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’s hiring of new police sergeant making waves in local government
Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson is under fire regarding an appointment she made in late 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. The council and Fairhope Police Chief Joseph Petties, who were not informed of Goubil’s hiring prior to her announcing the decision, were both astonished at the announcement. Wilson shared her reasonings and excitement for the announcement in a Facebook post: “The hiring of Tony Goubil is a point of pride for me and for this City. His passion for safety is going to help catapult our incredible police department to far greater heights. When you have an opportunity to hire someone with this amount of experience to meet a great and growing city need, you take it. Some are casting the filling of this need in a negative light. I can assure you it is not. When a position opens up in any department, under my administration, we will make it available to all deserving and qualified individuals.” However, questions have arisen about Goubil’s hiring after baldwin county local paper, The Courier, discovered that he met with multiple sources in Fairhope concerning ethics claims filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission commission against Wilson. According to The Courier, the Alabama Ethics Commission sent Goubil to investigate a complaint filed against Wilson, and 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.” The Alabama Ethics Commission has policies in place to prevent this kind of ethical delimma. A memo released in 2017 from the commission’s Executive Director Thomas Albritton said, “once you leave your public employer, for two years you may not go to work for a private business or an individual you audited or investigated while you were a public employee.” The Courier, obtained an e-mail sent to Wilson from Petties. The e-mail, dated March 6, Petties expressed his apprehensions and thoughts about Goubil: I wanted to inform you of the conditions of my department. My Department has been in an uproar ever since Monday, February 26, the night you announced the hiring of Tony Goubil. I was inundated with phone calls that night about something that I had no knowledge of. I am not understanding how someone can be hired under my Department without my knowledge and without any input from me. This has been handled totally different than any hires in the past. I have been a police officer with Fairhope for 27 years and a Sergeant has never been brought in from outside. My officers feel as though they weren’t given an opportunity to apply for the promotion and those that have gone through the process for promotion feel slighted. They feel that it’s not what you do, but who you know. Where’s their motivation to work hard knowing that they do not have an opportunity for promotion. This has caused not one, but all 35 officers to be upset, not to mention my non-sworn employees. The chain-of-command has been completely undermined, thus making it nonexistent. We’ve had two officer involved shootings within the last 6 months. My officers need to be focused on their safety and training and not concerned about which channel their command comes from. I need my employees to stand behind me and support me and in return, I support them. This can’t happen if I am being undermined. I understand that you are authorized to hire and fire, but these decisions need to be carefully considered. The morale and motivation within my Department is the lowest I’ve ever seen at a time when they need to be galvanized behind their leader. I do not need their focus misplaced with worry as to the state of our Department. We’ve got officers that have been off probation for over a year and a half and have not received the standard increase. I am in danger of losing these officers. Due to the lack of qualified applications being received it would be hard to replace these officers. We used to be able to attract officers from surrounding agencies, but with the perceived turmoil within the City, we are no longer attracting those applicants. I’m not sure how we have the money in the budget to award such a position that has been given to Mr. Goubil. Petties isn’t the only Fairhope official in an “uproar” over the unexpected hiring. “This stinks to high heaven,” Councilman Kevin Boone told The Courier. “To me, this seems almost the same as Gov. Bentley offering Luther Strange the Senate seat to end the investigation into him. This just seems incredibly wrong.” “This doesn’t pass the smell test, It’s highly disheartening that our city is once again in the news for missteps taken by the mayor,” Council President Jack Burrell said in the same report. Wilson said in a statement to The Lagniappe; “He (Burrell) was involved in some of the complaints, investigations and complaints are two totally different things. People file frivolous complaints all day long, I can assure you. I’m sure that by upsetting the apple cart there’s a lot of tit for tat and there’s a lot of complaints against me.” Councilman Robert Brown and Boone are questioning Wilson’s authority to create what they feel is a new position. “There is no such position nor is one budgeted,” Brown told The Courier. “Mr. Goubil could fill Officer Bishop’s position; however, that is another issue. There is no full time SRO position, much less two. There was no communication with council, who is the funding authority. A position is not funded or created until council has approved the position.” “There was nothing done inappropriately, if anything, it’s the best hire we’ve made as far as doing proper procedures in that department than has been made. This is an all-encompassing person that’s going to really help plan for Fairhope’s future. Citizens should applaud,” Wilson told The Lagniappe.
