City Council takes no action at called meeting

(Franklin) – No action was taken by the Franklin City Council at a special called meeting Wednesday night at City Hall. Councilman Bo Almond had called for the meeting earlier this week to discuss replacing Councilman Johnny Adams as the current acting mayor over the City of Franklin.

Adams was the only councilman not notified of the meeting in advance. City Attorney David Mecklin confirmed that Adams should have been notified, but added that since Adams was in attendance at the meeting, any notification issues would be waived.

Mecklin added that Councilmen Almond, Rogers, Manders, and Hamil had approved calling the meeting.

Almond stated that he agreed that Adams should have been notified and apologized. He also stated that he had contacted City Clerk Myra Braswell to call the meeting and that she reported to him that all council members had been notified.

Mecklin advised Adams that he was still in the position of presiding over the meeting if he wanted to be and Adams agreed to preside and said the prayer to begin the official meeting.

The attorney led about 40 minutes of discussion among council members detailing all of the scenarios and options for changing current city leadership, and advised the council if they did vote Adams out as acting mayor (mayor successor) that it would likely be easily challenged in court.

Mecklin went on to add that the council had appointed Adams in a meeting on June 7, 2012 to serve in the position for the “entire duration of Mayor Chapman’s suspension.” He stated that any attempt to change that now would be a risky move for the city from a legal aspect.

Councilman Jimmy Hamil referenced that the attempt to appoint a new acting  Mayor began during an executive session held during last week’s regular meeting.

According to Hamil, Mecklin advised the council during executive session last week not to make a vote that evening on such an important issue. He felt that the public should be given notice prior to such an impactful decision.

Councilman Almond, who is currently serving as acting Mayor Pro Tem, offered to relinquish his position as second in command if another member of the council planned to run for Mayor during this year’s election. No council member expressed interest in the Almond’s offer. Almond stated that he would likely seek the Mayor office in 2018.

After some comments by Adams and Hamil, the meeting adjourned on a motion by Councilman Shane Manders with unanimous approval.

Councilman Adams made the following statement in a phone interview Wednesday night after the meeting: “I just want the city to succeed. I want everyone to work together in peace and harmony. If you go back and check the records during the last seven years, there has been nothing but controversy with the city and one person has been involved in all the controversy… either by leading it or being the main person involved in it… and that needs to stop,” stated Adams.

“We have five men on the council with five different opinions and five different egos. We are not going to always agree on everything, but if we disagree on something then we need to sit there like men and work it out and come up with the best solution for the city… and not the best solution for the person… politically or anything else like that. We have people that are not happy unless they are involved in a controversy,” added Adams.

The next scheduled council meeting will take place on April 4, 2013 at Franklin City Hall. Elections will be held for all council seats as well as the Mayor position this November.