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6:05

NEWS STORY

 * Civil Rights
 * Politics


‘THIS IS AKIN TO A HOSTILE TAKEOVER’


STATE OFFICIALS ASK RESIDENTS OF A SMALL, PREDOMINANTLY BLACK TOWN NEAR THE SITE
OF NEW FORD INVESTMENT TO FORFEIT THEIR CITY CHARTER OR FACE TAKEOVER.

BY: ANITA WADHWANI - MARCH 14, 2022 6:05 AM



Virginia Rivers, vice-mayor of Mason, Tenn: “This is akin to a hostile
takeover.”(Photo: John Partipilo)

MASON, Tenn. – The Tennessee Comptroller issued an unusual appeal last week to
residents of this small, majority Black town, which occupies fewer than two
square miles in rural west Tennessee. 

“In my opinion, it’s time for Mason to relinquish its charter,” Comptroller
Jason Mumpower wrote in a letter mailed to each one of Mason’s 1,337 property
owners. 

Mumpower urged local residents to “encourage your local officials to do what’s
necessary to allow Mason to thrive. There is no time to waste.”

State comptrollers, responsible for financial oversight of local government,
typically communicate directly with elected local leaders and not their
constituents. “We have not issued a letter to citizens like this before,”
Comptroller spokesman John Dunn said, noting it is “unprecedented for us to
publicly call for a town charter to be relinquished.”

But the Comptroller’s unprecedented public callout comes at an unprecedented
time not only for Mason, but for the state. Mason, located in the southeastern
corner of Tipton County, now finds itself with some of the most coveted real
estate in Tennessee.

It’s one of the nearest towns to the massive new site to be built for Blue Oval
City, a key component in Ford Motor Co’s multibillion-dollar pivot to electric
vehicle manufacturing.

Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower. (Photo: Tennessee Office of the
Comptroller)



Mumpower’s letter has infuriated Mason’s part-time elected officials, who insist
they have no intention of ceding their town’s 153-year-old charter – which would
subsume the largely African-American, majority Democratic community under the
governance of Tipton County, which is predominantly white and Republican.

“This is our home. We were born and raised here. The majority of the town is
homegrown people that live here,” Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers said. “He is trying
to conquer and divide us. It’s akin to a hostile take-over and it’s not hard to
figure out why here, why now.”

Town leaders are accusing Mumpower and other state officials of big-footing a
long-ignored, largely Black community now that major investment is heading its
way.

Mason is 60% Black and includes descendants of men, women and children enslaved
in the area before Emancipation. For more than a century the town was led by
White elected officials.

That changed in 2016, when fraud and mismanagement allegations led to the
resignations of nearly all City Hall officials, all of whom were White. Mason’s
current mayor, vice mayor and five of its six alderman are Black.

“It’s because of the Black people that are in office,” said Rivers, who first
became Vice Mayor in 2021.

“And it’s because of all the places in the world, Blue Oval could have selected,
they selected here. There’s no way Mason won’t prosper and grow. And now they
want to take it away from us.”

A critical location

Mason lies just five miles from the future site of Blue Oval City, Ford Motor
Company’s 4,100-acre electric truck and battery plant, landed by state officials
last year with nearly $1 billion in taxpayer incentives. The operation is
expected to generate 27,000 new jobs and $22 million annually in state taxes
after its planned  2025 opening. 



This is our home. We were born and raised here. . . (Mumpower) is trying to
conquer and divide us. It's akin to a hostile takeover and it's not hard to
figure out why here, why now.

– Virginia Rivers, vice-mayor of Mason, Tenn.



Highway 79, which links Blue Oval to Memphis, runs right past Mason’s small
central district –  its city hall, fire station, police station, an abandoned
gas station and the remnants of a grocery store that burned down three years ago
after a semi truck veered through it.

It also leads visitors to pitstops on off-the-beaten-path foodie maps of the
South. It is home to Gus’ World Famous Fried Chicken, a small counter-serving
Black-owned restaurant that rose to fried chicken fame after Oprah Winfrey
stopped by. Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Q, a half block away, is a destination for
barbecue fans; the White-owned restaurant was featured in the Johnny Cash biopic
“Walk the Line.”

Exit 39, the new I-40 off ramp slated to bring interstate traffic directly to
Blue Oval City, lies four-and-one-half miles, door to door, from the town
center.  And CSX railroad runs directly through the town on a route that will
take it straight to the Blue Oval campus.

Where to house an estimated 33,000 temporary workers needed to construct the
site – and the 27,000 permanent workforce needed when the plant opens in 2025 –
has been a central preoccupation for county and town mayors in Tipton, Haywood
and Fayette counties, all within commuting distance of Blue Oval’s campus.

According to Mumpower, Mason’s leadership is ill-equipped to manage the
challenges, and opportunities, ahead. 

“Government isn’t working for the people who live in Mason now and people and
companies are not going to invest in Mason,” Mumpower said. 

“The opportunity for growth is at their doorstep and I don’t want the people of
Mason to lose that opportunity,” he said. “They are about to be bypassed if
their city leaders don’t make responsible decisions.”

Mumpower points to a 20-year history of fiscal mismanagement, including two
major fraud investigations that resulted in criminal indictments. He also points
to a history of financial accounting challenges that include town officials
missing their annual audit deadlines each year since 2001.

Mason Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers acknowledges the city has had poor management
and financial scandal in the past, but says the current administration has
turned the situation around. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The former Buchanan's Grocery, closed since a semi truck barreled into it
several years ago. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Calvin Blades, 75, in glasses, listens during a recent community meeting.
(Photo: John Partipilo)

CSX Railroad runs through Mason and straight to the site of the future Ford Blue
Oval City. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Residents pray during a meeting to discuss the town's future. (Photo: John
Partipilo)

Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Mason, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The financial disclosures for the past two years are running late. Between 2004
and 2016, Mason’s financials were in such disarray they were “unauditable.”

Mason also has the highest property tax rate in Tipton County, funds used in
large part to employ 26 people on the town’s payroll.

Mason operates its own water and gas utilities. City officials have been
transferring utility payments into their general operating fund to cover
expenses, contrary to Tennessee law. The state’s Water & Wastewater Financing
Board is currently investigating. At the board’s last meeting, it threatened to
subpoena city officials. 

And the recent closure of the West Tennessee Detention Facility, one of the
biggest tax payers in Mason, will only make the situation worse, according to
the Comptroller. The facility, operated by CoreCivic, closed down under a Biden
administration rule barring private operators from housing federal prisoners. 

“I’m not sure there’s a full understanding of operating a town,” Mumpower said. 

Mumpower’s ultimatum

Mumpower has offered an ultimatum: either city officials decide to rescind its
charter, bringing Mason under the authority of the Tipton County government – or
the Comptroller’s office will take full financial control, overseeing the town’s
budget with the authority to approve any expenditure of $100 or more. 

Mumpower bristled at a suggestion by Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers the state’s
approach is motivated by race. “It’s offensive and difficult to respond to such
a short-sighted comment as that,” he said.

The latter would almost certainly lead to budget cuts, benefit cuts and possibly
layoffs in city government.

Mumpower bristled at Rivers’ suggestion that race is playing a role in the
state’s approach. 

“It’s offensive and difficult to respond to such a short-sighted comment as
that,” he said. 

On Thursday, a standing-room-only crowd of Mason residents crammed into the pews
and stood leaning against the walls of Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church at
a meeting called by city officials to address Mumpower’s criticisms.

“Now it is the time for you to hear the rest of the story,” Rivers said. 

‘Don’t sign away your charter. Keep your rights’

Rivers said elected officials were “completely blindsided” by the Comptroller’s
statements. 

Mason is in a “deep hole,” she said. But the roots of that hole trace back to
fraud and mismanagement that occurred during previous administrations — and that
the current administration has made progress in fixing.  

A wall in Mason’s City Hall displays photos of past and present Mayors. (Photo:
John Partipilo)



In 2011, a former Mason town clerk pleaded guilty to embezzling $100,000 in
taxpayer funds. In 2016, a former public works superintendent was indicted by a
Tipton County Grand Jury after investigators discovered he had paid himself an
extra $600,000 between 2007 and 2015.  The town’s financial problems stretch
back even further: a 2001 state examination of the town’s finances found
numerous accounting errors in tax and court collections.

“This administration inherited half a million in debt,” Rivers said. 

City officials acknowledge being in a “deep” financial hole, dating to a 2011
embezzlement by a former Mason town clerk and continuing through accounting
errors in tax and court collections.

In 2015, after fraud allegations emerged, nearly the entire town government
resigned, leaving a newly elected junior alderman, Gwen Kilpatrick, to assume
the office of mayor. Kilpatrick became the city’s first Black mayor. Since then
the city’s leadership has remained largely African-American.

And since then, Rivers said, city officials have worked to pare the town’s debt
that accrued during prior administrations while planning for a future with
parks, paved streets, a new codes department, infrastructure improvements and
beautification projects. In the past three years, city finance officials have
completed five of its past-due financial audits. By the end of this year, they
expect to be caught up.

Of the 26 people on the town’s payroll, six are part-time leadership employees
including the mayor, vice mayor and aldermen, who collectively earn just $1,100
per month. The remainder of employees — police, fire, utility and public works —
keep basic city infrastructure running.

“It’s kind of hard to go through this and not be recognized as a city that’s
trying to progress,” Rivers said. “It seems like no matter what we do we’re
knocked down. Why didn’t they hold the previous administrations responsible?”

Town officials won’t cede their charter, and they plan to fight any effort to
take over the city financially, Rivers said. 

And, she told residents, they are enlisting outside help. 

Gloria Sweetlove, president of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP, said she
showed up at the town meeting to offer support, and to marshall resources. 

“Don’t sign away your charter. Keep your rights,” said Gloria Sweetlove, at
right, president of the Tennessee Conference NAACP. (Photo: John Partipilo)



“You are in a nice little spot, a sweet spot, and a lot of people want your
land,” Sweetlove said. “If you need to fight, I will fight with you…Don’t sign
away your charter. Keep your rights.”

The  Comptroller initiated a public airing of the dispute, releasing its letter
to residents to reporters statewide — but county officials, with outside
assistance, have begun their own counter-messaging.

“Will Black People’s Land be Stolen in Tennessee — Again?,” a headline in the
Tennessee Tribune, a statewide Black paper read last week.

Mumpower is equally prepared to act. And, he said, citizens of Mason have
nothing to worry about if they decide to rescind their charter.

“What are they holding onto?,” Mumpower said. “My heartfelt request is let us
help you. A church is not a building — the community of Mason is not the city
charter. It’s the people. There will still be the community of Mason.”


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ANITA WADHWANI

Anita Wadhwani is a senior reporter for the Tennessee Lookout. The Tennessee AP
Broadcasters and Media (TAPME) named her Journalist of the Year in 2019 as well
as giving her the Malcolm Law Award for Investigative Journalism. Wadhwani is
formerly an investigative reporter with The Tennessean who focused on the impact
of public policies on the people and places across Tennessee. She is a graduate
of Columbia University in New York and the University of California at Berkeley
School of Journalism. Wadhwani lives in Nashville with her partner and two
children.

MORE FROM AUTHOR

RELATED NEWS

While battles loom over landfills, Middle Tennessee… by Anita Wadhwani May 24,
2021
Inside a bruising battle over a new charter school… by Nate Rau June 3, 2021
Stockard on the Stump: Comptroller defends… by Sam Stockard April 30, 2021




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‘THIS IS AKIN TO A HOSTILE TAKEOVER’

by Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout
March 14, 2022

<h1>‘This is akin to a hostile takeover’</h1> <p class="byline">by Anita
Wadhwani, <a href="https://tennesseelookout.com">Tennessee Lookout</a> <br>March
14, 2022</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">MASON, Tenn. – The Tennessee
Comptroller issued an unusual appeal last week to residents of this small,
majority Black town, which occupies fewer than two square miles in rural west
Tennessee. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“In my opinion, it’s
time for Mason to relinquish its charter,” Comptroller Jason Mumpower <a
target="_blank"
href="https://comptroller.tn.gov/news/2022/3/7/comptroller-mumpower-pens-open-letter-to-the-people-of-mason.html">wrote
in a letter</a> mailed to each one of Mason’s 1,337 property owners. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Mumpower urged </span><span
style="font-weight: 400">local residents to “encourage your local officials to
do what’s necessary to allow Mason to thrive. There is no time to
waste.”</span></p> <p>State comptrollers, responsible for financial oversight of
local government, typically communicate directly with elected local leaders and
not their constituents. “We have not issued a letter to citizens like this
before,” Comptroller spokesman John Dunn said, noting it is “unprecedented for
us to publicly call for a town charter to be relinquished.”</p> <p>But the
Comptroller’s unprecedented public callout comes at an unprecedented time not
only for Mason, but for the state. Mason, located in the southeastern corner of
Tipton County, now finds itself with some of the most coveted real estate in
Tennessee.</p> <p>It’s one of the nearest towns to the massive new site to be
built for Blue Oval City, a key component in Ford Motor Co’s multibillion-dollar
pivot to electric vehicle manufacturing.</p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">Mumpower’s letter has infuriated Mason’s part-time elected officials, who
insist they have no intention of ceding their town’s 153-year-old charter –
which would subsume the largely African-American, majority Democratic community
under the governance of Tipton County, which is predominantly white and
Republican.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“This is our home. We
were born and raised here. The majority of the town is homegrown people that
live here,” Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers said. </span><span style="font-weight:
400">“He is trying to conquer and divide us. It’s akin to a hostile take-over
and it’s not hard to figure out why here, why now.”</span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">Town leaders are accusing Mumpower and other state
officials of big-footing a long-ignored, largely Black community now that major
investment is heading its way.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">Mason is 60% Black and includes descendants of men, women and children
enslaved in the area before Emancipation. For more than a century the town was
led by White elected officials.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">That changed in 2016, when fraud and mismanagement allegations led to the
resignations of nearly all City Hall officials, all of whom were White. Mason’s
current mayor, vice mayor and five of its six alderman are Black.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">“It’s because of the Black people that are in
office,” said Rivers, who first became Vice Mayor in 2021.</span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">“And it’s because of all the places in the world, Blue
Oval could have selected, they selected here. There’s no way Mason won’t prosper
and grow. And now they want to take it away from us.”</span></p> <p><strong>A
critical location</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Mason lies just
five miles from the future site of Blue Oval City, Ford Motor Company’s
4,100-acre electric truck and battery plant, landed by state officials last year
with nearly $1 billion in taxpayer incentives. The operation is expected to
generate 27,000 new jobs and $22 million annually in state taxes after its
planned  2025 opening. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">
</span></p><div class=" newsroomBlockQuoteContainer "> <div
class="newsroomBlockQuoteSVGContainer"> </div> <div
class="newsroomBlockQuoteQuoteContainer"> <p class="newsroomBlockQuote ">This is
our home. We were born and raised here. . . (Mumpower) is trying to conquer and
divide us. It's akin to a hostile takeover and it's not hard to figure out why
here, why now. </p> </div> <div class="newsroomBlockQuoteAuthorContainer"> <p
style="font-size:13px"><b>– Virginia Rivers, vice-mayor of Mason, Tenn.</b></p>
</div> </div> <p></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Highway 79, which links
Blue Oval to Memphis, runs right past Mason’s small central district –  its city
hall, fire station, police station, an abandoned gas station and the remnants of
a grocery store that burned down three years ago after a semi truck veered
through it.</span></p> <p>It also leads visitors to pitstops on
off-the-beaten-path foodie maps of the South. It is home to Gus’ World Famous
Fried Chicken, a small counter-serving Black-owned restaurant that rose to fried
chicken fame after Oprah Winfrey stopped by. Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Q, a half
block away, is a destination for barbecue fans; the White-owned restaurant was
featured in the Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line.”</p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">Exit 39, the new I-40 off ramp slated to bring
interstate traffic directly to Blue Oval City, lies four-and-one-half miles,
door to door, from the town center.  And </span><span style="font-weight:
400">CSX railroad runs directly through the town on a route that will take it
straight to the Blue Oval campus.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">Where to house an estimated 33,000 temporary workers needed to construct
the site – and the 27,000 permanent workforce needed when the plant opens in
2025 – has been a central preoccupation for county and town mayors in Tipton,
Haywood and Fayette counties, all within commuting distance of Blue Oval’s
campus.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">According to Mumpower,
Mason’s leadership is ill-equipped to manage the challenges, and opportunities,
ahead. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“Government isn’t working
for the people who live in Mason now and people and companies are not going to
invest in Mason,” Mumpower said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">“The opportunity for growth is at their doorstep and I don’t want the
people of Mason to lose that opportunity,” he said. “They are about to be
bypassed if their city leaders don’t make responsible decisions.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Mumpower points to a 20-year history of fiscal
mismanagement, including two major fraud investigations that resulted in
criminal indictments. He also points to a history of financial accounting
challenges that include t</span><span style="font-weight: 400">own officials
missing their annual audit deadlines each year since 2001.</span></p> #jtg-11825
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<!-- Items Container --> <div class="modula-items"> <div class="modula-item
effect-pufrobo jtg-filter-all jtg-filter-"> <div
class="modula-item-overlay"></div> <div class="modula-item-content"> <a
data-image-id="11812"
href="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-7-scaled.jpeg"
rel="jtg-11825" data-caption="<p>Mason Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers acknowledges
the city has had poor management and financial scandal in the past, but says the
current administration has turned the situation around. (Photo: John
Partipilo)</p>"
data-thumb="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-7-150x100.jpeg"
class="tile-inner modula-item-link"></a> <img class="pic" data-valign="middle"
data-halign="center" alt="Mason Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers acknowledges the city
has had poor management and financial scandal in the past, but says the current
administration has turned the situation around. (Photo: John Partipilo)"
data-full="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-7.jpeg"
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data-src="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-7-300x200.jpeg">
<div class="figc"> <div class="figc-inner"> <p class="description">Mason
Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers acknowledges the city has had poor management and
financial scandal in the past, but says the current administration has turned
the situation around. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p> </div> </div> </div>
</div><div class="modula-item effect-pufrobo jtg-filter-all jtg-filter-"> <div
class="modula-item-overlay"></div> <div class="modula-item-content"> <a
data-image-id="11806"
href="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-1-scaled.jpeg"
rel="jtg-11825" data-caption="<p>The former Buchanan's Grocery, closed since a
semi truck barreled into it several years ago. (Photo: John Partipilo) </p>"
data-thumb="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-1-150x100.jpeg"
class="tile-inner modula-item-link"></a> <img class="pic" data-valign="middle"
data-halign="center" alt="The former Buchanan's Grocery, closed since a semi
truck barreled into it several years ago. (Photo: John Partipilo)"
data-full="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-1.jpeg"
title="Mason 1" width="300" height="200"
src="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-1-300x200.jpeg"
data-src="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-1-300x200.jpeg">
<div class="figc"> <div class="figc-inner"> <p class="description">The former
Buchanan's Grocery, closed since a semi truck barreled into it several years
ago. (Photo: John Partipilo) </p> </div> </div> </div> </div><div
class="modula-item effect-pufrobo jtg-filter-all jtg-filter-"> <div
class="modula-item-overlay"></div> <div class="modula-item-content"> <a
data-image-id="11819"
href="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-18-scaled.jpeg"
rel="jtg-11825" data-caption="<p>Calvin Blades, 75, in glasses, listens during a
recent community meeting. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p>"
data-thumb="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-18-150x92.jpeg"
class="tile-inner modula-item-link"></a> <img class="pic" data-valign="middle"
data-halign="center" alt="Calvin Blades, 75, in glasses, listens during a recent
community meeting. (Photo: John Partipilo)"
data-full="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-18.jpeg"
title="Mason 18" width="300" height="185"
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<div class="figc"> <div class="figc-inner"> <p class="description">Calvin
Blades, 75, in glasses, listens during a recent community meeting. (Photo: John
Partipilo)</p> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="modula-item effect-pufrobo
jtg-filter-all jtg-filter-"> <div class="modula-item-overlay"></div> <div
class="modula-item-content"> <a data-image-id="11807"
href="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-2-scaled.jpeg"
rel="jtg-11825" data-caption="<p>CSX Railroad runs through Mason and straight to
the site of the future Ford Blue Oval City. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p>"
data-thumb="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-2-150x90.jpeg"
class="tile-inner modula-item-link"></a> <img class="pic" data-valign="middle"
data-halign="center" alt="CSX Railroad runs through Mason and straight to the
site of the future Ford Blue Oval City. (Photo: John Partipilo)"
data-full="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-2.jpeg"
title="Mason 2" width="300" height="179"
src="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-2-300x179.jpeg"
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<div class="figc"> <div class="figc-inner"> <p class="description">CSX Railroad
runs through Mason and straight to the site of the future Ford Blue Oval City.
(Photo: John Partipilo)</p> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="modula-item
effect-pufrobo jtg-filter-all jtg-filter-"> <div
class="modula-item-overlay"></div> <div class="modula-item-content"> <a
data-image-id="11817"
href="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-12-scaled.jpeg"
rel="jtg-11825" data-caption="<p>Residents pray during a meeting to discuss the
town's future. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p>"
data-thumb="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-12-150x93.jpeg"
class="tile-inner modula-item-link"></a> <img class="pic" data-valign="middle"
data-halign="center" alt="Residents pray during a meeting to discuss the town's
future. (Photo: John Partipilo)"
data-full="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-12.jpeg"
title="Mason 12" width="300" height="186"
src="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-12-300x186.jpeg"
data-src="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-12-300x186.jpeg">
<div class="figc"> <div class="figc-inner"> <p class="description">Residents
pray during a meeting to discuss the town's future. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p>
</div> </div> </div> </div><div class="modula-item effect-pufrobo jtg-filter-all
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href="https://tennesseelookout.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mason-3-scaled.jpeg"
rel="jtg-11825" data-caption="<p>Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Mason,
Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p>"
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class="tile-inner modula-item-link"></a> <img class="pic" data-valign="middle"
data-halign="center" alt="Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Mason, Tenn.
(Photo: John Partipilo)"
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<div class="figc"> <div class="figc-inner"> <p class="description">Cedar Grove
Missionary Baptist Church in Mason, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo)</p> </div>
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</div> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">The financial disclosures for the past
two years are running late. Between 2004 and 2016, Mason’s financials were in
such disarray they were “unauditable.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">Mason also has the highest property tax rate in Tipton County, funds used
in large part to employ 26 people on the town’s payroll.</span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">Mason operates its own water and gas utilities. City
officials have been transferring utility payments into their general operating
fund to cover expenses, contrary to Tennessee law. The state’s Water &
Wastewater Financing Board is currently investigating. At the board’s last
meeting, it threatened to subpoena city officials. </span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">And the recent closure of the West Tennessee Detention
Facility, one of the biggest tax payers in Mason, will only make the situation
worse, according to the Comptroller. The facility, operated by CoreCivic, closed
down under a Biden administration rule barring private operators from housing
federal prisoners. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“I’m not sure
there’s a full understanding of operating a town,” Mumpower said. </span></p>
<p><strong>Mumpower’s ultimatum</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">Mumpower has offered an ultimatum: either city officials decide to rescind
its charter, bringing Mason under the authority of the Tipton County government
– or the Comptroller’s office will take full financial control, overseeing the
town’s budget with the authority to approve any expenditure of $100 or
more. </span></p> <div class="snrsInfobox"> <div class="snrsInfoboxContainer">
<div class="snrsInfoboxSubContainer"> Mumpower bristled at a suggestion by
Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers the state’s approach is motivated by race. “It’s
offensive and difficult to respond to such a short-sighted comment as that,” he
said. </div> </div> </div> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">The latter would
almost certainly lead to budget cuts, benefit cuts and possibly layoffs in city
government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Mumpower bristled at
Rivers’ suggestion that race is playing a role in the state’s
approach. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“It’s offensive and
difficult to respond to such a short-sighted comment as that,” he
said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">On Thursday, a
standing-room-only crowd of Mason residents crammed into the pews and stood
leaning against the walls of Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church at a meeting
called by city officials to address Mumpower’s criticisms.</span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">“Now it is the time for you to hear the rest of the
story,” Rivers said. </span></p> <p><strong>‘Don’t sign away your charter. Keep
your rights’</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Rivers said elected
officials were “completely blindsided” by the Comptroller’s
statements. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Mason is in a “deep
hole,” she said. But the roots of that hole trace back to fraud and
mismanagement that occurred during previous administrations — and that the
current administration has made progress in fixing.  </span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">In 2011, a former Mason town clerk pleaded guilty to
embezzling $100,000 in taxpayer funds. In 2016, a former public works
superintendent was indicted by a Tipton County Grand Jury after investigators
discovered he had paid himself an extra $600,000 between 2007 and 2015.  The
town’s financial problems stretch back even further: a</span><span
style="font-weight: 400"> 2001 state examination of the town’s finances found
numerous accounting errors in tax and court collections.</span></p> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">“This administration inherited half a million in debt,”
Rivers said. </span></p> <div class="newsroomSidebarContainer"> <div
class="newsroomSidebar ">City officials acknowledge being in a “deep” financial
hole, dating to a 2011 embezzlement by a former Mason town clerk and continuing
through accounting errors in tax and court collections. </div> </div> <p><span
style="font-weight: 400">In 2015, after fraud allegations emerged, nearly the
entire town government resigned, leaving a newly elected junior alderman, Gwen
Kilpatrick, to assume the office of mayor. Kilpatrick became the city’s first
Black mayor. Since then the city’s leadership has remained largely
African-American.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">And since then,
Rivers said, city officials have worked to pare the town’s debt that accrued
during prior administrations while planning for a future with parks, paved
streets, a new codes department, infrastructure improvements and beautification
projects. In the past three years, city finance officials have completed five of
its past-due financial audits. By the end of this year, they expect to be caught
up.</span></p> <p>Of the 26 people on the town’s payroll, six are part-time
leadership employees including the mayor, vice mayor and aldermen, who
collectively earn just $1,100 per month. The remainder of employees — police,
fire, utility and public works — keep basic city infrastructure running.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">“It’s kind of hard to go through this and not
be recognized as a city that’s trying to progress,” Rivers said. “It seems like
no matter what we do we’re knocked down. Why didn’t they hold the previous
administrations responsible?”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Town
officials won’t cede their charter, and they plan to fight any effort to take
over the city financially, Rivers said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:
400">And, she told residents, they are enlisting outside help. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Gloria Sweetlove, president of the Tennessee
State Conference NAACP, said she showed up at the town meeting to offer support,
and to marshall resources. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“You
are in a nice little spot, a sweet spot, and a lot of people want your land,”
Sweetlove said. “If you need to fight, I will fight with you…Don’t sign away
your charter. Keep your rights.”</span></p> <p>The  Comptroller initiated a
public airing of the dispute, releasing its letter to residents to reporters
statewide — but county officials, with outside assistance, have begun their own
counter-messaging.</p> <p>“Will Black People’s Land be Stolen in Tennessee
— Again?,” a headline in the Tennessee Tribune, a statewide Black paper read
last week.</p> <p>Mumpower is equally prepared to act. And, he said, citizens of
Mason have nothing to worry about if they decide to rescind their charter.</p>
<p>“What are they holding onto?,” Mumpower said. “My heartfelt request is let us
help you. A church is not a building — the community of Mason is not the city
charter. It’s the people. There will still be the community of Mason.”</p> <p><a
href="https://tennesseelookout.com">Tennessee Lookout</a> is part of States
Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of
donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial
independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions:
info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on <a
href="https://facebook.com/tennesseelookout" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a
href="https://twitter.com/TNLookout">Twitter</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></span></span></div></div></div></div>
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