Fairhope asks AG’s office for clarification on new form of government
The city of Fairhope, Ala. has already set October 2 as the date for a special election to allow voters to decide whether or not they will change the city’s form of government. Now, the mayor and City Council members are looking to the Alabama Attorney General’s office for clarification on how the new system would play out. After a months-long battle between Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson, and a non-profit group, Fresh Start Fairhope the group garnered enough signatures to call for a special election; allowing Fairhope citizens to vote on whether or not they want to change the city’s current form of government. The new form of government being proposed would create a new governing body known as the “Council of the City of Fairhope,” which would have the same executive powers and duties of the council, but would make the mayor a member of the council, not an executive over it. Meaning the mayor would no longer preside over all city employees, or the council. Instead the mayor would be in charge of ceremonial events, and serve as a representative of the city. The council and the mayor are now seeking an opinion from the Attorney General’s office on how the new council members would be elected if the vote passes in October. According to meeting minutes from the August 13 Fairhope City Council meeting, the council voted to ask the AG’s office: “Does the petition process contained in the Council-Manager Act of 1982…permit the adoption of the council-manager form of government by petition to consist of council members elected at large as the legislature provided for in Section 11-42A-1.1 or does the petition process only to provide, pursuant to Section 11-43A-8(a) for election of council members in single member districts?” “Clarifying this important distinction is a must,” Wilson told the Lagniappe Mobile. “Many who signed the petition, including me, believed they were signing for a new form of government with council districts. The vote should not take place until this is clearly communicated.” Spokesman for Fresh Start Fairhope, Chuck Zunk also weighed in on the issue: “Our reading of the law is that the law is silent on whether the City Council should make a determination on at-large or district representation before or after,” Zunk also told the Lagniappe Mobile. “We would prefer before. But we’re not the lawyers and we’re not the attorney general.”
Councilman accuses Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson of violating state law
Fairhope City Councilman Kevin Boone has accused Mayor Karin Wilson of violating state law after she used the city’s communication system to display a blog post pushing the her version of a petition to change the city’s form of government. Boone said he submitted evidence in early July of what he thinks is a violation of Alabama state law to Baldwin County District Attorney Bob Wilters. “The paperwork has been sent in to the proper authorities to do an investigation,” Boone told WABF. “Whether or not it’s going to be done, I don’t know.” “I did this not so much as a councilman, but as Kevin Boone,” he continued, emphasizing that he did not take action on behalf of the council, but as a private citizen. When two petitions offering two different changes to Fairhope’s form of city government began circulating in June Wilson used the city’s Everbridge communication system, to display a blog post pushing her version of a petition to change the city’s form of government. According to the Fairhope municipal website, “this system enables us to provide you with critical information quickly in a variety of situations, such as severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons and events happening in your area.” According to Boone, and The Courier, this violates several Alabama laws including Alabama Code Title 17-17-4 which states: “Any person who attempts to use his or her official authority or position for the purpose of influencing the vote or political action of any person shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a Class C felony.” Class C felonies in Alabama carry a sentence of up to 10 years in state prison. “Section 17-17-5 goes further: “No person in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, a city, a local school board, or any other governmental agency, whether classified or unclassified, shall use any state, county, city, local school board, or other governmental agency funds, property, or time, for any political activities.” “According to the subsection, political activities include: “a. Making contributions to or contracting with any entity which engages in any form of political communication, including communications which mention the name of a political candidate. “b. Engaging in or paying for public opinion polling. “c. Engaging in or paying for any form of political communication, including communications which mention the name of a political candidate. “d. Engaging in or paying for any type of political advertising in any medium. “e. Phone calling for any political purpose. “f. Distributing political literature of any type. “g. Providing any type of in-kind help or support to or for a political candidate.” “17-17-5 goes on to state that “It shall also be unlawful for any officer or employee to coerce or attempt to coerce any subordinate employee to work in any capacity in any political campaign or cause. Wilson responded to The Courier‘s reports, saying “Supporting a referendum for a vote by a legislative body or by voters is NOT considered a ‘political activity.’ Regardless, there were no public funds used nor the improper use of public property.” She then attached a “2003 Alabama Attorney General’s Opinion involving whether public school systems and colleges could expend public funds to advocate on behalf of ballot initiatives and a 2015 circuit court ruling involving the Baldwin County Board of Education’s advocacy for the Build Baldwin Now campaign,” the report continued. The Attorney General at the time, Bill Pryor, ruled that state law did not forbid the activity. No word has been reported as to whether or not the district attorney’s office will investigate. Wilson under fire Wilson has been under fire from the City Council repeatedly this year. In March, Wilson received an email from Fairhope Police Chief Joseph Petties, after a controversial hiring decision she made in February without the council, or police chief’s approval, later retracting the hire. Wilson again came under fire in May with Fairhope’s Financial Advisory Committee (FAC), after sending an e-mail to committee chairman Chuck Zunk telling him the city budget was ultimately her responsibility, and that she would let the committee know if and when she needed their input. Earlier in June, Petties announced his retirement at a city council meeting after saying Wilson bullied him and made false accusations against him. In an unanticipated turn of events, council members emphatically tore up Petties’s resignation letter, refusing to accept his resignation. They said they would look into whether or not the council could pursue efforts to pry police supervisory power from Wilson.
Fairhope sets city manager vote for October 2
After petitions signed by over 800 members of the Fairhope community made their way to the Probate Court earlier this month; the town has set October 2 as the date for a special election to allow voters to decide whether or not they will change the city’s form of government. The new form of government being proposed would create a new governing body known as the “Council of the City of Fairhope,” which would have the same executive powers and duties of the council, but would make the mayor a member of the council, not an executive over it. Meaning the mayor would no longer preside over all city employees, or the council. Instead the mayor would be in charge of ceremonial events, and serve as a representative of the city. The way the members of the council are elected would also change. “One member will be a council member elected by the voters at large. Three members will be council members elected by the voters from each of three single-member districts,” the group, Fresh Start Fairhope, stated. However, several other details however, remain unclear. The city has yet to determine the language that will be used on the ballot, or how the new council members will be elected in the future. If the measure passes, it will not come into effect until 2020. “What hasn’t been decided yet is if the council will determine whether they should represent individual districts or be at-large,” Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell told AL.com. Russell also told them he was concerned about “voter fatigue,” given that this will be the “sixth election in 14 months for Fairhope voters, not counting the Nov. 6 general election.” But the members of Fresh Start Fairhope, the group responsible for gathering the signatures to issue the new proposal are not as worried. “If you talk to the 800 or so people who have supported our position, they are excited about this and cannot wait for October to come around. People are ready for change in Fairhope and are ready for something bigger,” the group’s spokesman Chuck Zunk told AL.com.
City of Fairhope to vote on changing form of government
A non-profit group in Fairhope, Ala. has turned in enough signatures to create a special election, allowing Fairhope citizens to vote on whether or not they want to change the city’s current form of government. Probate Judge Tim Russell is still in the process of verifying the 857 signatures Fresh Start Fairhope garnered, the group only needed 685 John Hancock’s to be granted the referendum. The special election may be held as soon as September, but cannot be held later than 90 days after the petitions are validated. “I think we’re making a great case for a council manager system. I think when we get closer to actually having an election, we’ll have more opportunity to explain the benefits of that system and our message will continue to get stronger,” Fresh Start Fairhope leader Chuck Zunk told WPMI. The new form of government they are proposing would create a new governing body known as the “Council of the City of Fairhope,” which would have the same executive powers and duties of the council, but would make the mayor a member of the council, not an executive over it. Meaning they would no longer be over all city employees, or the council. The mayor would also be in charge of ceremonial events, and serve as a representative of the city. The way the members of the council are elected would also change, “One member will be a council member elected by the voters at large. Three members will be council members elected by the voters from each of three single-member districts,” the group states. Fairhope’s mayor Karin Wilson issued her own petition supporting the Council-Manager form of government, because it “takes the day-to-day administrative role out of the political limelight which has been very detrimental to not only our City but others also still operating under the Council-Mayor form of government.” Her version of the petition failed to meet the necessary amount of signatures to be considered by the probate court. Wilson under fire Wilson has been under fire from the City Council repeatedly this year. In March, Wilson received an email from Fairhope Police Chief Joseph Petties, after a controversial hiring decision she made in February without the council, or police chief’s approval, later retracting the hire. Wilson again came under fire in May with Fairhope’s Financial Advisory Committee (FAC), after sending an e-mail to committee chairman Chuck Zunk telling him the city budget was ultimately her responsibility, and that she would let the committee know if and when she needed their input. Earlier in June, Petties announced his retirement at a city council meeting after saying Wilson bullied him and made false accusations against him. In an unanticipated turn of events, council members emphatically tore up Petties’s resignation letter, refusing to accept his resignation. They said they would look into whether or not the council could pursue efforts to pry police supervisory power from Wilson.
Fairhope mayor, citizen group at odds in effort to change city’s governing system
A battle is brewing in Fairhope, Ala. A potential change in the city’s governing system has controversial Mayor Karin Wilson and a non-profit group called Fresh Start Fairhope at odds with one another. The change in government would allow the city to change from a Council-Mayor system to a Council-Manager system if enough petitions are signed. The end date for petition acceptance is this Friday, June 29. Wilson issued a blog last week saying she supports the Council-Manager form of government because it “takes the day-to-day administrative role out of the political limelight which has been very detrimental to not only our City but others also still operating under the Council-Mayor form of government.” “This is not about taking anyone’s side (mayor or council), it is about a more professional way of doing business for our City and our employees – a better way to represent our citizens and meet their needs,” Wilson continued. “The administrative role of mayor currently is a full-time job leaving little time for planning and vision which I believe is one of the most important roles of a mayor. We have had City Administrators in the past who have helped with this role with far less population, however the position was defunded years ago.” “By changing the form of government, the City Manager would be the consistent professional through terms managed by The New Council. Our future is too important to leave this position up for debate.” But the Fresh Start Fairhope group supports a different solution; changing the city’s form of government to Council-Manager. On the groups home page, they explain that in Fairhope’s current form of government the Mayor is chief executive of the city, meaning that all city employees report to them, and they are in charge of executing all policies, procedures, and budgets established by City Council. The new form of government they are proposing would create a new governing body known as the “Council of the City of Fairhope,” which would have the same executive powers and duties of the council, but would make the mayor a member of the council, not an executive over it. Meaning they would no longer be over all city employees, or the council. The mayor would also be in charge of ceremonial events, and serve as a representative of the city. The way the members of the council are elected would also change, “One member will be a council member elected by the voters at large. Three members will be council members elected by the voters from each of three single-member districts,” the group states. Wilson under fire Wilson has been under fire from the City Council repeatedly this year. In March, Wilson received an email from Fairhope Police Chief Joseph Petties, after a controversial hiring decision she made in February without the council, or police chief’s approval, later retracting the hire. Wilson again came under fire in May with Fairhope’s Financial Advisory Committee (FAC), after sending an e-mail to committee chairman Chuck Zunk telling him the city budget was ultimately her responsibility, and that she would let the committee know if and when she needed their input. Earlier in June, Petties announced his retirement at a city council meeting after saying Wilson bullied him and made false accusations against him. In an unanticipated turn of events, council members emphatically tore up Petties’s resignation letter, refusing to accept his resignation. They said they would look into whether or not the council could pursue efforts to pry police supervisory power from Wilson.
Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson creates another point of contention
Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson has yet again created conflict within her city’s leadership. In late April, she sent an email to Fairhope’s Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) chairman Chuck Zunk saying the city budget was ultimately her responsibility, and that she would let the committee know if she needed there input. Now, the FAC is at a standstill, waiting for Wilson to “need” them. “As far as I can tell, the mayor has changed her position on the budget preparation, and my impression of the contents of her email is that she wants us to butt out and not be involved at all,” Zunk told the Courier. “When they finish it, she’ll distribute it to us and with six days of review, she expects us to be able to discuss it at the July meeting.” Zunk and other committee members felt the mayor was attempting to not have the FAC be involved in the process at all, and that the reasons she gave for not including them were “trivial” and “foolish.” During the May 15 city council meeting, Zunk was given an opportunity to voice his concerns. “Our interpretation of the email was that: No. 1 – it changed the relationship between the committee and city staff from collaborative and cooperative, which it had been up until that point, to adversarial; and No. 2 – it restricted our access to acquiring facts from city staff, so much as to be essentially cut off,” Zunk said. “Under those circumstances, we are unable to function as you had requested and so we suspended consideration of all of our active projects, pending discussion with city council.” “She made a comment to me … that now that she’s been through the preparation of two budgets, she’s an expert, that she doesn’t need anybody’s opinion,” Zunk told the Courier. “Well, I guess the 120-some years of experience that the four of us have doesn’t mean jack to the two years of experience that she has. That’s her attitude. It seems to me that if that’s her attitude, we’re kind of swimming upstream.” And his assumptions might be correct. During a phone conversation with Courier reporter, Cliff McCollum; wilson said she thought the council was confusing their role in the administration. “I don’t need advice there,” Wilson told him. “What I need is help communicating with the council. I’ve always made myself available and want to find ways to make this a better process.” This is not the first time Wilson has been under fire from city leadership. In March, Wilson received an email from Fairhope Police Chief Joseph Petties, after a controversial hiring decision she made in February. Wilson announced the hiring of Tony Goubil, the city’s new police sergeant and public safety director, at a council meeting on February 26, without informing the council or Petties, both of whom were shocked to receive the news, especially since, according to The Courier, the Alabama Ethics Commission sent Goubil to investigate a complaint filed against Wilson. Although the complaint was dismissed, “those who filed the claims questioned how Goubil’s investigations into those claims could be trusted in the light of his hiring by Wilson.” Wilson later retracted the hire at the March 20 City Council meeting, saying that although she believed the city did need a public safety director, and Goubil was a great choice for the position, that she understood other people wanted input in the decision.
