The lack of city water and sewer service in parts of Brookhaven received the most attention among topics discussed at a public forum held at St. Mark’s Missionary Baptist Church Saturday.

     Walter Atkinson, a senior conciliation specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice, attended the question-and-answer style meeting and acted as a mediator, but said no official investigation from the DOJ had been launched in Lincoln County.

     Many Brookhaven residents at the meeting expressed their frustration about the lack of city water and sewer connections at their homes.

     Since the city limits expanded in 2007, a number of residences taken in by the annexation remain without city water and sewage service. Others who have lived in the city for many years before the annexation also do not have these city services.

     A plan by the city to start a sewage and water improvement project in an area that already had those services caused some people to voice their disapproval at Saturday’s forum.

     Cassandra Washington said she has lived in the city since 1991 and has never had access to city water and sewage.

     “People who were just added into the city after the annexation should not get water and sewage before people who have lived here longer,” she said. “We just need two lift stations on my street to get me sewage, but instead I have to have a septic system.”

     District One Supervisor the Rev. Jerry Wilson voiced his frustration with the city’s plan, as he did earlier this year.

     “I had a plan that would have brought water and sewage to people who did not have it, but the city decided to go with another plan,” he said.

     Ward Two Alderman Terry Bates said the city is working to bring water and sewage to everyone, but the limiting factor is money.

     “It costs a lot to install water and sewage,” he said. “The city is working on it, but it is expensive.”

     Bates did not address Wilson’s complaints.

     Other complaints at the meeting were about the Brookhaven School District’s desegregation order as well as the district’s use of its zero tolerance policy, particularly when it results in an expulsion.

     Atkinson said questions regarding schools’ use of zero tolerance come up often.

     “Zero tolerance policies are an issue across the country, not just here,” he said.

     Brookhaven School District Superintendent Dr. Lisa Karmacharya was asked at the meeting if the school district was still under a court order for desegregation, and she said it is.

     “We have been under a desegregation order since 1970,” she said. “Unitary status was applied for in 2006, but it was denied.”

     Unitary status would have allowed the schools to come out from under the federal desegregation order.

     Atkinson said the public should be kept informed about any moves involving the desegregation order, especially when a school district applies for unitary status.

     Though hiring and promotion practices at the school district have been a source of complaints in recent months, no questions at the forum directly addressed the matter.

     Many people at the meeting, including Atkinson and Bates, expressed their excitement and approval that people from all over the community could come together and discuss issues that were important to them.

     “Working together is for the benefit of everyone,” said Atkinson.

     Several other public officials attended the meeting, including Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing and Brookhaven Police Chief Pap Henderson.

       Henderson and Rushing were not asked any questions by anyone in attendance at the meeting.