County attorney: city——suit over Bozeman Partnership zoning dismissed with prejudice
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Summary
An attorney for Madison County told supervisors the City of Madison and Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit alleging improper meetings and payments tied to zoning changes affecting roughly 350 acres owned by the Bozeman Family Limited Partnership; discovery yielded no evidence of backroom deals, he said.
At a Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting, Robert, an attorney retained by the county, reported that the City of Madison and Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit that had accused individual supervisors of secret meetings and improper payments connected to a zoning change affecting about 350 acres owned by the Bozeman Family Limited Partnership.
"I have been retained by the county to defend it," Robert said, summarizing the litigation and the county's response. He said the city alleged specific supervisors——identified in the complaint as Steen, Banks and Griffin——held "surreptitious meetings" tied to a land donation intended for ramps and access along Interstate 55 and the Union Parkway overpass.
Robert described the property——first discussed in 2009——as subject to a memorandum of understanding and an original deed provision that included a reverter clause if ramps were not completed. Because the Mississippi Department of Transportation would not accept a reverter clause, the county and the partnership revised the agreement to provide clear title, he said. The board later put the land back on the tax rolls in 2014 and the partnership paid taxes until the parties revisited a donation arrangement.
He told the board the county paid approximately $965,000 to the Bozeman Partnership as a good-faith payment refundable upon completion of the ramps. The city——suit argued that payment amounted to the county paying for land the partnership already owned because a deed back to the partnership had not been formally recorded. To evaluate title questions, the county consulted a Mississippi Bar property expert who concluded there was a cloud on the title and that the county needed a deed from the partnership.
After a period of extensive discovery, Robert said county counsel produced board minutes, emails, text messages and other records but found no evidence of any backroom deal. "There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any kind of backroom deal or anything else like that, at all," he said.
Robert reported that the city and mayor ultimately sought and obtained a voluntary dismissal with prejudice and that Judge Mills signed the dismissal order. "They voluntarily dismissed it with prejudice," he said, explaining that in practical terms the decision prevents the same claims from being filed again.
A board member identified in the record as Robin thanked Robert for the work. Robin said the county——which defended the case incurred roughly $175,000——$200,000 in legal costs, funds she said could have been used for infrastructure or drainage projects. Robert said other related appeals and contractual issues tied to road funding remain pending and are being handled by county counsel.
No formal board vote was recorded during Robert——s report. The meeting record shows a board member began asking for a follow-up action near the end of the transcript, but the discussion is incomplete in the provided record.
