Water Damage Restoration in Jackson, MS

A second person in the Jackson bribery scandal pleaded guilty on Thursday, relating to the case that brought down former Ward 2 Jackson City Councilwoman Angelique Lee. At least two other elected officials are involved.

Court documents in the case were unsealed Thursday morning for Sherik Marve' Smith, who is associated with Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens' real estate company "Facility Solutions Team," which is being investigated by the FBI. Smith was also working with "Unindicted Co-Conspirator B" and "Unindicted Co-Conspirator C," who are both elected officials of the City of Jackson, according to court documents

Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery at 10:18 a.m. in a hearing at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse that lasted less than 30 minutes. Smith was later released on bond and processed by federal marshals. He was scheduled to meet with probation officers.

Wearing a dark suit jacket, Smith looked serious when pleading before Chief District Judge Daniel Jordan.

An anonymous source said that Smith was present at the meetings between Owens and FBI agents, who posed as out-of-town real estate developers. Lee also met with FBI agents who posed as out-of-town real estate developers.

Court documents state that Smith agreed to give "cash payments and campaign contributions to Unindicted Co-conspirator B and Unindicted Co-conspirator C" from the undercover FBI agents posed as real estate agents.

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The case is similar to that of Lee's, who pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in August. Both Smith and Lee met with and accepted money from undercover FBI agents posed as out-of-town real estate developers from Nashville to support a development in Downtown Jackson. Lee has not been sentenced. Her scheduled November sentencing was continued.

Lee had a dinner with the undercover FBI agents and "Unindicted Co-conspirator A" in March, where she accepted bribes amounting to $13,000 in cash and approximately $6,000 in goods in exchange for her vote on the development plans.

Smith's case documents show that he was working with a "Unindicted Co-conspirator A," as well. In March and April 2024, both Smith and "Unindicted Co-conspirator A," the court document states, agreed "to give things of value, including cash payments and campaign contributions to Unindicted Co-conspirator B and Unindicted Co-conspirator C."

The following payments, intended as bribes, were given to Unindicted Co-conspirators B and C:

The bribes were in exchange for Unindicted Co-conspirator B's vote in favor of the downtown real estate project, which is what Lee agreed to do when she was bribed. The bribes were also in exchange for Unindicted Co-conspirator C's agreement to move a deadline in favor of the real estate project.

Smith is required to "forfeit" $20,000. Smith was told he had to surrender any firearms as well. As a convicted felon, any other violation would add to his sentence. Smith's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 19.

Lee also accepted the bribes in exchange for her support of a downtown development project the undercover agents were pitching to her. She also agreed to vote in favor of a road closure in furtherance of the same project, court documents show.

After Lee's indictment, four members of the Jackson City Council revealed to the Clarion Ledger that they were also approached by and met with out-of-town real estate developers interested in building a downtown development. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley and Ward 7 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay all confirmed the meetings. None could verify if they were the same developers Lee met with who turned out to be FBI agents.

What all of the individual meetings described by the four council members have in common is that they were arranged by Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens. Owens and his lawyer, Rob McDuff, declined to answer any questions about the council members' meetings with developers and the DA. Owens, through his lawyer, released a statement in August.

And back in May, Owens' business and office at the Hinds County Courthouse were raided by FBI agents, who also paid a visit to Jackson's City Hall. In a statement hours after the raids, Owens said his office is "fully cooperating" with the FBI. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba denied knowing anything at a press conference days after the raids.

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Smith's LinkedIn bio lists his occupation as an insurance agent with Penn Global Marketing. He is a graduate of Jackson State University. Owens' attorney Rob McDuff declined to comment on Thursday whether Smith was associated with Owens.

McDuff confirmed in a written statement in August that Owens has "been engaged in real estate development," which McDuff said is legal. But the statement also admits that Owens met with two men claiming to be "large-scale developers" who were interested in "the possibility of building a convention center hotel in Jackson."

"He believed them and after multiple conversations, agreed to help them. It turns out they were operatives for the FBI," the statement reads. "Given that status of the investigation, I don’t think it’s appropriate to say anything else at this juncture."

How Jackson's proposed convention center hotel fits

The City of Jackson has sought developers to build a downtown hotel since the mid-2000s.

In January 2024, the city received three bids in response to a "Statement of Qualifications", or SOQ, to develop a "mixed-use development" on the parking lot across the street from the convention complex at 105 E. Pascagoula St. The development would include a 335-room hotel, a green space, and a 1,200-space parking garage.

In September, Jackson Spokesperson Melissa Payne confirmed that Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens heads one of the companies, the Facility Solutions Team LLC, that responded to the city's SOQ. The other two bidders were 2K Developments LLC and Speed Commercial Real Estate.

Facility Solutions Team LLC was formed by DA Owens on March 19, 2024, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State's website, eight days before former councilwoman Angelique Lee and "Unindicted Co-Conspirator A" met with FBI agents posing as Nashville real estate developers. The company's nature of business is stated as "other activities related to real estate."

City of Jackson releases statement on guilty plea

Jackson Spokesperson Melissa Payne released this statement to the Clarion Ledger when asked about Smith's plea and the elected officials involved.

"We know nothing more about that situation than what has already been made public and it would be absolutely inappropriate for us to comment," Payne said.

Staff writers Ross Reily and Grant McLaughlin contributed to this report.

'Good water system's don't exceed 10% water loss,' according Interim Third Party Water Manager Ted Henifin

Mississippi Clarion Ledger

As the federal takeover of the City of Jackson's water system nears the two year mark, 50% of the drinkable, purified water is still being lost due to leaks.

This report, along with a few others, came from Interim Third-Party Water Manager Ted Henifin during a status conference Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate. Henifin was appointed by Wingate to run and repair the water system in November 2022, creating the company JXN Water and hiring a small staff to help with repairs.

How much money are leaks costing?

The system is losing nearly 37 million gallons of water per day, Henifin said. After the hearing, Henifin told the Clarion Ledger that before his appointment he estimates leaks were causing the system to lose nearly 65-70% of drinkable water.

Currently, the system is producing 40 million gallons per day, compared to 50-55 million gallons per day when Henifin was first appointed. A city with the population the size of Jackson only needs to produce about 18 million gallons per day, Henifin said, so the plant is still losing 18 to 20 million gallons per day due to leaks.

"Fifty percent of that purified water does not make it to the household," Wingate pronounced seemingly astounded. "Instead, it gets lost in transit."

Wingate asked Henifin how much money that meant the system is wasting due to the leaks. He thought it would be a better way to show the public just how beleaguered the system is, as well as how much of their tax payer dollars have been wasted over decades. Henifin said he didn't have the figure, but would have one for the judge at their next status conference.

"We're still on the hunt for water leaks," Henifin told Wingate. "We think most of these leaks are subsurface, it's water that's not reaching the surface."

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How to find Jackson water system leaks

Because the leaks can't be seen from the ground, it makes it harder to identify where to make repairs in the approximately 150-square-mile water system. Henifin said the plan is to have a "contest" between four subcontracting companies who will be using acoustic equipment stuck in the ground that will listen for water leaks.

"We put them in different times at the same locations to give us the pinpoint location of where they say you need to dig down to find the leak," Henifin said. "We'll dig down at the locations that each of these four technology companies claim to be able to locate leaks and see who is actually accurate. Assuming one or two of them are, we'll continue to use them over the next year to try and find more of these subsurface leaks throughout the system."

If they can't, Henifin said "we're back to square zero to try to find the technology to help us find these unknown leaks."

But if the subsurface leaks are able to be found, the goal is to bring the system's total water loss to "somewhere around 30 million gallons per day."

"Still significantly more than our customers need. But if we get to that point, we can supply all of the city's water from just the O.B. Curtis plant and we'll be able to close the JH Fewell plant, which will save millions of dollars in annual operating cost," Henifin said. "This would be great for us going forward to reinvest in the system as opposed to operating a second plant just to put the water out to the community that doesn't get to anybody."

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Henifin also noted that the loss of water due to leaks is also connected to the water system's pressure challenges.

"If you're losing water, you can't keep pressure up throughout the system and it's also a reason we have to keep the (JH) Fewell plant open," Henifin said.

All in all, the subsurface water leaks attribute to wasting taxpayer money by losing drinkable water that's not making it to people's homes, causes pressure problems in the system. There is also the fact that if the water leaks were fixed the city could shut down the JH Fewell plant, saving billions.

"Good systems don't exceed 10% water loss. In fact that's kind of the borderline the EPA thinks is acceptable…," Henifin said. "And again we're at 50%, and trying to work our way down to 10% would be the goal."

Editor's note: This is the first of two stories looking at Jackson street resurfacing.

In October 2023, the City of Jackson began Phase 1A of the "Street Resurfacing Project," endeavoring to resurface and repave 31 total streets, including curbs and gutters, in Jackson by the end of spring 2024.

A year later, only 22 of those 31 streets are finished, according to the updated list sent to the Clarion Ledger by Jackson Spokesperson Melissa Payne. The full list can be found below.

After the Jackson City Council's approval in October 2023, the goal was to finish the streets before paving season ends and weather temperatures dropped in the winter. Phase 1B of the project was to start after the spring of 2024, but those streets have yet to be worked on. A list of those streets, as well as the ones picked for Phase 1C can be found here. The council also amended the contract for a completion date of March 31, 2025.

"As a city, we’re proud of the significant progress we’ve made in paving our streets, improving accessibility, and enhancing the quality of life for our residents," Payne said in a statement. "However, we recognize that there are still many roads in need of attention. We remain committed to continuing this vital work, ensuring that every neighborhood benefits from these improvements. There’s more to do, but we’re moving forward together, and we won’t stop until every street is up to the standard our citizens deserve."

The first phase cost the city just above $5 million and is funded through the One Percent Sales Tax Commission, which was created to fund key infrastructure projects. The city earns approximately $13 million per year from the tax, which was approved by more than 90% of voters in 2014.

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Construction company Dickerson and Bowen, Inc. and engineering firm Neel-Schaffer are overseeing the project.

The streets for the first phase were picked after a survey was sent to various homeowner associations in Jackson who identified the worst streets in their neighborhoods. The 31 streets were also chosen to consolidate the project, so construction workers wouldn’t have to travel all over the city.

Here is a list of the 22 completed streets of Phase 1A:

Nine more streets of Phase 1A have yet to be completed, including:

On Sept. 24, the Jackson council approved amending Phase 1A to add 10 streets to be resurfaced, for an additional cost of $145,000 to Neel-Schaffer. Those streets are:

All in all, the city has 18 streets to finish before work begins on the project's next phases.

According to city documents, these 10 streets were originally intended to be a part of the first phase, but because of anticipated "water and sewer line work to be performed by JXN Water, they were removed from the project."

For nearly three hours after the polls closed Tuesday night, Ward 2 candidates, their supporters and the media sat in a meeting room at the City of Jackson's office building across from City Hall, watching two officials hand feed paper ballots into vote counting machines.

People swiveled in their chairs and had conversations with each other, a majority of which were about how long it was taking; some ordered food. And in the end, most left not knowing who received a majority of the votes in Tuesday's special election that decides the winner of the Ward 2 seat on the Jackson City Council.

There were six candidates vying for the Ward 2 seat: Catherine Robinson, Marcus Cheatham, Celestial M. Gordon-Griffin, Brian Mozee, Montyne "Tina" Clay and Cheryl Matory.

The seat was open after former Ward 2 councilwoman Angelique Lee pled guilty to bribery charges in August.

As people tiredly shuffled out of the office Tuesday night, Jackson's Municipal Clerk Angela Harris and Sandra Griffin McCall, the city's Ward 3 Election Commissioner, kept repeating that the election results were unofficial, as they still have to count absentee and mail-in ballots. The special election has to be certified by the Secretary of State's office by Wednesday, Oct. 9, Harris said, so it could take up to one week until official results come in.

Part of the chatter throughout the room was about the city's decision to not use Hinds County voting machines at the polls, as they do in regular elections. Last November, during the statewide general election, Hinds County election commissioners faced criticism after at least nine Hinds County polling stations experienced ballot shortages. This caused long lines, forced some voters to not vote at all and resulted in legal challenges into the evening.

Instead, voters in the Ward 2 election selected their candidates using a pen and paper, then dropped their ballots in blue boxes, which were sealed after the polls closed at 7 p.m.

"They're going to seal the poll box once the poll closes at 7 p.m.," said Ward 4 Election Commissioner Linda Sanders Tuesday afternoon. "They'll record that seal, then bring the boxes downtown, and we'll be at the HUD building across the street from city hall. Two machines will do the processing of the ballots."

Harris said county voting machines weren't used as a "cost efficient measure." The municipal clerk's department had only budgeted for next year's 2025 mayoral election, and did not have enough funds to secure more voting machines.

A little after 8 p.m., city election commissioners started hand feeding the ballots into the two county voting machines. In total, 2,545 votes were cast in the Ward 2 special election. Ward 3 Election Commissioner McCall said it was "a low turn-out."

After what seemed like an eternity, all six candidates eagerly awaited as the results of 9 out of 10 of Ward 2's voting precincts were printed. Precinct 98, which is at Tougaloo College, was the one precinct that wasn't counted.

Those who vote at Precinct 98 are registered in Madison County, but "they can vote in a municipal election for the City of Jackson" because "it's technically a part of Jackson, but it's on the border," Harris said.

"So they register to vote in Madison County, but they can vote in a municipal (City of Jackson) election. Madison County will send us the poll books, so whoever's on the poll book will be counted," she said, adding that "it's only about 10 ballots."

The results were printed on two long, white, receipt-looking papers, sort of like the ones shoppers always seemingly find themselves receiving once they leave a CVS Pharmacy. Two papers were printed, as two machines were used for counting, then the election commissioners taped the results on a white pillar in the middle of the room. Those joined two other white tickets that were already printed and taped to the pillar before the officials started counting to show that every candidate started with zero votes.

Candidates, some visibly upset, and the media, were forced to get close and take pictures as only the results from each precinct were printed. They then had to count them up to find out how many total votes they received. It was reminiscent of high-school athletes crowding up to a bulletin board to see if they made the team or were cut.

The Clarion Ledger independently calculated each of the votes that were cast at the nine precincts based on the results printed from the voting machines. According to those numbers, Tina Clay and Marcus Cheatham are the frontrunners if there is a run-off election, which would be held on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Celestial Gordon-Griffin is a close third.

A run-off election is held between the top two candidates, if no individual candidate gets a majority of the vote, or 50% plus one.

Here are the unofficial results as independently reviewed by the Clarion Ledger, not counting absentee or mail-in ballots:

Adding all those up, you would get 2,545, which is the number city officials gave as the total voter turnout Tuesday in the Ward 2 special election.

George Gillespie and his wife Ann Elizabeth Gillespie have long had a dream of opening a wing restaurant.

As a young couple, who both had been to culinary school, any time they traveled, they made a point of checking out the local wing restaurant.

"We're wing people," Ann Elizabeth said. "We love wings."

After years of taking notes and working on recipes at home, the finally decided to strike out on their own.

The Gillespies have recently opened Wing Mouth in a small, 250-square-foot, walk-up location in the Belhaven Town Center.

George, originally from Greenville, has been the pit master at Pig and Pint in Fondren the last eight years, but he has always had his wing dream in the back of his mind.

"So, one night we were at Poppy's Pies (in Belhaven Town Center). We love that place," Ann Elizabeth said. "George was drinking a beer from Fertile Ground and I was having a glass of wine. It was just a cute date night. Then he looks over at what is now our building and says, 'I am going to turn that into my wing shop.'"

While on their date night, they put together a business plan on the back of a napkin.

"It took about 10 minutes, and we really thought nothing of it," said Ann Elizabeth, who is originally from Starkville. "But later that night, I ask him why we can't turn that place into a wing shop."

From there, they put some serious thought into it, and many months later, Wing Mouth is a reality.

There was a soft opening on Sept. 12 and they finally opened to the general public on Sept. 25 serving lunch and dinner.

They believe people will come and people will love their wings.

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"We just had not been able to find wings we love around here," Ann Elizabeth said. "That was a big inspiration. We just believed that Jackson could handle another wing spot."

So, now you can venture into Belhaven Town Center, walk up to the window and choose from Buffalo, Lemon Pepper (wet or dry), Asian Sweet Chile, Garlic Parmesan (wet or dry), Honey Bourbon BBQ or Nekkid and then grab a beverage from there or any of the other places surrounding Wing Mouth and enjoy a meal in the common areas the center is known for.

"Our wings are unique because they are the wings that we want to be eating all of the time. They are the wings we have been making at our house," Ann Elizabeth said. "We brine our wings. That's all about keeping the moisture in, but we are also trying to make it a crispy wing. That's the challenging part. You get a crispy wing by cooking it longer. You get a juicy wing from the brine. It's really a process."

Before the 30-something couple was doing this, the couple had a private chef service, where they were going into people's homes and cooking and service multi-course dinners. That was successful for them, but then came the wings.

"I don't know why we really decided to do this. It just kind of fell in our laps and we ran with it," she said. "Belhaven Town Center really needed a fast-casual food option. We knew that we were going to kind of fill that hole. Fertile Ground and everyone have all been so cooperative in this process. It's a great family of people. All of the businesses really contribute to each other. Wings and beer and pizza and beer. They all go great together."

Wing Mouth is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then again from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. It is open from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.