Did the Board of Mayor and Aldermen need to hire a security guard to patrol the Washington Street area downtown at night during the holidays?

Vicksburg Main Street director Kim Hopkins thought so, the board thought so. We don’t know what Police Chief Walter Armstrong thought about it, because he was never asked.

No one argues the need to ensure Vicksburg’s residents and visitors are safe while they shop the stores and eat at the restaurants downtown, but when there are questions about security, there needs to be proper communication between the people responsible for making sure people are safe. And that includes the police chief.

The action the board took Wednesday to hire a security guard for downtown was not only foolish, it was irresponsible and a waste of taxpayers’ money, regardless of whose account the money comes from, and delivered a slap in the face to Armstrong and the police department.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the proposal to hire the guard came from Main Street officials, adding they had complaints about the parking garages and the downtown area. Hopkins on her own signed a contract with Quality Security LLC, which handles security at the Vicksburg Auditorium. The board ratified it Wednesday. Without consulting Armstrong. When Hopkins broached the idea of hiring a security guard, Flaggs should have called the aldermen, Armstrong and his staff to meet and discuss Hopkins’ concerns. It’s quite possible a solution could have been to increase downtown security with available resources.

“I would have thought Main Street would have passed this through the police department and then gone to the mayor,” Armstrong said. “We are responsible for the security of the citizens. If they’re going to have extra security, we need to be told.”

Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson never questioned if Armstrong had been consulted. Mayfield said he thought it was Armstrong’s idea. Both men had the agenda at least a day before the meeting, and one item made it clear the board was going to approve a contract for downtown security. Neither aldermen bothered to call Armstrong or the mayor about it before the meeting.

“We need to know what hours they’re going to be working, will they be in a uniform and whether they’ll be armed, so we can tell the officers working down there,” he said. “For all we know, he could be wearing Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt that says ‘security.’”

This whole matter should never have happened, and it wouldn’t have if people would have communicated and someone would have exercised the proper leadership. You would have thought as the board enters the third year of this administration these problems would be non-existent.

It’s a good example of what’s wrong with Vicksburg’s current form of government — no one seems to be in charge.