Jackson City Council ratifies Entergy grant and authorizes vendor payments for Jackson State parade

The Jackson City Council on Feb. 5 ratified a $5,000 grant from Entergy to support the Jackson State University HBCU National Championship Parade and separately authorized payment to vendors who provided services for the event.

The grant and the vendor-payment item together pay for parade logistics and refreshments for participants. "That money came to us from Entergy, and we used that to feed the 656 JPS students and the volunteers from the parade. Newt's provided us boxed lunches, and so we'll take that money and put it into the centralization fund because we can't use the money from the general fund to buy food," Melissa Faith Payne, director of constituent services and communications, said during the meeting.

Council discussion focused on how the donation will be recorded and used. Councilmember Foote asked whether the money would be placed in the general fund or applied to a specific expense; Payne answered it will be recorded in a centralization fund because general-fund money cannot be used to buy food. The council then voted to approve both items.

Votes at a glance: the ratification of the Entergy grant and the authorization of vendor payments were approved by the council (vote recorded in the meeting as 5–0). No mover or seconder names were recorded on the transcript for these motions.

The measures were presented during the special council meeting and the clerk recorded the items on the consent/regular agenda. No additional conditions or follow-up tasks were specified on the record.