Members of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Local Government include state Rep. G.A. Hardaway (left); Rev. Leonard Dawson, president of the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association; Dr. L. LaSimba Gray Jr., vice president of Operation PUSH; Rev. Dwight Montgomery, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Rev. Stanford Hunt, assistant pastor of Beulah Baptist Chiurch. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Council Chairman Myron Lowery may have to wait a little longer to become mayor pro tem if a group calling itself the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Local Government convinces Mayor Willie W. Herenton to push back his retirement to Feb. 20, 2010.

Herenton first announced he would leave office effective July 10; then changed it to July 30. But the group of local ministers and a state legislator argued that a special election would cost the taxpayers at least $1 million.

“The mayor has resigned and rescinded, but we’re asking him to do it one more time for three reasons,” said Dr. L. LaSimba Gray Jr., local vice president of Operation PUSH and pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church.

Gray also said a new date for Herenton’s departure would provide an orderly transition in government and city services, and settle the unresolved issues of separation of executive powers verses legislative powers.

In 1990, Gray organized a group of activists and filed a federal lawsuit challenging the runoff provision of city elections in Memphis, which set the stage for Herenton to become the city’s first elected African-American mayor.

Herenton was elected five times, serving nearly 18 years as mayor. He has almost two years left in his 5th term.

“Normally there is a 30-day notice for a resignation, but we’re asking the mayor to go beyond that for the sake of Memphis,” said Gray in front of City Hall Tuesday morning.

State Rep. G.A. Hardaway said the group’s position has nothing to do with Lowery, who already has assembled a transition team and tapped former councilman Jack Sammons as his CAO.

He did say, however, that there could be a legal challenge if Lowery tries to hold on to his council seat and serve simultaneously as mayor pro tem.

According to an opinion by council attorney Allan Wade, Lowery “will not lose his seat on the council because of the mandate of the Charter that he become mayor pro-tem.”

Lowery’s council seat, Wade said, will be “frozen” when he takes the oath of office as mayor pro-tem until he returns or becomes the mayor.

Lowery could not be reached for comment.

Rev. Dwight Montgomery, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Local Government met a week ago to discuss its concerns but did not notify the mayor.

After Tuesday’s press conference ended, the SCLC president and two other members of the group decided they would make an impromptu visit to the seventh floor of City Hall to see Herenton.

The mayor met with them, but his special assistant wouldn’t allow the media to sit in on the meeting. After the meeting, Montgomery said Herenton is still adamant about stepping down July 30.

“The mayor said he’d made up his mind, that July 30 will be his last day. He said he made a promise to his son regarding their business venture and wanted to focus his attention on the 9th District race.”

Montgomery said he is concerned the mayoral race will become a spectacle, a crowded field of too many African Americans. He said his feeling about the race, however, has nothing to do with the group’s attempt to keep Herenton in office a little while longer.

“My greatest concern is about the money and the citizens of Memphis,” he said.