Burnet: Councilman will fight call for resignation

By CHRIS PORTER • Daily Tribune Staff

BURNET - Mayor Alan Smith’s call for the resignations of councilmen James Ritter, Bill Flynn and Ken Graham following an aborted attempt to fire the city’s top employee will not go down without a fight, one of the councilmen vowed.

Smith at Tuesday night’s council meeting said he asked the three men to step down after they pressured him to terminate City Manager Mike Steele during a series of private meetings earlier this month.

Ritter said Wednesday that Smith acted improperly when he called for the council members’ resignations.

“There’s going to be a rebuttal to all this mess,” he said.

Smith’s speech Tuesday came minutes after the council returned from an hourlong closed-door session, where Steele’s job performance was the sole subject. The council unanimously approved a show of support for Steele after returning to open session.

“What was meant to happen was, the council was to go into executive session with Mr. Steele to discuss his job performance, then we would vote to fire him, or let him stay,” Ritter said. “The mayor had no business making that statement afterward.”

Smith asked the three councilmen to submit their resignations by Oct. 10, adding he’ll seek a council vote on the matter if the three refuse to step down.

“Gentlemen, I believe you placed this council in jeopardy,” he told the three councilmen Tuesday before a packed audience. “Now we’re here embarrassed, angry, appalled, and worse yet, divided.”

He stressed at the meeting that the councilmen could not be fired unwillingly without a council vote, though Ritter contested that point.

“The citizens of Burnet make that decision,” he said. “As far as violations of the Open Meetings Act, we asked the City Attorney up front about it, and (Smith) knew that.”

If the three leave the council, Steele said the city would have to hold a special election to fill the vacancies.

“That would be very expensive,” he said.

In the meantime, Steele said he’ll continue to work to maintain a functional council.

“I think my job now is to try and reunite a very divided council,” Steele said Wednesday. “We’ll do that through workshops and strategic meetings where they can solve some of the problems they perceive.”

Steele said he wasn’t certain if the three councilmen would leave the council voluntarily or otherwise, but did say he hopes the group can learn to work together despite their differences.

“I’ve got to get them used to working with one another,” he said. “I hope I can.”

The controvsersy began after some council members expressed their concern with city leadership following the departure of several city police officers, including former Police Chief Bob Watson. Watson’s departure was followed shortly by the resignation of Parks and Recreation Director Colby Van Gundy.

“You talk to an employee who’s leaving, and there are usually valid reasons,” Steele said. “Like I told the council (Tuesday), you try to treat people like you want to be treated. I’ve received notes of support from many of the employees in question.”

Steele said exit interviews with most of the employees didn’t indicate problems on the job, though the council may have thought otherwise.

Steele called Tuesday’s executive session “professional,” adding he didn’t think the controversy will affect his ability to work with the seven council members.

“I don’t think it’s damaged my ability to work with them as much as it has damaged their ability to work together,” he said. “There’s an inferred aura of mistrust, and my job is to help them work through that together. It’s not as easy as saying ‘You’ve got to get along.’ ”

Ritter said he intends to continue his term on the council despite Smith’s call for resignation.

“I can tell you, we three council members likely will not offer our resignations,” he said.

In a Sept. 13 letter to council members, Smith said the meetings were called improperly.

“I have personal knowledge that this has been conceived with no regard for ethics or the Open Meetings Act,” he wrote. “This is not the way that our citizens who elected us would want us to behave.”

The next council meeting is set for Oct. 9 in council chambers, 2402 S. Water St. in Burnet.

chris@thepicayune.com

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Burnet: Councilman will fight call
for resignation