By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – At a meeting of the Leeds City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 21, Councilman Eric Turner confronted Mayor David Miller about the alleged actions of one of the city employees.
The council passed three items on the agenda before Turner asked Miller two questions, the first being if there was progress on the development of a sports complex north of Grand River. Miller replied that there was. Turner then asked if any reports have been made, to which Miller said that he hopes that the Finance Committee will do so and that discussions are being made with the county.
Miller added that he was scheduled to meet with the head of Retirement Systems of Alabama as well as with the Jefferson County Commission.
He said that a proposal had been sent to the county, with several items rejected, but that it has been resubmitted.
“Maybe we’ll have some substantive things to report about that project,” Miller said. “I’ll say just as a comment that it’s looking good. Of course we can’t do anything until the names are on the dotted line. We hope to be able to do that soon. It’s been a long, long process and lots of moving parts.”
Turner then said that he had a concern about attempting to add items to the agenda in the past several meetings but that they were declined.
“How do we go about changing that?” he asked Miller. “I mean, can you stop me from putting something on the agenda?”
Miller said no. Turner said that he had tried to add an item to an agenda before but that the city clerk told him that Miller declined to include it, even after approval from the city attorney. Miller said that he never heard back from the attorney and so the item was not added.
Turner insisted that he had approval and that the item regarded a concern about a city employee who he said had contacted the employers of two citizens that spoke at a past meeting and “gone after their livelihoods”.
Turner later specified to the Trussville Tribune that the city employee told the citizens’ employers that they had made homophobic remarks while speaking. He denied that such remarks were ever made.
“Our council came to you and the attorneys and said we had some strong concerns with this,” he told Miller. “And we discussed this with the personnel board and the personnel board said it was time to discuss this with that employee and that we wouldn’t be breaking any rules or anything.”
He said that a discussion was made about meeting with the board but that Miller sent a letter saying that there was no issue with the employee. He then asked Miller if the letter could be publicized, to which Miller said that he did not oppose it.
“I just think people need to know that you didn’t have a problem with that behavior,” Turner told Miller. “And everyone in this room knows what the behavior was, and you basically said that it didn’t rise to anything to be addressed at all.”
Turner said that he would publicize the letter.
In other business the council:
- Granted a liquor license manufacturing to Sweet Home Spirits Inc. after a 3-2 vote,
- Approved job descriptions and their related pay grades for the public library (these can be seen on the agenda packet for the Feb. 21 meeting on the City of Leeds website), and
- Entered into an agreement with Alabama Power to replace the current lighting system at the tennis courts with a new LED system.
Meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of every month at City Hall on 1400 9th Street Northeast. Agenda packets can be seen online at the City of Leeds website.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.