City employees describe "inhumane" working conditions at Metrocenter Mall. See what happened

During the Tuesday Jackson City Council meeting, city department heads and city employees shared concerns with councilmembers of "inhumane" working conditions at the Metrocenter Mall.

The council later voted to terminate the city's lease at the decaying facility.

The Belk building, an old department store that was once located in the now defunct mall, is the workplace of City of Jackson departments, including human resources, parks and recreation and human and cultural services, among others.

The council did not say when the offices would be vacated or where city employees would be relocated.

According to Toya Martin, Jackson's director of human resources, she and other employees have experienced mold, rats, pests', dead vermin, plumbing and sewage issues, no ventilation and a parking lot that is filled with potholes. There is sometimes only one entrance to the mall — which is a fire code violation — and at one point employees had to evacuate due to carbon monoxide concerns, Martin told the council.

"We've had sewage coming out of the floors, water leaking down the walls in the building and toilets inoperable," Martin said. "We're the HR department so when we have orientation, this is the first thing that our new employees are seeing. This is the first impression of the place where they are coming to work."

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Martin also said the offices only got air conditioning two weeks ago. Before that, employees had to work while the building is upwards to 90 degrees. Last year, city employees went without air conditioning for the entire summer, she said.

"It's embarrassing as a director that I have to subject my employees who have to come and work in these conditions," Martin said. "It's sad that we're kind of immune to it at this point."

Ison Harris, the director of Jackson's parks and recreation department, told councilmembers he has seen people falling due to the potholes in the mall's parking lot.

"Getting out and walking into the building there are hazards throughout there. It's really, really dangerous," Harris said. "I know Toya talked about it, but when you get to work at 8:00 in the morning and it's 90 degrees in the building, even if you're working a half day, it's a brutal, brutal stretch."

Councilmembers voted in favor of terminating the city's lease with Metro Retro LLC, the owners of the building, in a 3-1 vote. Cheers erupted from city employees in attendance when the council voted to terminate the lease.

Ward 3 Councilman Brian Grizzell, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley and Ward 6 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay voted in favor, while Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote voted against. Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee and Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks abstained from the vote, saying they thought it would be better to have more discussion on the matter. Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes was not in attendance.

Metrocenter Mall's continued decline

This is just another instance of the Metrocenter Mall falling further and further into decay.

Opening in 1978, the mall was once the largest mall in the nation with 1.25 million square feet, according to past Clarion Ledger reports. More than 100 stores filled the building, which had a game room and multiple food courts.

While telling the council about the workplace conditions of the mall, both Harris and Martin said they have fond memories of its past.

"I used to shop at the Metro, it was one of my favorite places to go. But this is not that Metro," Harris said.

Leroy Walker and Socrates Garrett, two of the owners of Retro Metro LLC, were sitting in the back of the council chambers while city employees were lambasting the state into which the offices have fallen. The Council called both of them up, along with their attorney, Malcolm Harrison, to share their side of the story.

Walker explained that their company bought portions of the mall in 2012 and went into subsequent negotiations with the City of Jackson to move some of their offices into the Belk building.

Walker said he would look into getting the plumbing, mold and pest problems fixed and said he understands why the city employees are upset. But he was quick to add that the city pays $42,825 a month in rent and all of that money goes to pay a bond the company took out to rehabilitate the space.

"None of that money goes to us, I want to make sure you know that. Not a dime goes to us. It goes to pay a bond down," Walker said. "What we did is in order to rehabilitate the Metrocenter, the 240,000 square feet, we had to get that particular bond in order to do it."

In trying to explain the issues with the air conditioning, Walker said the building has water-cooled units. When the water doesn't run correctly, it burns up the units, he said.

"Those units are very old and you have to order those parts and it takes much longer than what you would think it would," Walker said.

As far as maintenance goes, Walker said, those costs are paid from Walker and Garrett's own pocket, as well as their third business partner Howard Catchings. So far, the businessman say they have spent $2.1 million on facility maintenance since 2012.

Garrett said there were opportunities to walk away from the deal, but the three stayed because they wanted to help the city find office space and revitalize South Jackson, where the mall is located. They kept the rent lower than they should in order to help the city, Garrett said, renting it out for $8.42 per square foot when the going rate is $14. Looking back on it, it was "probably a bad deal," he admitted.

Garrett also said the city is partially to blame for the conditions: If there was more help on the city's side, such as tax breaks, they could have been able to fix the problems that are plaguing the offices. He also blamed the city for "every time something bad happens, the city runs out there (to the Belk building) and utilizes the space, tears up the parking lot and never offers a dime to repair any of that."

"We continue to scramble and try to fix a problem that's bigger than we are. And we're not getting any help and support to do that," Garrett said.

He spoke further on the city's alleged mistreatment of the property, saying when the mayor and the council were arguing over garbage collection, all the garbage was put on the property of the mall the city owns.

"Then the garbage collection suit came up. The city then put all the garbage on its property, which is the building right next to us, and then we complain about rats and things of that nature. Well, what do you think we're going to get when we did that? You can say whatever you want, the Belk building compared to the building that the city now owns is in ten times better shape!" Garrett said. "I did everything I possibly could do to try to make this old building be satisfactory to work in."

Hartley, who represents Ward 5 where the mall is located and who was the most vocal about the "eyesore" it has become, told Garrett he understands "business troubles," but said it falls under Retro Metro LLC's responsibility to take care of maintenance and making sure there are livable conditions.

"(The City of Jackson) We are your lessees, we are paying you, regardless of what you do with it (the money) after it leaves, it's leaving the City of Jackson to go to some place and for us to get our product out of it. And our product should be a little bit more than what we see now," Hartley said, thanking the three men for their time.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson City Council terminates lease of offices at Metrocenter Mall