Ellington

For the first time in months, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors is at full strength.

This morning, the board approved interim appointments to the vacant District 2 and District 4 seats. The District 2 seat was vacated when long-serving Supervisor Doug Anderson died earlier this year. The District 4 seat opened up with Phil Fisher's election as mayor of Clinton.

Al Hunter, owner of contracting firm First Construction Inc., who lives in Edwards, took over for Anderson. Hunter graduated from Jackson State University with a degree in industrial technology.

Dr. Robert Walker, Vicksburg's first black mayor and now a Byram resident, will replace Fisher. With Walker's appointment to the District 4 slot, the Hinds County board now has five African American members. Fisher is white.

Board President Robert Graham said he "is in awe" of Walker's knowledge and expertise and added the board would draw on Hunter's construction background for the county's ongoing reconstruction of the Raymond Detention Center. The jail is undergoing extensive renovations as a result of a riot that took place last summer that made one of its three housing pods uninhabitable.

The appointments came as a surprise to Peggy Hobson-Calhoun, who represents District 3. Despite voting to approve both men, Hobson-Calhoun said she did not receive copies of the men's resumes ahead of time.

"This was a process that was handled with a lot of secrecy and exclusion," Hobson-Calhoun said at this morning's meeting.

The board discussed neither of the two interim supervisors at its last board meeting June 17. Fisher nominated Darrel McQuirter, the county's planning and zoning director, for the post at that time, and Hobson-Calhoun seconded the motion to put the matter up for a vote.

Graham refused to recognize those motions because, he said, he had been out of town and had not reviewed the applications of all interested candidates. He added that it would not be fair if the board made an appointment before he had time to consider all the candidates.

After taking the oath of office from Chancery Clerk Eddie Jean Carr, Hunter and Walker took their seats but they abstained from voting on any agenda items. The board recessed at 11 a.m. so that members could attend the swearing-in ceremony of Chokwe Lumumba, who was sworn in as Jackson's new mayor at noon today.