“I could sit here and tell you so much,” City of Blue Ridge Councilman Nathan Fitts said to Councilman Mike Panter after being accused by Panter of not doing his job during a special called meeting Tuesday, October 20.
“So many unethical and illegal things, back from when I even lived with the mayor at her house, and she would die if I even started spilling the beans.”
The statement came after a string of examples providing by Panter, which outlined the city’s negligence over the past 10 years.
“I spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks going back through the newspaper,” Panter said.
“I’ve looked at the last, I guess, 15 articles that’s been written by the newspaper as well as articles that’s been submitted by current people on the board and previous council members, and, quite honestly, I’m very disappointed in the actions of what I’m seeing with this current board, the previous board. We’re supposed to set an example to the citizens of Blue Ridge, and we’ve not been doing that.”
Panter then began to read off recent headlines published by The News Observer, which involve the city.
He then moved to a Letter to the Editor submitted to The News Observer from former councilwoman Angie Arp.
“And then you get into an article by a previous council member,” Panter said. “It says, talking about over the last 50 years, talking about issues with our leadership, our mayor should be removed, mismanagement, the corruptness, deceitfulness, you know, it’s a common denominator.
“And then I keep on going in. It starts talking about taxes over the last 10 years, you know, why has the mayor not done this... That person served on the council for four years, not one time during the four years was anywhere in the minutes discussing delinquent taxes or discussing business license.”
In continuing to summarize the letter, he said, “The charter mandates a city council removal of any member that is incompetent. Well, evidently, a lot of things have gone on incompetent over the last 10 or 15 years if you start looking at what we’ve found over the last six months.
“A council is vested with all the powers of government for the city, which includes the authority over the mayor. So if the council’s in charge, the council should be doing their job.”
There was a brief discussion over the purchase of temperature readers.
Panter insisted that there was a 5-0 motion to add the purchase of temperature readers to the agenda during the meeting; however, the city’s minutes had said the motion was to not approve the devices.
Fitts countered Panter, explaining that the motion was to table the matter, which is, in fact, what was suggested by Councilwoman Rhonda Haight, and the motion carried with a unanimous vote during the August 11 meeting.
Fitts encouraged Panter to “go back and listen to the audio,” to which Panter offered a copy of the minutes from the meeting.
“Those minutes are wrong,” Haight said. “We tabled it.”
Haight then pointed out that Panter was over the time limit for public commentary and moved to extend his time, which passed.
In reviewing the minutes from the past 10 or so years, Panter said that no where does it mention collecting delinquent taxes, business licenses, spending limits, the downtown playground, and in all those matters in which a vote took place, the mayor did not have a vote.
“Hampton Inn approval, three to nothing vote,” Panter said. “Everybody’s complaining about it’s so tall, well if you go back and look... October 2015, Roy Parsons with the zoning board recommended it be reduced from... four floors to three floors. Nope, it wasn’t done that way. The council voted four to nothing. Ms. Arp made the motion to do that, and mayor didn’t vote.”
He then moved to the matter of the 4-V Ranch grass contract, mentioning that it was a 3-0 vote to approve the contract.
“You weren’t involved in the original vote of what we were told, though, Mike,” Fitts said. “I think that’s the part that you don’t understand.”
Panter then accused Fitts of not doing his job, to which Fitts agreed and said he’s vowed since to always do his own research before voting.
After listing off several more matters that were recently disputed along with other issues around the city, Panter said, “So my point is, if we’re going to write Letters to the Editor and we’re gonna put stuff in the newspaper, let’s make sure it’s factual, and let’s make sure we’re doing our job. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
Fitts asked, since he wrote a Letter to the Editor, if Panter could provide specific examples of Fitts not doing his job.
Panter could not list any examples.
“I think we need to call this meeting to order,” Haight said. “And I think that was very inappropriate on all levels for you to call everybody out, Mike, and I think that we need to get back on focus, and let’s focus on what we need to do for our citizens and not what we need to do amongst ourselves.
“What we need on this, what we need is unity, and we’re not getting it. We need a new leader who can bring unity, and right now we need to get this meeting going.”
Mayor Donna Whitener said, “We might need a new council.”
“See that’s inappropriate, Donna,” Haight said. “Let’s just focus on the meeting. Let’s just focus. Run the meeting like you’re supposed to, or if you want me to step in, I’d be glad to.”
Whitener replied by saying she has it handled, to which Haight said the meetings need to be handled “appropriately” and to enforce time limits.