black people and white people are on the same side. So are local politicians who don’t always agree on matters of public policy.
The delay by the Shelby County Commission also shows there may be a rift between commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. and his father, City Council member Edmund Ford Sr., on the issue.
Shelby County commissioners will meet in special session next week to vote on a transfer of $300,000 from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office budget to the county attorney’s office.
A variety of community voices spoke out on police reform during two discussions last week.
Budget committee chairman Edmund Ford Jr. amended his resolution to stick with the county’s policy of keeping its financial reserves at 20% of general fund revenues. He has suggested a 15% to 20% guideline.
The commission will vote Oct. 26 on setting new parameters for the spring budget season. And the county’s CFO says it could be dangerous to lower the percentage of reserves on hand.
The contract stirred the political embers of a recent budget season in county government as well as some spirited debate among commissioners about mask requirements.
A total of 78 positions in various parts of county government are the latest exceptions to a hiring freeze. But as they approved the waivers Monday, county commissioners signaled they are about to make a decision on the hiring freeze’s viability possibly by the end of this month.
Shelby County Commissioners want to try a swap out of federal CARES Act funding similar to one city council members did a week ago. But tensions left over from a rough county budget season that ended in June are hanging around.
County commissioners vote Monday on a waiver of the county's hiring and pay freeze, and nearly 100 more waivers requested by officials are waiting in the wings. Commissioners say they need a budget book with specific line items and dollar figures to know whether the waivers would put the county in the red.
It's been a month since a county government budget was approved for the fiscal year that began July 1. But until that detailed budget is printed in black and white, there is still some wrangling underway, some distrust and the hiring freeze the county imposed may be melting.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the County Commission chairman says the differences between the two don't appear to extend to the rest of the commission. Mark Billingsley also said he hopes to move to lift the county hiring budget freeze once there is a reconciliation of the budget approved by the commission last month after rejecting Mayor Lee Harris's original proposal.
Some significant amendments to apply the program to private contractors pushed a final vote to July 21.
The Wednesday committee sessions drew most of the 13 commissioners, with the remainder attending online. Also debuting was a partitioned commission chambers with glass barriers between the elected officials and masks worn in the booths created for them.