Charlotte Reeves and Carl Monte Reeves, owners of the A-1 Pallets Company, are suing mayor Frank Melton and the city of Jackson for $100 million. Alleging that the mayor made false public statements and used city personnel to force the closure of their Mill Street recycling facility, the Reeves' suit asks for $50 million in actual damages and $50 million in punitive damages.
The Mill Street building has been on the mayor's hit list for over a year. At a meeting on May 14, 2007, Melton told department heads, "At the end of this calendar year, it's going to be gone."
Three days later, city code enforcement officials announced that they had turned up numerous unspecified violations. The report from that inspection calls the building "dilapidated," "an eye sore to the neighborhood" and "a safety hazard."
On June 20, 2007, a Hinds County judge granted the couple a restraining order against the city. Citing the mayor's involvement in the Ridgeway Street demolition, Reeves said that she believed the city might attempt to demolish her building illegally.
The building's location in a historic preservation district means that demolishing it could cost developers federal and state grant money.
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