NAACP Announces Settlement in Lawsuit Against Tennessee Comptroller

At the beginning of April, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state comptroller of Tennessee after he threatened to take over the small, majority-Black town of Mason, TN. Today, NAACP President Derrick Johnson and the NAACP Office of the General Counsel, led by Janette McCarthy Wallace, are announcing a settlement in this case – a major victory for the NAACP.

​"This is a victory for the town of Mason and beyond. The state government attempted to take over a Black town, and they miserably failed. They had no right to take over Mason, so we took them to court and we won. Similar injustices are happening all across the country, and the NAACP knows all too well that if we don't put out small fires across America, they quickly become wildfires. This settlement is a significant victory for all those who believe in justice and fairness," said NAACP General Counsel Janette McCarthy Wallace.

NAACP's Tennessee State Conference President Gloria Sweet-Love added,​"It is mighty strange. When the majority of elected officials are Black and the Ford Motor Company is going to be within 4.5 miles of this little city that could begin to see an increase in revenue, all of a sudden, the state wants to take over Mason. But today, they lost this fight. They had no legal authority. Justice prevailed, the NAACP prevailed."

The settlement was able to accomplish the following:
 
1. Preserve its charter
2. Reduce its monthly payments to its water and sewer fund in half
3. Move its expenditure approval cap up from $100 to $1,000
4. Amend its weekly reporting obligation to a monthly obligation which is more suitable and manageable for the Town of Mason
5. The Corrective Action plan will conclude on August 31, 2022, after the fiscal year 2021 audit is filed and the year 2023 budget is approved.

Tennessee Comptroller scales back financial oversight plans for African American town of Mason

After a state takeover of the finances of the majority Black town of Mason Tennessee, Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower said that the town could be free from state financial oversight as soon as July or August after a "very positive meeting" between state and local officials.

"We were able to put together a positive plan moving forward," Mumpower said shortly after a 70-minute meeting with Mason's Mayor, Vice Mayor and financial staff. "We can release them from financial oversight sooner rather than later."

Mason's Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers said that — while she is hopeful the meeting will lead to restoring autonomy to locally elected leaders — she remains frustrated. Mason officials presented current financial statements that appeared to satisfy Mumpower and his staff on Tuesday, including proof they had complied with a repayment plan for longstanding debt. That information has been available all along, she said.

Mason officials have been making $10,100 monthly payments toward debt for the past two years, Vice-Mayor Virginia Rivers said. Those payments were not accounted for in the Comptroller public statements about Mason's financial status, she said.

"All of this could have been avoided if Mr. Mumpower had come to us and had a meeting with us like we did today," Rivers said. "He just came in with a demand."

The meeting took place after several contentious weeks beginning with the Comptroller's ultimatum to Mason's elected leaders in February:

Either give up their town's charter — subsuming the predominantly Black and Democrat community under the governance of majority white, majority Republican Tipton County — or, Mumpower said, he would take control of the town's finances for an open-ended period of time, controlling any expenditures of $100 or more.

The dispute gained national attention, with public criticism over the Comptroller's efforts to exert control over a financially struggling, majority Black town just as it was poised to reap the benefits from a $5.6 billion Ford Motor Company electric vehicle plant soon to be built less than five miles away. Ford Motor Company officials weighed in, too, saying they had reached out to state and local officials to express concern.The agreement hammered out between Mason and state officials Tuesday appears to put the town on a far different footing than it faced last week.

[SOURCE: PATCH MEMPHIS]