On, Jan. 6, the Starkville Board of Aldermen, in a 5-2 vote, repealed the city’s equality resolution and reworded the plus-one insurance policy. Thursday, Mayor Parker Wiseman vetoed the board’s decision. 
The equality resolution, that initially passed unanimously on Jan. 21, 2014, stated the city and its policies would not discriminate against any citizen or employee regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation. Soon after Starkville adopted the policy, a total of eight cities in Mississippi also adopted similar resolutions. 
“I think as government officials we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law,” Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said. “That includes LGBT people.”
The plus-one insurance policy originally allowed for a city employee to extend his or her coverage to one other adult, provided the employee’s ‘plus-one’ buys into the coverage. 
In accordance to the equality resolution, the plus-one policy did not restrict the employees to only add their legally recognized spouse. Rather, they were free to extend their coverage potentially to their parents, boyfriend or girlfriend or same-sex partner. The rewording on Jan. 6 restricted the extension to only spouses. 
The repeal happened in an executive session, a closed meeting, without prior public warning. The motion even came as a shock to some within City Hall, including Aldermen Carver, Maynard and Wiseman himself. 
“Nothing has gone on for months, and then without any prior knowledge the Board took the matter up in a closed door session on Tuesday night,” Wiseman said. “I didn’t know anything in advance as to why it was taken up and still haven’t received an explanation.” 
Alderman Ben Carver, who supported the repeal, said he thought the equality resolution was a finished subject and did not expect it to be brought back up.
Wiseman also said he fully expects the Board to attempt to override his veto at the Jan. 20 meeting. In order for the veto to be overridden, five members of the Board will have to vote in favor of the override. This will be the case if the board members vote along the same lines as last Tuesday (Jan. 6). 
Since the issue was brought up in an executive session, Board transparency has been criticized by members of the community and press. However, Carver said he does not think future decisions on the matter will necessarily be made in closed sessions. 
“I can see pros and cons both ways. We all know it will come back up,” Carver said. “It will be an open session before it’s done. Nothing we have done is final.”
The equality resolution and the subsequent plus-one insurance policy have been debated heavily in both public city meetings and on social media, with a community focus on LGBT rights. 
“In my mind, one, we were ahead of the curve. We were being proactive instead of reactive,” Maynard, who voted against the repeal said. “Two, taking the religious views aside, it was providing insurance for all of our city employees equally across the board. I didn’t see it as pro- one-side-or-the-other, just purely from an insurance standpoint we were providing every one of our employees with the same opportunity for coverage.”
However, Carver said members of the Board of Alderman considered multiple facets of the policy. 
“I never thought of it as an LGBT thing, but as a risky insurance policy,” Carver said. Carver also said Starkville has a degree of control over who city employees are, but is unable to effectively monitor people other than its own employees. Carver said with the plus-one policy, the city would be responsible to cover the medical bills of people unknown to it. 
The Board of Aldermen’s next meeting will be Tuesday at 5 p.m. As of Jan. 15, an advanced agenda has yet to be released. 
This Saturday, an LGBT press conference is going to be held on the Oktibbeha County Courthouse steps at 11:00 a.m. 
Wiseman said people are having to truly soul search in light of the recent events.
“I believe we are a city that respects values and loves all people. Regardless of what happens with this action those are the values I will continue to promote from the Mayor’s office,” Wiseman said