“I think every other council member sitting out here can attest that they went through exactly what we’re going through, that you lie, you manipulate, and you don’t tell the truth, and don’t tell us – every single person that’s ever been on council with you said that,” City of Blue Ridge Councilman Nathan Fitts said of Mayor Donna Whitener during a special called meeting Tuesday, May 9.
Throughout the meeting, Fitts reiterated that he, along with the other council members, have been lied to by Whitener.
The accusations came after a string of events involving the city’s annexation proposal, “secret meetings” with city Attorney James Balli and overall having been left out of the loop on city business.
The meeting was called to replace the regular meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday, May 12.
The regular meeting was canceled due to disagreements among council members as to how the meeting should be conducted. An email formally canceling the meeting from City Clerk Kelsey Ledford said it was due to lack of quorum, however.
“Can I ask a favor out of you?” Fitts asked Balli amidst voting to rescind the annexation amendment. “Can I ask you, the meetings on stuff like this, don’t be having secret meetings with the mayor.
“We are the five voting members of the council. You need to be communicating this kind of stuff with us all the time and responding to our emails because you represent all of us and not trying to push something through when you know the majority of us are against it.”
During the assembly, the city decided to cancel their COVID-19 policy and allow department heads to begin scheduling their employees based on demand.
The policy outlines procedures and protocols to be followed during the pandemic.
Councilwoman Rhonda Haight asked when the city’s properties were going to re-open, to which Mayor Donna Whitener told her that was on the agenda for later.
A lack of communication between the mayor and council members was brought up by Haight and Fitts.
“Mayor, with all due respect, you’ve not responded to one email in three months with direct questions that any of the council members have sent you,” Fitts said.
Whitener defended herself saying, “I think that is incorrect. You might need to check your email.”
When opening city properties was revisited, no information on what properties and when they would re-open was determined.
Haight made a motion that, from then on out, council members be immediately updated when any city properties open or close.
The motion passed.
As for the city pool, it will not open for the season due to a substantial amount of repairs needed.
In a chain of emails prior to the meeting, Fitts requested the presence of City Attorney James Balli at meetings be dependent on the council’s need rather than him automatically coming to every meeting.
Fitts reiterated this same idea to the public.
“There’s been emails back and forth, and I had asked for Mr. Balli to just be available by phone in case there was a controversial issue that we have a legal question that we could ask him without him actually having to drive up here, us pay for him to be at the meeting, and it’s costing the city a lot of money every meeting,” Fitts said.
Balli said he is happy with their decision either way.
Fitts motioned that Balli be available “by phone conference any time needed or on a time-to-time basis if notified and arranged ahead of time should there be a circumstance or situation that we feel guidance is needed from legal counsel, or for those circumstances, we can ask or request him be at a specific meeting.”
When Fitts’ motion was seconded, it passed with the sole opposition of Councilwoman Robbie Cornelius.
During discussion, Fitts explained that he reached out to the Fannin County Road Department for help paving roads.
Fitts was under the impression that a list of pavings had been sent to the department, but when he checked with them, they said they had not received one.
Councilman Mike Panter brought up the fact that 900 parcels of delinquent taxes has not been paid, equaling $362,000.
Some of the debts are ten years old, he said.
“My recommendation is we send everybody a delinquent bill June 1,” Panter said. “We give them 90 days to pay it. If they hadn’t paid it in 90 days, we’re going to list every piece of property in their name in the paper, and then, 30 days later, we’ll have a sale.”
On the contrary, pursuing legal means to collect the delinquent tax can only be done to those delinquencies that are seven years old and newer, according to Finance Director Alicia Stewart.
“We discussed not actually removing them, writing them off, and that if someone paid them, we can accept it, we can take it. We just can’t legally pursue it,” Stewart said.
Haight said,“I was actually on that list, but I’ve been out of the city for three years ... You have to go to the county, you have to tell them, they tell us, but I think it’s easy to clean up.”
Panter reiterated that the tax will be collected “one way or another” by the end of the year.
During an executive session, council members released Eric J. Fears from his probationary period and awarded him a $1 raise.
Litigation was also part of the session, but no word to the public or decision came from it.