SOUTHAVEN, MS (abc24.com) - The Southaven Board of Alderman continue to tighten the reigns on Mayor Greg Davis, as the State Auditor investigates tens of thousands of dollars in questionable spending.
On Tuesday night, the board asked the city to investigate the cost of getting the Mayor a city-issued vehicle. Currently, the mayor uses his personal car and is reimbursed any time he travels on city business. Alderman Ronnie Hale says he just wants to see if it might be cheaper for the city to let the mayor use a city-vehicle, while also not having to worry about the laborious issue of tracking mileage.
Aldermen also voted to revoke a November 1999 resolution that named Davis a 24 hour/7-day a week mayor. Davis has used that resolution to justify expenses he charged the city, including pricey dinners, that were later deemed questionable by the Mississippi State Auditor.
The aldermen revoked the resolution and repealed it. Now, all reimbursement must follow policies the aldermen and mayor adopted after the State Auditor's Office announced it was investigating Mayor Davis, and demanded the Mayor repay more than $170,000.
A spokeswoman for the Auditor said that investigation is ongoing. Aldermen were reviewing pages of receipts the auditor had returned to the board with further questions. One alderman said he found only 6 invoices he deemed appropriate from a stack of 400-500 pages.
A $96,000 check on behalf of Mayor Davis was sent to the auditor's office last month, and the auditor's office said it should have a new total of what Mayor Davis owes later this week.
Meanwhile, at the December 20th board meeting the public comment portion of the agenda was skipped. Alderman Ronnie Hale publicly apologized for the mistake on Tuesday night, calling it inadvertent, and saying it would never happen again.
