There’s something suspicious happening in the predominantly Black town of Mason, Tennessee, a rural town that for years has been financially in debt thanks to its all-white local government.
- Now, just as the massive Blue Oval City manufacturing campus—a key component of Ford Motor Co.’s multibillion-dollar electric vehicle manufacturing apparatus—has plans to move less than five miles from the town, Mason has been pressured to relinquish its charter (which they refused to do). As a result, the town has been financially taken over by Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower.
“Mumpower admitted that the debt goes back 20 years and has said that we can’t handle the finances of our city. He didn’t think the people who stole the money were irresponsible,” Mason Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers tells Daily Kos.
The takeover comes over the outrage and objections of Mason’s recently elected nearly all-Black officials, who say race is at the center of the town’s takeover. It’s an allegation Mumpower has denied.
Mason, a 153-year-old majority Black town of about 1,500 in Tipton County, could sorely benefit from Ford’s $5.6 billion electric truck and battery plant, which is expected to generate 26,000 jobs in its planned 2025 opening.
“There’s no way Mason won’t prosper and grow,” Rivers told the Tennessee Lookout. “And now they want to take it away from us.”
Many of those living in Mason are the descendants of people enslaved in the area before Emancipation. Until 2016, the town was led by white elected officials. Those officials resigned after years of fraud and mismanagement allegations.
Mumpower could have opted for state financial oversight, but instead he demanded the town give up its charter entirely, something that would have subsumed the mostly Black and majority Democrat community into Tipton County, which is 75% white and voted 71% Republican in the last presidential election, according to the Tennessee Lookout.
Today, Mason’s current mayor, vice mayor, and five of its six aldermen are Black.
A financial takeover means the comptroller has full veto power over any and every nonpayroll expense of $100 or more.
The comptroller also has the power to approve any grants the city wants to apply for. Over the next 27 months, town officials will be held responsible for paying off a balance of $584,000 owed to its water and sewer utility—funds that for years were improperly transferred into Mason’s general fund to pay the town’s bills.
The Tennessee Lookout reports that Mason officials owed their water utility $226,000 in the 2017 fiscal year, according to the fact sheet provided. By 2019, the amount rose to $649,000.
Mumpower has made clear that cuts to the city’s 26 public employee benefits are on the way.
Rivers, who has called Mumpower’s actions “akin to a hostile takeover,” says Mumpower and Tipton County Executive Jeff Huffman are furious about the fact that the city wouldn’t give up the charter.
“What they won’t tell you is that Huffman sits on Ford’s board, and he and Mumpower arranged a purchase of about three acres between the Ford plant and Mason,” Rivers told Daily Kos. “This is unfair. They just want control. And with this control, they can come in and make it harder for us. They can be hateful.”
A statement released by Ford company officials Friday says the company is “aware of the long-running situation between Mason and the State of Tennessee but we have not been directly involved.”
“We have reached out to state and local community leaders to express concern and learn more,” writes Angie Kozleski, a Ford spokesperson.
“As we ramp up construction of Blue Oval City this year and move toward production in 2025, Ford is absolutely committed to being a good neighbor and providing inclusive and equitable opportunities for West Tennesseans, including the residents of Mason,” said the statement.
Rivers told Tennessee Lookout Friday that she’s worried that Ford hasn’t spoken directly with her, Mason Mayor Emmit Gooden, or any of the town’s elected aldermen.
“Who is Ford referring to when they state that they reached out to local community leaders to express concern?” she said. “It most definitely has not been the leaders of the town of Mason.”
Kozleski reportedly reached out to Van Turner Jr., president of the NAACP Memphis branch.
Gloria Sweetlove, president of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP, attended a town meeting before they voted to reject the charter.
“You are in a nice little spot, a sweet spot, and a lot of people want your land,” Sweetlove said at the time. “If you need to fight, I will fight with you … Don’t sign away your charter. Keep your rights.”
According to John Dunn, director of communications for Mumpower, the oversight ends when the town is able to operate on a balanced budget and show it can manage its own finances going forward.
“This was the final step. Not the first step,” Dunn told Daily Kos.
Rivers denies Dunn’s accounting. She says that although Mason officials knew how bad the debt coming in was when Mumpowerwalked into their town a few weeks ago, they had no idea what was happening. She says they’ve completed the required five audits for the last three years.
Mason city officials will meet with Mumpower Tuesday to discuss the town’s financial future.
CORRECTION: The name Mumpower was incorrectly spelled. It has been corrected to Mumpower.