Rebuilding trust

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 20th, the last day of official autumn! Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Next up on The World and Everything in It: Corruption.

It runs rampant in many countries, and if the experts are right, corruption in the United States is at its worst level in years.

What happens to a small town in the wake of a big corruption scandal?

REICHARD: WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson takes us to a community trying to rebound after its top leader made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: The 100-year-old city hall building in Aberdeen, Mississippi, is a historic treasure. Grand marble staircase. Original porcelain water fountains. A stained-glass dome made by L.C. Tiffany himself.

Inside City Hall Photo by Kim Henderson

But all that beautiful history wasn’t enough to keep ugly modern-day problems at bay.

AUDIO: [ARREST]

In 2018, police arrested Aberdeen’s young, charismatic mayor on embezzlement charges. Nolan Bowen remembers it well. He has a business in downtown Aberdeen, and he says it was a difficult time.

BOWEN: All of that is being broadcast on the local news stations. So if you get a reputation like that, and people rather move out than move in, I mean, who does that help?

Still, Aberdeen’s corruption case seems tame in comparison to others in the news. Authorities arrested the now former mayor for pocketing travel money for business trips he never took. About $3,500. While that doesn’t seem like a lot of money, the real cost is in the loss of trust.

SPEAKER: FIRST OF ALL . . .

Even now, four years later, Aberdeen is struggling to regain its balance.

Downtown Aberdeen Photo by Kim Henderson

It’s Wednesday night, and residents of Aberdeen’s Ward 3 are meeting upstairs in City Hall. They’re praying before the session opens.

SPEAKER: FIRST OF ALL . . .

What follows is a time of open discourse, and that’s good for the hurting community. The mayor’s arrest was bad enough, but what happened when he was still in office awaiting trial really rocked the town. The mayor’s supporters believed he was innocent, and pushback led to the termination of the city’s judge, clerk, utilities manager, assistant police chief, and attorney.

FAULKS: The city attorney advises the mayor and the Board of Aldermen. They are in effect operating a multimillion-dollar business . . .

That’s Bob Faulks. He has been city attorney for Aberdeen for the better part of 19 years.

FAULKS: All public officials are required to comply with the ethics laws. There are a lot of other technical laws about purchasing contracts, employment. I do share those laws with the mayor and the board . . .

The city attorney’s role is to give advice to city leaders. But Faulks stresses that while he can advise elected officials, he cannot control them.

FAULKS: Yeah. They're all grown people. You can't control anybody.

After the ex-mayor pleaded guilty and was removed from office, Faulks regained his job. These days, he’s offering advice to a new group of officials occupying Aberdeen’s City Hall.

FAULKS: We have a mayor who really works hard, and he's very prepared and very knowledgeable.

The new mayor’s name is Charles Scott.

Scott grew up in Aberdeen, but he built a career in the military. Now he’s back, elected to office, trying to turn things around.

Scott has a hard and fast rule: No talking about the former mayor. Ever.

SCOTT: My focus is, what will I be able to do to push Aberdeen forward? We're not going to spend time continuing to live whatever happened during that time.

Mayor Scott holds up a shirt from his mayor's youth council Photo by Kim Henderson

One of Scott’s priorities is getting the city’s workforce—about 100 employees—to think differently about their jobs.

SCOTT: We work for the citizens of Aberdeen. Just understand that piece. Don't go any farther than that. You actually work for the citizens of Aberdeen.

Not long after Scott took office, he instituted mandatory training. Every two weeks, the new mayor met with city workers.

SCOTT: We're talking about all of those intangibles of leadership and why you need to buy into being a leader over you.

And that’s when Scott’s Army background really came into focus.

SCOTT: Everything that the military teaches you about accountability is, number one, accounting for yourself. So that “Be, know, do.” Be where you're supposed to be. Know your job, and do it . . .

A document from the Mississippi state auditor’s office shows it’s investigated all kinds of embezzlers, from road crew workers to a secretary for a volunteer fire department. That’s why Aberdeen’s new mayor wants to make sure everybody is playing by the rules.

SCOTT: Getting our employees to start to inspect their equipment before they go home. Getting our employees to account for their equipment . . .

Accountability. Transparency. Scott believes that’s the way to rebuild trust.

SCOTT: Then, if we do it right, we can present it to our citizens without even talking about it. They will see your actions.

Utilities director addresses residents Photo by Kim Henderson

But talking about it doesn’t hurt. At the Ward 3 meeting, residents speak out about the need for more street lights. The utilities director has the opportunity to explain.

It’s the sound of restored law and order.

City Attorney Bob Faulks believes things are looking up.

FAULKS: I comment to people, “It's good to be in Aberdeen right now.”

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

EICHER: To see photos and read Kim’s story, look for the December 24th issue of WORLD Magazine and we’ll post a link in today’s transcript.

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