The Mississippi Link and The Clarion-Ledger submitted identical bids for the publication of the city’s legal notices at Tuesday’s (Jan. 2) council meeting. This is the second time – in as many years – the two newspapers have submitted matching bids.

This year, Mayor Frank Melton was adamant that The Mississippi Link should be awarded the contract, said Socrates Garrett, publisher and owner of The Mississippi Link. Last year Melton voted against awarding the contract to The Link.

Melton tried, without success, to convince the council that The Mississippi Link should be awarded the contract this year. Melton said The Link should get the contract because The Clarion-Ledger got the contract last year.
He also said the city doesn’t want to do business with “unfriendly” publications. Melton said he “didn’t feel comfortable doing business with people who are ugly to the city.”  Melton was referring to The Clarion-Ledger; the Mayor and the Clarion-Ledger, a newspaper owned by Gannett Corp., have been at loggerheads since Melton first took office.

Melton also said The Mississippi Link, a local, minority-owned and operated business, should get the contract because the city wants to do business with minorities as much as possible. “The last time I checked, nobody at the Clarion-Ledger looked like me,” Melton said, in reference to the fact he is an African American.

The Mississippi Link submitted a bid of .027 cents per word for first publication; .022 cents per word for second publication; and no charge for the third publication. The Clarion-Ledger’s bid matched The Mississippi Link’s bid to the tenth of a cent.
President and Ward 1 Councilman Ben Allen regarded the tied bids with suspicion. “Somebody is having coffee with somebody,” he said. Allen said if the bids tied again, he would refer the matter to the state auditor’s (Phil Bryant) office.
Garrett said the comment from Ben Allen is ludicrous. “Allen doesn’t seem to understand pure business competition. It is easy in the private sector for two companies to have the exact same bid when operating in such small margins,” Garrett said.

Allen said the city should void all the bids and seek new ones to prevent any possible lawsuit from either paper.  Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler made a motion to rebid; the motion was seconded by Ward 2 Councilman Dr. Leslie B. McLemore. The council voted 5-0 to rebid.

“The Mississippi Link continues to be disappointed that the council is guilty of unauthorized spending with regards to legal contracts awarded to the Clarion-Ledger for the entire year of 2006,” Garrett said.

“The greater issue is, will the council be forced to repay the citizens of Jackson?” Garrett said. “The council is worried about being sued over ’07, when the greatest problem is of being sued over ’06,” Garrett said.

Garrett was referring to what happened in 2006, when The Mississippi Link and Clarion-Ledger submitted matching bids. Both newspapers rebid, with The Mississippi Link submitting the lowest bid.

The Mayor vetoed the council’s decision and awarded the contract to The Clarion-Ledger because Melton said The Mississippi Link’s circulation was not large enough to meet legal advertising requirements. The city awarded the contract to The Clarion-Ledger, which resulted in The Mississippi Link bringing suit against the city to recover lost revenue.

In September 2006, Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston Kidd ruled that the city should pay The Mississippi Link $21,576.69 for 2006 legal advertising to date, and $24,139.80 for attorneys’ fees and court costs. Despite the judge’s ruling, The Clarion-Ledger newspaper continued to print the city’s legal notices.

In November 2006, legal counsel for The Mississippi Link newspaper submitted a motion of contempt to the Hinds County Circuit Court, citing the city’s failure to abide by the court’s original order, which was issued Sept. 25, 2006.
In November 2006, the city council voted unanimously to follow Judge Kidd’s ruling and award The Mississippi Link $45,716.49.

Garrett said that in the event of tied bids, “the city of Jackson would have been in its rights to award legal contracts to both publications (The Mississippi Link and The Clarion-Ledger). This is how it is handled in other cities, such as Memphis.
“The citizens would have been better served, while the local business community, which comprises the city’s tax base, would have had an opportunity to participate,” Garrett said, adding that awarding the contract was well within the city’s jurisdiction.

“As a minority business owner, we will continue to put out an excellent product in hopes that we can be of service to the citizens of Jackson by providing them legal notices, stories of interest, and a great deal more coverage in our communities.
“We believe that this (bid situation) is an attempt by The Clarion-Ledger to run smaller papers out of business.
In 2006, The Clarion-Ledger/Gannett Corp. implemented The Distribution Network of Central Mississippi (TDN). The Clarion-Ledger’s TDN service offered merchants a plastic box to place in front of their stores, eliminating the clutter of individual boxes and racks.

In order to get the rack, the retailers had to sign a one-year contract giving The Clarion-Ledger/Gannett Corp. the exclusive right to control the display of free-distribution publications. Once a merchant opted to become a TDN stop, no other publication was allowed to install a rack or box on the premises.

Members of the Mississippi Independent Publishers’ Alliance (MIPA), including alternative weekly The Jackson Free Press, considered the TDNs to be a way for The Clarion-Ledger to eliminate competition at news racks.

“Their (The Clarion-Ledger) recent purchase of small town papers, and their attempt to control distribution of free papers by TDN, clearly defines their objective to be the only newspaper,” Garrett said.

“If we had the resources, The Mississippi Link might consider bringing a suit against The Clarion-Ledger for antitrust violations,” Garrett said.

“We would hope that the city leaders and the council will have the wisdom and vision to see through the smokescreen and do the right thing – award legal notices to the lowest bidder, The Mississippi Link, or at a minimum, award advertising to both publications,” Garrett said.

In other business, the council voted to pay the city’s bills for temporary employees. This issue was the topic of heated discussion at the council’s two previous meetings.
Council members had twice voted not to pay bills to the temporary agencies until members got more information about the businesses, such as who they are and where they are located. Council members previously stated they thought hiring temporary employees was a way to circumvent the city’s hiring practices. The city requires background and drug testing for all permanent employees.

At the meeting, Melton said all employees – including temporary, permanent, and city council members - should be drug tested.
To answer these questions in the future, the council drafted an ordinance to govern the hiring of temporary employees through temporary agencies by the city of Jackson.

The council then approved payment of the temporary agencies’ bills. The bill for the week of Dec. 19 was $12,288.62 for 17 temporary employees.
Mayor Melton said he didn’t realize the city was using so many temporary employees. “The Mayor’s office has nothing to hide,” Melton said.

This article is courtesy of the Mississippilink Newspaper and all rights are reserved by the Mississippilink Newspaper.  Visit the Misssissippilink website at www.mississippilink.com.