Mayor George Flaggs Jr. came under fire from a resident Tuesday night for his response to the criticism of Police Chief Walter Armstrong by Vicksburg Main Street director Kim Hopkins over the chief’s comments about the city hiring a security guard for the downtown area.

“You let that lady chastise the police chief and you did nothing about it,” Albert Young told Flaggs during Flagg’s open mike program, “Live With Mayor George Flaggs.” The program was broadcast live over the city’s TV23 local access channel on cable. About 16 people attended the program.

Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson did not attend the program, although Flaggs said they had been invited. The aldermen’s absence was questioned by several people in the audience.

Young’s comments referred to Hopkins’ criticism of Armstrong, who said the process to hire a private security guard for the Washington Street area and the parking garages was poorly handled, adding he was not consulted by Main Street or Flaggs about the decision. An article about the email and Hopkins’ comments appeared in the Jan. 1 edition of The Vicksburg Post.

In the article, Hopkins complained Armstrong was never available to discuss downtown issues with her and tried to tell him how he should have responded to a reporter’s questions about the hiring.

Flaggs did not address Hopkins’ comments, in the article, saying he was not surprised with how the events turned out, calling the situation a breakdown in communications.

“That’s what happens when you have three or four people running the city,” he said. “I publicly apologize that it happened and in the future I will try to make certain I stay on top of it closer. I’ll make certain the lines of communication are open.”

Flaggs said Tuesday he heard the story was being discussed in the community, adding “I’m being blamed.”

“Yeah, it’s going on in the community because nobody likes it,” Young said. “You’re being blamed because you didn’t say nothing. You’re the mayor. Tell me this, why would you hire a security guard when you’ve got an almost 80-member police force? Why couldn’t a police officer been placed at the parking garage? Why did you have to waste taxpayers’ money to hire a security guard?

“Who’s in charge here?”

Flaggs said city officials were getting complaints about problems about the parking garage and Main Street officials suggested hiring a security guard for the holidays. When he met with Hopkins about hiring the guard, he said, he told her to check with Armstrong. Armstrong, Flaggs said, was out of town so Hopkins talked with deputy chief Bobby Stewart.

Stewart said later Hopkins said Main Street was thinking about hiring a security guard, and Hopkins said in a December article on the hiring she never told Stewart she was definitely going to hire a security guard. Because of that, Armstrong said last week, Stewart did not tell him, because Hopkins did not say there were definite plans to hire a guard.

Armstrong attended Tuesday’s program, but declined to respond to requests from the audience to discuss the matter, adding he was there as security for the program and had already commented on it.

“This is the mayor’s town hall meeting and you should direct your questions to him,” Armstrong said.

Flaggs said the security guard was an item on the board’s Aug. 23 agenda that had been released three days before the meeting and there was ample opportunity for anyone to ask about the matter before the meeting.

Young said the problem over the security guard was more than a breakdown in communication.

“You spent taxpayers’ money and you’ve got a police department, do you understand that?” he asked Flaggs. “You’re already paying the police, why would you pay somebody else? I doesn’t matter who voted on it, he spent the money.”

Young also pushed Flaggs on public housing, criticizing him for voting to build walking trails at Halls Ferry Park and Porter’s Chapel Park, adding, “We don’t need walking trails, we need public housing. If we walk in Porter’s Chapel, we’re going to get stopped and accused of looking in somebody’s house.”

He also told Flaggs the trolley recently dedicated by NRoute for tourism needed to cover other areas.

“The taxpayers paid for that, it ought to go everywhere in town,” he said.

Besides the security guard issue, Flaggs discussed plans to improve recreation in the North Ward, heard comments about the problems in that area with traffic, a lack of businesses in the area and dilapidated housing.

The board in November passed a resolution to begin pushing for changes in the North Ward and the Kings community, including a police substation.

Flaggs also answered questions on the city’s progress with the Kuhn Hospital property. The city is trying to raze the buildings and property that once served as a city and later a state hospital, and clean the site, which was the scene of the murder of a Vicksburg woman in June.

On Kuhn, Flaggs said city officials were waiting on approval of a $250,000 low-interest state CAP loan, and a federal brownfields grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. He also discussed plans to turn the area into a housing and recreation development when the property is cleared.

He said he currently has a good relationship with the board, but would still like to see some system to make him and the aldermen more accountable and have more oversight on city departments.

Looking at 2016, he said he wanted to bring more retail activity to the city to increase sales tax revenue. He praised city employees for their work.

He also recommended the group contact Mayfield and Thompson “and tell them what you’ve told me.”

“I learn a lot from these meetings,” Flaggs said. “It helps to hear from you so I know how I’m doing and I know what you want. I’m trying to work with what I have.”