Columbus Mayor announces vetoes of 2 measures passed by council

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The Columbus City Council may be revisiting some old business at its next meeting.

At a press conference this morning, Mayor Keith Gaskin announced vetoes of 2 measures the council passed at its October 5th meeting.

Council members voted to have former Chief Financial Officer, Mike Bernsen, continue to handle those duties on a part-time basis and have the city HR Director advertise the vacant CFO, Chief Operating Officer, and City Registrar jobs immediately.

Gaskin wants to revamp the job descriptions for the COO and CFO positions.

The council also voted against hiring anyone to do a forensic audit of the city’s books.

That’s something the Mayor has been calling for since his campaign.

“What I want the citizens of Columbus to know, and the council members to know, is this is not personal in any way. This is my true belief in what is most important for the city. I am asking people to take a deep breath, not try to circumvent the process, because I will say this, and I’m looking straight into the camera, I’m not giving up on this. I’ll talk about this for the next 4 years if I have to,” said Mayor Keith Gaskin.

Late Tuesday, Vice-Mayor Joseph Mickens called for a special meeting of the council, for Wednesday at 1 PM.