The Starkville Board of Aldermen passed a resolution asking citizens to power down cell phones or put them on silent during meetings after denying a proposed resolution to ban cell phones due to disturbances.
The resolution, after revision, planned to ban cell phones but gave exemptions to “members of the press, mainstream media and Mississippi State journalism students.”
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said he could not support the resolution.
“I think if it’s from a distraction standpoint, I think it’d be best to have the mayor to ask to put their phones on silent,” he said. 
In support of the ban, Ward 2 Alderman Lisa Wynn mentioned a cell phone that was constantly going off in the last meeting.
“We want to be transparent, and we just want some respect,” she said.
Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard offered a motion to revise the resolution that would not ban cell phones. Instead, citizens will be asked by the mayor at the beginning of meetings to silence or power down all electronic devices, effective Dec. 3.
Any violators of the rule would be asked to leave the meeting.
Not straying far from the old resolution, the proposal said the chief of police, chief of fire department or their designees “may retain cellular phones in the Board meetings for the sole purpose of being informed of emergencies or other urgent and necessitous matters involving their department.”
Wynn expressed concern about a letter of opinion in support of forming a committee to review city ordinances for a city mandate from Chief Executive Officer for Greater Starkville Partnership Development’s Jennifer Gregory under the GSDP letterhead. She said President of the Executive Council for GSDP’s Richard Hilton informed Wynn the comments were not official opinions from the executive council.
“I was concerned about this letter because it does not bear the signatures of Mr. Hilton or any of the executive council members, rather it was the opinion of Mrs. Gregory presented on GSDP’s letterhead,” she said. “I respectfully request that, in the future, Mrs. Gregory not use her title in the Partnership to convey her opinion under the Partnership letterhead to this board.” 
During citizen comments, Gregory said she understood that she was being accused in a public meeting of falsely presenting a letter of advocacy from the GSDP as her own. 
“I’m outraged at that false allegation,” she said. “I’m confident that any and every GSDP executive council member will confirm that there was unanimous support for that measure, and every member of the executive council confirmed and voted yes for that measure.”
Gregory said she had confirmation from Hilton that he was misrepresented by Wynn’s comment and called for a public record to reflect the truth.
“This is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable for a community member to be called out on false allegations for an opinion. I’m very disappointed,” she said. 
In a rebuttal, Wynn said Hilton assured her the letter was not the official opinion of the executive council. 
“If Mr. Hilton will issue me a statement citing that, I will be more than happy to woman up and apologize to you and the Partnership, but until then, my letter that I read tonight will stand,” she said. “And next time, if that is the case, what I would advise you to do is have them to sign the letter along with you because they left you out by yourself. Ask them to put their names on here because it was only you.”
In other business, the request for approval of the C Spire Fiber To Home franchise agreement was not eligible for discussion, and the request to advertise for the vacant chief administrative officer position, previously held by Lynn Spruill, was approved on consent agenda.