Columbus City Council votes to cancel Waggoner Engineering contract

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin attempted to dial back the city’s firing of a consulting firm.

At last Tuesday’s meeting, the Columbus City Council voted to cancel the city’s contract with Waggoner Engineering. The city hired the firm to consult on how best to spend Columbus’s share of ARPA funds.

Waggoner representatives were at the meeting to present a proposal for a study and preliminary engineering work on a clean-up project around Columbus Brick.

Some council members questioned the need for the study since they already had much of the needed information. They also questioned the price tag at over $100,000.

That led to a long discussion about Waggoner’s performance, which some members criticized as too many studies, and not enough work.

A motion was made to cancel the city’s contract with Waggoner. It passed on a five-to-one vote.

Saturday, Mayor Keith Gaskin vetoed that decision. He would like for the council to take time to reconsider the move.

The council could vote to override the veto. That would require a two-thirds majority, and that would mean that two council members would have to change their minds.

The council could take it up at the next regular meeting, or a special meeting could be called between now and then.

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