The Oktibbeha County Law Library will have to wait for city support. Stephanie Mallette, the attorney who is heading the project to update the library, appeared before the Board of Aldermen during its March 19 meeting for the second time to request approval of a $1.50 fee to be added to all municipal convictions.
For the second time, Mayor Mack Rutledge and the Board of Aldermen asked Mallette to return with a detailed budget of what money will be coming into and out of the library’s funds-a request that Mallette said may not be totally available.
“I don’t know how much money is in the law library account, and I don’t know if anyone else knows either,” Mallette told the board.
Rutledge told Mallette that the board needed more information.
“I think we’re lacking some budgetary information,” Rutledge said.
Mallette responded by saying, “I’m not sure that the information you want is available. I’m not sure they’re (court clerks) keeping good records. Legitimate bills are coming in for books we don’t need. There’s a lot of waste.”
Ward 1 Alderman Marie Lee disagreed saying she felt Mallette “educated the board enough” and requested to vote on the issue.
Mallette said the missing key information lies in the office of the Oktibbeha County Chancery Clerk Monica Banks, but Mallette said she and Banks, who was unavailable for comment, have been unable to discuss the exact figures involved.
Mallette was able to present the board with figures like the $9,447 that the Justice Court gave to the library in 2001, and the $1,430 that the Circuit Court gave last year. Mallette said that if the Municipal Court decided to join in the effort, the average of almost 10,000 cases would roughly bring around a 75 percent conviction rate and more than $11,000 annually to the library.
Mallette explained to the mayor and Board of Aldermen that although the figures seem high, the need is high as well.
Mallette said she “went through the book list and came to a final list of necessary books,” but, Mallette added that necessary books are often expensive and need monthly supplements that can cost as much as $200 per issue.
“These books are extremely expensive,” Mallette said. “The thing that is stopping us (law library) from getting on the right track is lack of funds.”
Mallette said the purpose of her quest is to gain the funds that Mississippi law allows under state code No. 19-7-31. Mallette also said the law is clear in saying that courts may assess a fee of no more than $1.50 for every conviction to go toward the local law library.
The statute states that “The board of supervisors of any such county is further authorized, in its discretion, to levy, by way of resolution, additional court costs not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) per case for each case, both civil and criminal, filed in the Chancery, Circuit and county courts or any of these in said county, and it is further authorized in its discretion to levy, by way of resolution, additional court costs not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) per case for each case, both civil and criminal, filed in the Justice Courts of said county for the support of the library therein authorized.”
She said that the statute does not leave room for discrepancies on where the money is coming from or where it is going.
“We are simply asking the city via the statute to allocate the money,” Mallette said. “The money is safeguarded by the statute.”
Mallette said that the issue over the law library is one that “no one seems to want to deal with,” but she said it is a crucial issue.
Without a library with updated information and funding to keep it that way, Mallette said city and county prisoners could possibly get out of convictions due to not having adequate assistance, something all prisoners are guaranteed by state and federal law, in their defense.
The mayor and Board of Aldermen will next meet on Tuesday, April 2. Those meetings are open to the public.