OCEAN SPRINGS, MS – The Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen made a long-awaited move Tuesday night, voting unanimously to begin replacing City Attorney Robert Wilkinson — though not without a last-ditch effort by some officials to distort the facts.
The vote came on the heels of several news articles published by GC Wire and the Ocean Springs Weekly Record that exposed Wilkinson had not disclosed financial ties to the Securix camera ticketing program he had successfully pitched to city officials – a move which has raised serious conflict of interest concerns.
As reported, getting Ocean Springs to partner with Securix was paramount to Wilkinson’s future financial plans. After successfully pushing the Board to adopt the program in 2021, Wilkinson went on the road to sell it to other cities, using the much needed data from Ocean Springs as his main selling point.
Authement Proposed the First Step
Ward 2 Alderman Rickey Authement, who introduced the motion at Tuesday’s meeting, said the city needed to move forward with finding new legal representation but warned against an abrupt termination, citing the cost of transitioning ongoing cases.
“I do think the community has been waiting for something to come forth or for us to make a decision,” Authement said. “It’s taken us a long time to get here. We’ve looked at a lot of different things. I think right now would be a good time for us to go out for RFQs and take applications for an in-house attorney.”
The Board took a decisive step toward replacing Wilkinson, voting unanimously to seek both an in-house city attorney and to accept applications from outside law firms interested in replacing Wilkinson and his firm.
But before the roll call vote, some city officials attempted to rewrite history, offering misleading statements to downplay Wilkinson’s role in the Securix deal — including false claims that he had recused himself and was legally unable to defend himself.
Impey and Burgess Give Alternative Facts
In an effort to shift the narrative, Alderman Mike Impey defended Wilkinson, claiming the City Attorney had acknowledged his conflict of interest and recused himself by bringing in his former law partner to review the contract.
“There’s been some people that said Mr. Wilkinson didn’t acknowledge a conflict. He did. Attorney Amy St. Pe was brought in because the conflict was acknowledged. She is the one that advised on the contract,” Impey said during the meeting.
He went on to call news reports about Wilkinson’s role “misinformation” and claimed Wilkinson is eager to defend himself but is barred from doing so by a court-ordered gag order.
But the facts contradict nearly everything Impey said.
Wilkinson did not disclose his financial interests to the Board. He did not recuse himself from city business with Securix. And he is not under a gag order that prevents him from speaking about the Ocean Springs contract with Securix
No Recusal by Wilkinson
Despite Wilkinson bringing in his former private law partner to review the contract, public records, meeting minutes, and official city videos directly contradict the claim that he recused himself.
- Wilkinson personally pitched the Securix contract to the Board alongside former Police Chief Mark Dunston in 2021 — behind closed doors in executive session, raising concerns about compliance with Mississippi’s Open Meetings Act.
- Alderman Authement and former Mayor Shea Dobson publicly acknowledged Wilkinson did not disclose his Securix ties to the Board of Aldermen.
- Wilkinson or a member of his firm continued to preside over multiple Board of Aldermen meetings where Securix was discussed, debated, and voted on.
- He personally responded to citizen questions about Securix during public meetings, as documented in city YouTube videos.
The minutes from the meeting where the contract was approved confirm Impey himself made the motion to authorize the contract, pending a legal review by St. Pe — a former law partner of Wilkinson’s.
“A motion was made by Alderman Impey, seconded by Alderman Blackman, and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to execute the contract with Securix Systems pending the legal review for validity by Amy St. Pe.”
If Wilkinson had truly recused himself, how could he have remained involved in city discussions and overseeing multiple meetings related to Securix?
The ‘Gag Order’ Excuse: A Convenient Distortion Wilkinson Created Himself
One of the most misleading statements of the night came from Alderman Impey, who insisted Wilkinson is unable to defend himself due to a court-ordered gag order.
“He’s anxious to set the record straight. However, due to an ongoing court case in which all participants are under a gag order, he cannot do so at this time. As soon as the court-ordered gag order is lifted, he will be free to defend himself,” Impey said.
This is misleading at best.
First, the gag order in question has nothing to do with Ocean Springs — it applies to a 2024 lawsuit between Wilkinson’s private company, QJR LLC, and Securix LLC, which is a business dispute that began after Ocean Springs ended its contract with Securix.
Second — and most importantly — Wilkinson himself is the reason the case is under a gag order.
Wilkinson Asked for the Gag Order He is Now Using as an Excuse
Wilkinson’s company, QJR LLC, was the party that filed the ex parte motion asking the judge to seal the case and impose a gag order.
In other words, Wilkinson is citing a court order that he himself requested, leading city officials and residents to believe he has no choice but to remain silent — despite the order having no bearing on his actions in Ocean Springs.
- QJR LLC did not even exist when Ocean Springs was under contract with Securix. The company was created in October of 2023, months after Ocean Springs had severed ties with Securix.
- The gag order applies to disputes between QJR and Securix — not Wilkinson’s role in Ocean Springs matters.
- Wilkinson strategically requested the gag order and is now using it as an excuse to dodge accountability.
Securix Chairman Jonathon Miller confirmed the gag order does not cover Wilkinson’s actions in Ocean Springs. “Nothing that happened in Ocean Springs has anything to do with it and to claim otherwise is demonstrably false,” Miller wrote in a statement to GC Wire.
And yet, some aldermen have fully bought into the narrative.
Ward 1 Alderman Jennifer Burgess, despite voting in favor of replacing Wilkinson, echoed the same falsehood, arguing that the city should wait to act. “I’m not opposed to going that route, but I think maybe we might be better served to wait until that information comes out and we have all the facts and data,” she said.
But what more “facts and data” does she need? The Board already has irrefutable proof that Wilkinson:
- Pitched Securix to the Board without disclosing his financial ties, according to two officials.
- Remained involved in city meetings and votes on Securix instead of recusing himself.
- Used Ocean Springs as a “model city” to sell the program to others.
- Created the gag order he’s now using as an excuse to remain silent.
The Board seems to know everything they need to know.
The Firm was Made Aware of the Motion
GC Wire has confirmed Wilkinson was informed early Tuesday that Authement would make the motion to replace the Wilkinson firm as City Attorney.
Knowing hours in advance that a motion to replace him was coming, Wilkinson had ample opportunity to prepare, yet Will Norman, an attorney from the Wilkinson law firm, still presided over the discussion— another clear conflict of interest. This was not an unexpected ambush; it was a planned vote that Wilkinson was aware of, making the firm’s failure to recuse look more like a deliberate attempt to protect their position rather than a small oversight.
Will the City Actually Replace Wilkinson?
Tuesday’s unanimously approved motion sets the stage to replace Wilkinson and his firm as City Attorney for Ocean Springs, but it will not happen overnight and there is no guarantee it will happen at all.
Authement was clear his intention was not to remove Wilkinson until either an in-house attorney has been found or a firm to replace Wilkinson’s. Also, Authement indicated he desires to allow Wilkinson to continue working on open cases he is involved in on the city’s behalf.
“You can’t just get out there and fire an attorney because they have cases that they’ve spent a lot of hours on,” he said. “If we did that, we’d have a new attorney that would have to start doing all the background, reading all the depositions, all the discovery and the taxpayers are going to pay four times as much as what we have invested in. So, we have to at least take that into consideration.”
Even if suitable replacements are found, Aldermen Burgess and Impey show signs they may push to delay the process. Some on social media have expressed concerns the vote will result in no actions.
Will the city actually replace Wilkinson or will he continue to serve as the Ocean Springs City Attorney for another 20 years?
At this point, nobody knows. What’s clear, though, is that some Ocean Springs officials are willing to bend over backwards to protect what most cities would never tolerate.
