MCDP President Jerry Frazier
By Josh Mitchell/Informer Publisher
The president of the Marion County Development Partnership has been asked to divulge his salary amount to the public.
MCDP President Jerry Frazier was presented today with a formal public records request from the Marion County Informer asking that he release his salary.
Frazier refused to speak with the Marion County Informer this morning.
The records request asks Frazier to release any earnings he receives from the MCDP and the Marion County Economic Development District, which he is the executive director of.
Frazier told the Informer on Monday that the MCDP received $100,000 in county funding last year. The city of Columbia also provides the MCDP with $40,000 a year, said City Clerk Donna McKenzie. The only other funding the MCDP receives is from its 250-260 members, which include local businesses, Frazier said.
According to the MCEDD preliminary budget for the upcoming 2010-2011 fiscal year, the county is being asked again to commit $100,000 for MCDP “operating expense” and $96,000 for MCEDD “operating expense.”
According to Frazier, the county actually funds the MCEDD, which then passes the $100,000 through to the MCDP. The MCEDD contracts with the MCDP for economic development services, Frazier said.
Frazier has said that the MCDP is a private non-profit organization that works to attract jobs and industry to Marion County. Since the MCDP and MCEDD both receive taxpayer funds, the Marion County Informer believes that Frazier’s salary amount should be released to the public.
Tim Magee, who serves on the MCDP and MCEDD Board of Directors, said he does not think it would be “fair” to release Frazier’s salary. Magee added that it is up to Frazier if he wants to release his salary.
MCDP board member Rene Dungan declined comment, and member Donald Hales referred the Informer to Board Attorney Andrew Foxworth, who could not be reached for comment.
Other MCDP Board members, Jonathan Jones, Jay Carney, Todd Pittman, Robin Sanderson and J. Todd Watts, were not immediately available for comment.
According to the MCEDD letterhead, the MCEDD also has a Board of Directors that consists of William Pittman, Jay Carney, Donald Hales, Tim Magee, and Todd Watts.
The Mississippi Public Records Act requires that a response to the Informer’s records requests be issued within seven days.
On Tuesday, the Informer reported a story about how the MCDP receives taxpayer money. To read that article click here: http://bit.ly/bpZBBr
To see a copy of the records request for Frazier’s salary click here: Public Records Request
I expected just such a reaction by Frazier. I am all for an individuals privacy, but entities that are operated with tax payer funds need to understand that taxpayers have the right to know the where, how, when, and why of their tax dollars. We have every right to know what all three of the employees make, how the other funds are used, and what has been accomplished with the funds! If these questions can not be answered, then citizens of Columbia need to let the board and mayor know that we DO NOT support any future funding! Great work, Josh. Keep at it:)
Since there is some 140,000 dollars of city and county money invested in this organization, taxpayers certainly have a right to know this info. People also should want to know why city and county government is doing so in these tough times, especially since the cost is being paseed on to taxpayers in the form of increased taxes, water bills, etc.
I totally agree that the public should know this information if this is being funded with taxpayers dollars. I would like to know since the MCDP is a private non-profit organization that works to attract jobs and industry to Marion County, could someone please explain why there are no new jobs in the area? I can understand with the current reccession that is going on that this may be hard right now but even before the reccession there was no decent paying jobs in columbia. Only certain people are getting paid salaries high enough to where they are in no financial distress. There are so many people living in marion county that have to travel 35 miles or more away from home because there are no decent paying jobs in columbia. You don’t have to wonder why people are moving away from Mississippi period. Sad but true.
I have a suggestion for Josh. Since you have made people aware of MCDP, why don’t you report what all the business does? Let the people know why we need MCDP. I know that they sponser the kids soccer team each fall. So, please do a story on the benefits of MCDP.
I agree, next door. And I think Josh is doing a wonderful job reporting the story as it unfolds. He’s reporting the facts, and it’s our job to define “benefits.”
In one tax year alone,I see from tax forms that this place took in $187,000 in government grants. That money went for things like website ($7,062), networking/name recognition ($2,556), strategic alliances ($854), advertising ($5,826), billboards ($2,750) and image enhancement ($13,558).
I believe Josh is honestly reporting on the benefits of MDCP so that taxpayers can make good decisions about how they want to see their tax money spent.
Now, I’m no marketer or image expert, but I’d venture to say that I don’t want to see any of my tax money go to an organization that spends thousands of dollars to enhance an image when it’s leader won’t even disclose his salary. That’s just silly.
In closing, next door, why don’t you take a gander at the MCDP website to answer your question about the benefits. Seems you paid for it!
Why should Josh do a story on the benefits of the organization? That isn’t journalism…that is called fluff. What we need to see is where the money goes to that the city and county gives the organization? What has that money accomplished? How are tax payers benefiting from the investment of their tax payer dollars? I for one could care less about the organization sponsoring a sports team. Sports isn’t the objective of the organization or why they receive tax funds. Unless the org is using tax funds to sponsor a sports team, then sponsoring sports is a moot point to most of us that just wonder why we have to pay more taxes…when what we already pay is being wasted.
If you get paid from tax dollars, then you work for us the tax payers and it’s time that elected officials and tax paid workers learn that! I’d like to know what he has to do day to day ? We could probabily get a regular hard working person to wear some pritty dress cloths and dine out with big wheels
Why is it when question by the local news media do all these public servants clam up and not available for comment? That is not a good sign. The taxpayers are being dollared into poverty while they pay too much for too little! It is so hard to hear our officials say we have no money for necessities in this county and yet are spendaholics when it comes to services such as these. Our streets are terrible, our sewer system is ancient, our school systems are letting teachers go, businesses downtown are closing shop, our police and sherrif’s dept. are under trained and under paid, and on and on and on….. Here again, I wounder do they spend their own money this freely, if so they have more than the average marion county taxpayer! Good job Josh. Keep digging buddy.
Wouldn’t it be a good thing if we could trust the people who are supposed to represent our interests?
Instead it appears – by failures to respond to direct questions and referrals to legal council that evasion is a primary concern. I get the feeling that these delays are simply giving the principals time to get their stories straight and ensure incriminating documents are shredded and communications deleted and erased.
That might sound a little bit overboard but really, what are we supposed to think? If everything has been handled honestly and ethically then there should be nothing to hide and no reason to defer inquiries, no?
I was just taking a walk down memory lane trying to recall the last time Marion County actually received a lasting benefit from the efforts of the agencies involved here and, people, I’m drawing a blank! The only jobs created have been administrative positions ostensibly trying to get more jobs for our area! I suppose the prison would fall under the “Win” column but that’s sort of like being awarded the privilege of hosting a toxic materials storage site; sure it created jobs but look at the dangers posed by escaping criminals and the number of arrests among the staff and attendant law enforcement personnel!
Does anyone remember the guy who blew into town back in the 70’s I think who was going to build a tire recycling company here? As I recall the story he strung along the whole county including our elected and appointed officials for several weeks, if not months with proposals and promises all the while being lavishly entertained at our expense; he left one day with a promise to come back in a few days to finalize the deal and was never publically heard from again! I wasn’t living in Columbia at the time so all of my information is anecdotal and second-hand but I’m sure the whole story would make for interesting reading.
I’m just trying to make mental calculations as to the required size of a facility that would justify past, current, and future costs of the money and effort expended to attract it. I’m thinking along the lines of Honda, Westinghouse, or perhaps a nuclear power plant.
With the present economy I’d think it would be a good idea to scale back and put MOST of our public expenditures to better use. I’d imagine, in this economy, we should rely on our aldermen, board of supervisors, mayor, city planner and other elected/appointed/hired officials to seek out these new business interests. I realize they have a lot to do already but how hard could it be to make useless inquiries into non-interested entities?
“The rule of holes”: When you realize you’re in one lay down the shovel!
If Josh needs to do a report on the good things that MCDP does, then they must not be doing much. I had two businesses in Columbia for several years I never heard of the MCDP so it didnt do much for me.
?
Instead of automatically assuming that someone is out to “get your money” via your tax dollars, why not go visit the office of the MCDP and find out some of the things they are doing. Volunteer to help them do their job better and find out how you can help make Columbia and Marion County more attractive to business and industry. Perhaps a large industry would be turned off when they read nothing but negative comments on a web site and find out that very few citizens cooperate with with the economic development office. Maybe it’s harder than you think to attract business in this economy and the MCDP staff would welcome more help and input. Did you ever think of taking POSITIVE action instead of being “against” everything? Just a thought!
It doesn’t take a trip to the MCDP to see that the entire thing is a large waste of money. All anyone has to do is look around at the town. Go to the employment office and try to find a job. Look at the (clears throat) help wanted ads in the CP. Look around Columbia at the number of biz closing. Look around at how many new non-local biz have opened in the last five years. Investing more money in something that has not worked long before the recession is like throwing money down the drain.
“Volunteer to help them do their job ” Give me a break! You want us to “pay” them to do a job, but when they fail, we are supposed to go volunteer to do it for them instead of getting someone else who can actually do the job? LMAO at that one.
With a $140,000 dollars of taxpayer money, no one should have to volunteer to help them do their job. I volunteer at organizations that actually need help because they are not well funded. Whether it is hard or not to attract industry to columbia is beside the point.One man, with one desk at a city or county office, working all day(like the rest of us) could attract industry to COlumbia if there is any to be had.As far as someone assuming that they are out to “get your money,” I don’t think that there would be such an assumption if there were an honest and forthright answer to a simple question. Without such an answer, no one knows, and therefore folks are left to assume that there is some dishonest reason for not being upfront about what taxpayers are giving their hard-earned money to.
Sorry…my first sentence needs a ? at the end…..
If your first “sentence” needs a ? at the end, then, it is not a sentence, it is a question. It is hard to find positive in something that you cannot get information about. Just a thought.
Beg pardon, but it is a sentence. A questions is a type of sentence known as an, “Interrogative sentence”… Just for the record.
Just for the record, I agree the public has a right to know Frazier’s salary, but did you ever think how you might react if the question was presented only from the “you tell me or else” attitude? We all might like to think if our salary was paid by taxpayers that we would be gracious and open but any of us might turn a little protective if we thought we were under attack.
Do some research to find out the good, too.
Citizens HAVE to cooperate with MCDP. Citiznes HAVE to watch tax money going to support the organization. Taxes, you know, are not exactly voluntary. Why in the world should someone volunteer for somewhere that already reaps so much of their tax money?
If a large industry is turned off by the candid comments on here, so be it. A place that squelches free speech and tax watchdogism is nowhere I’d want to work or support anyways.
I’d recommend to you, what?, that you ask the MCDP for some of that “image enhancement” money!
I recall it was Frazier who sparked this debate by demanding that a local business (and one that is NOT supported by tax dollars)make a correction and apologize for something that seemed to be correct in the first place.
Question? Why is there no link to The Marion County Informer on the MCDP website? I see one for the Columbian Progress, but not for this online publication. Does that organization only link to businesses that pay dues? If so, that’s wrong since tax money is involved. IMHO, every business should be listed. And, am I seeing things, or was that website designed by an out-of-county group? Yeah right. Support local businesses, MCDP.
I hate to say it, but you make 2 very good points here. If the MCDP is a non-profit group, and their main objective is to promote Marion County, with funds provided to them by the taxpayers, it is wrong for them to ‘favor’ their dues-paying members over any other taxpayer in the county. And there is (was) a general perception by the public that it is a ‘members only’ organization, sort of elitist, by it’s nature. I don’t think the average person feels one bit represented by this group.
LoGo and Ivan said it all; I commend them. People don’t think of a volunteer group as being this well funded. And for MCDP to not even be accomplishing their task with that budget. . . it should be obvious. Quit throwing money at them; it ain’t working!
I’m gonna be mad if the BOS votes to raise my taxes again so they can keep this outfit funded!
I certainly think we need a group of people actively working on Economic development in Marion County. My only concern, and I hope this is ultimately what Josh will find out, is whether or not people are double dipping salaries.
I’m really confused as to why we need a government entity, the MCEDD and a privte entitity funded by the government entity, the MCDP. Especially when it seems that both are lead by the same group of people.
Does the MCEDD and the MCDP pay out salaries, and are the same people just receiving salaries from both?
MCDP tax forms show no salary for Frazier. That’s what I think is very odd. If he’d just tell all of us how much he makes, and the source of the payment, I’d shut up—probably.
Well played and well said!
Just as I thought, only negative feedback. Want to share with me one POSITIVE thing YOU have done to contribute to uplifting the community? You are right…people who are being paid are responsible for doing the work…but in this instance they have to have community support to achieve anything. I’m wishing our local board members, who are volunteers, would speak up for the activities in which I’ve seen this organization engaging to explain just what has been accomplished with them. I’ve seen coverage of several things in which they’ve had a hand, like the airport improvements, the property at the training school becoming available for use and some sort of coooperation with the vo-tech for training or something. Come on board members…be brave and speak up on behalf of this organization! If you can’t speak up for it then do something to fix it so you can.
Your comment deeply offends me. What more support do they need from the community. Seems they already get tax dollars.
The other reason I’m so offended is this: Businesses, it seems, are forced to pay dues before this group of what I call “exclusives” will lend support. That’s not right. That’s taxation without representation, and there’s nothing that makes me hotter than to see that. It’s roundly UnAmerican IMHO.
To what!?: I have been curious why members of this organization have not come to it’s defense. “If you can’t speak up for it then do something to fix it so you can.” Uh-oh! Maybe you should tell us what you meant by this, before we jump to conclusions. Have some of the members been instructed not to speak to the press? They have to “be brave” to defend their support of the MCDP? “Do something to fix it”??
There was no underlying meaning in that statement. I, like you, wondered why someone involved in the group had not come to its defense by enumerating successes and activities that are contributing to the community. I personally have seen items where the MCDP has been active but am not knoweledgeable about all they do. Seems logical that those involved would speak up and say…”Look, these are all the good things being accomplished or pursued.” I know nothing of anyone being instructed to not speak up…and there was nothing sinister about the “Be brave,” just speaking as one would to a person who just needs some encouragement to something out of their comfort zone. And finally, if those who make the decisions for the organization can’t find anything to brag on, then they should do something to fix it. No smoke and mirrors here, just pragmatism.
The bottom line to me is this: Columbia/Marion County is losing, not gaining jobs. Tax money has supported these groups for too long. It’s time to end paid economic development and go back to property/business owners promoting their own through advertising, etc.
IMHO, it’s time for someone to look into the ends and outs of the links between MCDP, the county economic development district and any and all private individuals/businesses/groups that reaped benefits from IMHO again, strategically hidden tax expenditures.
Come on. Someone else surely would be willing to organize Winterfest, an awards banquet and some Friday breakfast meetings for free, wouldn’t they?