The Mississippi Supreme Court has appointed a special judge from Hinds County to hear Columbia's annexation case.
Senior Status Judge William Singletary, who is retired as a Hinds County chancellor but still hears special cases on appointment, will decide the matter after being tapped by Chief Justice Michael Randolph.
Randolph made the appointment April 8 after the four judges in the 10th Chancery Court District, Deborah Gambrell, Sheila Smallwood, Rhea Sheldon and Chad Smith, issued a recusal notice on April 1. The notice said they had been made aware of a potential conflict that required them to recuse themselves.
Gambrell had presided over the case initially, including a hearing on Jan. 22 where about 35 residents attended in objection to the proposed annexation. The case had been delayed until April 28 for the residents being annexed to obtain a lawyer but has been pushed back again by the recusal and the coronavirus.
All non-essential court hearings in Marion County Chancery Court have been postponed because of the pandemic, and another court date had not been set as of Monday.
In a letter to Judge Singletary, Chadwick Mask, a Jackson attorney representing the city, said that he, City Attorney Lawrence Hahn and Joseph Turney, a Columbia lawyer who may represent residents, have agreed waiting until August or September for a status conference will allow residents a time to make a decision on retaining counsel and for the COVID-19 crisis to hopefully improve. At that time the parties can move forward with a scheduling order setting a trial for 2021, the letter said.
Aldermen approved an annexation ordinance officially setting the boundaries on Aug. 20, 2019, after two years of studying the issue. If approved, the plan would add about 3 square miles and 945 residents to the city limits, raising Columbia's population to just over 7,000.
The annexation ordinance says the city has five years to make improvements to the annexed areas. Those improvements include things like streets, drainage, sewer lines and street lighting. Annexed residents would also receive other city services like police and fire protection, animal control and garbage as well as the right to vote in municipal elections.
The city has said the plan is necessary for its long-term prosperity, but some opponents have said they don't believe they will benefit from being annexed and don't want to pay additional property taxes.
The burden is on the city to prove the reasonableness of its plan, based on 12 standards established by the state Supreme Court.
The ordinance would take effect 10 days after the chancellor's decision, but if there were an appeal to the state Supreme Court, the ordinance would take effect 10 days after the high court's determination.
