City of Copperhill newly elected council members met to perform their first meeting Monday, November 16.
Mayor Kathy Stewart, serving a second term, briefed council members on the requirements of sitting on the council.
She explained the financials and, along with City Recorder Amber Brooks, briefed them on the state’s Sunshine Laws, which are legal guidelines for an open government.
“Well I’m not giving up my friendships for nobody,” Alderman Charles Burnette said after learning he will no longer be able to congregate with friends and fellow council members Horace D. West and Cecil Arp.
“Now, we’ve been meeting up on my porch for a while of a morning and stuff,” Burnette said. “We sit there in the sunshine. We just visit and talk and everything else, but we don’t never talk in front of nobody else.”
Amber Brooks explained that this will no longer be acceptable as an elected official.
In response, Arp said, “They’re gonna have to prove we’s talking city work,” to which Brooks said, “It doesn’t matter.”
Stewart explained that the Municipal Technical Advisory Service will come in the next couple months to fully explain the laws with the council.
In other action, Alderman Scott Brooks was appointed vice mayor.
Stewart recommended Scott Brooks stating that, given he just served four years, he is up-to-date on city business and can be trusted in the event Stewart was not able to conduct city business.
Arp moved to appoint Brooks, and there were no oppositions.
In a Beer Board meeting following the council meeting, Burnette was unanimously appointed chairman. Stewart explained that as chairman, he will be responsible for reviewing applications and making recommendations.
“Well I’ll drink to that,” Burnette said jokingly.