City Council exchange clarified
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on April 9, 2015 1:46 PM
In a story in Tuesday's News-Argus, "Council Hears Plan to Expand," a quote attributed to Mayor Al King was falsely attributed to City Manager Scott Stevens.
The quote from Mayor King, broken into two parts, was not exact, and reads: "You will not be getting any of these employees fired," (Mayor Al) King said, referencing earlier exchanges between (Bobby) Mathis and City Manager Scott Stevens. "If you want me fired, then go ahead and get me fired."
The last half of the quote was not said by Stevens, but could have been misconstrued as being attributed to him.
Citizen Bobby Mathis came to the city council meeting Monday night to petition for curb and gutter to be installed on his property, which he has done several times.
At the end of his public comments, Mathis said, "I asked you before to relieve Scott Stevens of his job. He (Stevens) fired Captain (Chad) Calloway for the same thing -- not following protocol. Is there a different standard? Maybe there is."
After this, seeing that Mathis had exceeded the time limit for the public comment period, the mayor said, "Sir, I have been very patient, and we have a three minute (time) limit for our comment period."
Following this, Mathis and King had a brief exchange.
Mathis: "I understand, I can leave," Mathis told the mayor.
Following this, Council member Charles Williams shared that he does not have curb and gutter at his home on Slocumb Street, either, and water stands in his yard when it rains as well.
Della Mathis, Mathis' wife, then said "Thank you for your time," and began to leave.
Then the exchange between King and Mathis continued.
Here is the full exchange, unedited, between Mayor King and citizen Bobby Mathis after Mathis' comments during the public comment period:
Mathis: "I want him (Stevens) off the job."
King: "Sir, your comments will not get this man fired. Your comments and your relationship with this man will not get him fired."
Mathis: "Well, maybe I should get you fired then."
King: "You can fire me. But you're not going to get our city manager fired. Get me fired. That's --"
And then the Mathises left the council chambers without any further exchanges.
Council member William Goodman then inquired for details regarding the Mathises curb and gutter issue, and Stevens calmly explained the history of the matter.