KJAS.com
by Steve W Stewart
Mar 13, 2023 Updated 2 hrs ago

Mon, Mar 13th, 2023 ~ Jasper City Council

There were tense moments, and then there were scary moments at the Jasper City Council meeting on Monday evening. Following a terse discussion, council voted to table the issue of contracting with a public relations firm, and then City Attorney Michael Stewart Ratcliff collapsed to the floor after the meeting adjourned.

Ratcliff had just risen from his chair and just a few moments later he fell to the floor on his back and was unconscious for a few seconds. A crew from Allegiance EMS responded and checked Ratcliff's vital signs and saw that his blood pressure was elevated. Ratcliff refused transport to the hospital and he vowed that he would follow up with his doctor on Tuesday. Ratcliff also said that he had been sick for the last few days, and it was obvious during the meeting that his voice sounded very weak.

Earlier in the meeting, Ratcliff was involved in a discussion regarding the City of Jasper's plan to contract a company to handle public relations and to also design and build a new city website.

In their last meeting, council voted to enter into negotiations with Texas Strategies, which was one of three companies that submitted bids. Notably, one of the co-founders of the company is Adan Arriaga, a man who was Rashad Lewis' campaign manager in 2019 when he waged a failed bid for Mayor.

However, it was recently learned that Texas Strategies had re-submitted an amended bid.

During discussion, Ratcliff said that because the company had re-submitted an amended bid, the city should discard all of the bids received from the three companies and instead go out for bids again. Ratcliff also said that he, being the city attorney, should have been involved in negotiations, which were handled by At-Large Councilman & Mayor Pro-Tem Rashad Lewis and City Manager Denise Kelley.

This resulted in a terse exchange between Lewis and Ratcliff, with Lewis contending that council had already chosen Texas Strategies for the job.

Councilman Anderson Land made a motion to follow the city attorney's advice and to go out for bids again, and it was seconded by Councilman Michael Daniel. When put to a vote, Land and Daniel voted for, while Councilmen David Shultz and Rashad Lewis voted against. That left a potential tie-breaking vote to Councilman DeMarcus Holmes.

However, as another round of discussion broke out, Land amended his motion to table the issue, it was seconded, and was then approved unanimously.