Hard feelings persist on city council

“The bottom line, from everything I can tell, everything that has been done up to this point has been done correctly,” he said. “I’ve reviewed that with Shirley (Willis, whose re-election as election superintendent led to Burchett’s comments) and she has a correct understanding on how to do things, and I’m sure it will be done correctly in the future.”

Stell told the council that when Willis holds up a ballot and reads the name of the person marked on the ballot, an assistant election manager also looks at the ballot to confirm Willis read the right name.

“I know it’s been done correctly and will continue to be done correctly,” he added.

That might have ended the discussion, but Ward 1 councilman Archie Chaney asked Burchett which election he’d been talking about it.

“You lost in ‘08 and you won in ‘09, so it had to be ‘08,” he said. “…The people of Ward 1 voted for Chaney and I guess you’re upset because Chaney won the election before you.”

“I wasn’t upset,” Burchett countered. “If I’d been upset, I’d have said something about you being up here at the polls where they were voting. That’s what they were talking about the other night.”

“That’s another lie,” Chaney said.

Burchett revealed that his brother told him he’d come to vote and Chaney “asked him if you could help him,” he said. “You ain’t supposed to be at the polls.”

Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. questioned Burchett as to when the alleged incident happened, and Burchett said it was during early voting, which is conducted in the conference room at City Hall. The mayor pointed out that Chaney is entitled to be at City Hall at any time, then moved the meeting on to other topics.

Later, however, Chaney brought the subject back up, referring to a city council retreat in which all members signed an agreement that there would be “no ambushes, no surprises” at city council meetings.

“That was a surprise to everybody on the city council,” he said. “In the 20-some years I’ve been on the city council, I’ve never been so upset as I was last Monday (June 13) night. If I said anything that offended anyone, I’m sorry.”

Still later, the mayor revealed a change in the regular meeting format, which appears to be related to the unplanned discussion of June 13. He said he will no longer solicit “new items” from city council members at the end of the meeting.

“If you’ve got something you need to get done, call Clarence (Bryant, city manager),” he said. Bryant pointed out that council members — like city residents — can call City Hall to request action on issues like most of what the council members bring up at each meeting, from potholes to be fixed to drainage problems to water leaks.