Haight: Purchasing rules debated
A meeting filled with allegations, interruptions and raised voices ended with three Blue Ridge City Council members voting to have Mayor Rhonda Haight investigated.
Jack Taylor, Angie Arp and Bill Bivins agreed to Taylor’s motion calling for an investigation into possible charter violations by Haight. The action came after a lengthy executive session of the council.
William Whaley voted against the motion saying the firm named by Taylor to carry out the investigation, Brinson Askew Berry, was not the “best choice of legal firms.” He pressed for the investigator he recommended for the council’s previous investigation vote to be used, citing a lower cost.
Haight accused the attorney who will conduct the investigation, Stuart Duggan, of being “biased.”
Councilwoman Christy Kay abstained from the vote citing a lack of information.
In discussion following Taylor’s motion and before the vote, Haight asked the motion be amended to include investigations into possible charter violations by Taylor, Arp and Bivins and outlined her allegations against each. Whaley made a motion to include such an investigation, but it died for lack of a second.
In the Tuesday, April 16, meeting at city hall, council members had a heated discussion, during which Haight challenged City Attorney Chuck Conerly’s opinion regarding the city’s purchasing policy.
After Haight’s veto of the council’s approval of the latest purchasing policy was read, a vote was taken to override that veto with all but Whaley, who sided with the mayor, voting for an override. An override required a unanimous vote.
Council members then voted to amend a previous decision to grant the authority under the 2022 purchasing policy to the mayor and give that authority to the city clerk.
This brought heated debate, including Conerly’s opinion that the council could make such a decision being challenged by the mayor.
Conerly had explained that the ordinance stands as written, but the council has the authority to assign authority granted under the ordinance.
Haight then said she would not follow the council’s instructions and if the staff or city clerk (Amy Mintz) did so she would “write them up.”
In a similar vote to the investigation approval, Taylor, Arp and Bivins were in favor while Whaley and Kay opposed the interim move.
In another vote, the mayor’s authority to enter into contracts of less than $5,000 was removed by a 4-1 margin with Whaley being the only council member opposed.