“You made a criminal threat to me to Mrs. Haight this week and said you were gonna drag me out of the council meeting by the hair and beat me up,” Blue Ridge Councilman Nathan Fitts said disputing Councilman Mike Panter’s meeting procedure changes and update during discussion at the Tuesday, February 9, meeting.
Leading up to the statement, Panter suggested adopting a Meeting Ordinance the previous administration had written up with his addition of Robert’s Rules of Order.
Just prior to Fitts’ accusation of Panter’s threat, he said, outlining contradiction in Panter’s behavior versus what Panter desires to see amongst the council, “I agree with actually everything in here almost other than the violation of the charter issues, but your very first one says, ‘Be considerate of others, treat them with respect, refrain from using insults, profanities and other disparaging remarks.’”
With that said, Fitts mentioned the threat of assault.
Fitts also referenced the incident of Mayor Donna Whitener’s selling of her parking lot to a parking company used by the city and compared it to a piece in the procedure that said, “A council member should never participate in the deliberation or vote of any matter knowing his or her financial or personal interests.”
He pointed out that Panter did not try to rectify the so-called conflict of interest.
Panter countered saying that Fitts needs to provide proof of the discrepancy to which Fitts said he did.
“It’s not a final draft,” Panter said earlier in introducing the topic. “It’s strictly a draft for y’all to look at. And we took Rhonda’s input, we took previous council member Angie Arp’s input; we had Harold working on it, a current member; I worked on it; we had three employees working on it. I sent it to Donna Thompson’s group (Fannin County Citizens for Honest Government on Facebook). Hey, I did everything I could do.”
Haight said she did not have a problem with the ordinance; however, she did not agree with the Code of Civility for the council.
The code involved censuring individuals and, after two censures, the member would be removed or asked to resign from office, which is a violation of the charter, Haight said.
“Our charter, Rhonda, says that we have the right to remove an elected official,” Panter said.
Haight agreed but added that there is a specific process for doing so.
Apparently, two separate documents of the proposal were sent out to different individuals.
One is alleged to have included rules for the council, which said, “No public statements, letters to the editor or on social media or any organization, advertisements, emails, texts or announcements regarding official city business,” Haight read off.
Another document distributed did not include this rule.
Haight pointed out that council members have the right to be transparent to the public as long as shared information is not “privileged.”
Refuting the idea of restricting cell phone usage for meetings, Haight explained that she has a monitor that alerts her phone when her blood sugar is either increasing or decreasing.
Panter said that is not the issue, rather the issue is other council members texting audience members.
Other discussion items included an explanation for the increase in business licenses, which Panter attributed “better protection and better service” as part of the cause.
The fact that the ordinance had not been updated since 2004 and comparing it to other cities was also a factor, he said.
During an extensive executive session, officials agreed to adopt a new pay scale for the Street Department.
General laborers will be hired on at $14 an hour, and supervisors will be offered $17.50 to start with a 2% raise based on the city’s chart.
Councilwoman Rhonda Haight suggested that Street Department employees Tony Byrd receive a raise to $21.39 an hour and Vance Allen to $16.50.
Along with that, Bobby Raper was hired onto the department to fill Derrick Callahan’s position as Callahan is moving to the Water and Sewer Department.
Panter then moved to distribute all of the departments’ evaluation pay to employees beginning the first pay period in March based on the evaluation percentage calculated by Finance Director Alicia Stewart.
During discussion, Haight suggested a turning light at the intersection of West First Street and Mountain Street as the area is frequently congested.
Panter made note of the city’s Water and Sewer Bond Resolution and Refinancing stating, “We started 2020 with an additional $2.5 million in debt in the Water and Sewer Department. Refinancing these bonds from, we had two different sets of bonds, one at 4.5% and the other 3.2%. By refinancing them at a 2.1% and reducing it from 37 years pay out to 33 years pay out, we saved the city $2.5 million.”
He said that this money can be used to update the city’s infrastructure if the council desires.
Additionally, ideas of transforming the Farmer’s Market to a swimming complex as a joint venture with the county and the city pool into a skate park were pitched by Panter and Haight respectively.
Fitts proposed creating a Architectural Review Board for the Downtown Development Authority for the Central Business District.