Members of the Glennville City Council joined the mayor for an after-meeting meeting to run down city employees of the past and present variety, as well as a current city councilwoman.
It happened on April 28. The gathering, which was three council members and the mayor, constituted a quorum and, therefore, was a violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act.
Camera footage from city council chambers at City Hall shows the mayor and three council members from the City of Glennville stick around after a special-called meeting to not only discuss city business, but to speak disparagingly about a fellow council member and city employees.
The camera footage was obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act and shows the public clearing the council chambers after a roughly twenty minute meeting.
The special-called meeting had been contentious as a dispute erupted between several members of council after Councilwoman Cynthia Miller expressed her opposition to the reallocation of resources to another district which were initially slated to go to hers. The tension escalated after the meeting when she spoke directly to both Councilman Mark Nobles and Councilwoman Tammy Waters. Waters ultimately asked for police to escort Miller out of the building, though they did not, as Miller was not acting violently or committing any other criminal act.
Official Business Discussed After Clerk, Public Exit Council Chambers
The rundown of the video begins with the the start of the after-meeting meeting.
At the 21:28 mark in the camera footage, Mayor Bernie Weaver states “Let’s have another meeting.” Councilman Greg Janeczek says of the previous meeting, “Well that was exciting. That was better than sitting home watching a meeting.” The statements were in response to comments made by City Councilwoman Cynthia Miller, who was no longer present.
Janeczek then turns to Councilwoman Tammy Waters and tells her that she didn’t deserve [what just happened] and “they ought to be ashamed of themselves.” Multiple conversations then overlap with Weaver speaking to Interim Code Enforcement Officer Stuart Bland, Janeczek speaking with Waters, and Nobles speaking with Public Works Director Rob Fravel, making it difficult to make out what’s being said.
At the 25:55 mark, Nobles can be heard discussing official city business, telling Mayor Weaver that he’s on board with the prospective new city attorney, Andrew Johnson, as are council members Janeczek and Waters. Notably, the interview with Johnson was only conducted the day prior, but not with all members of council present and no vote had taken place to affirm his employment.
Councilwoman Tammy Waters then moves to speak with Fravel, and Weaver, Janeczek, and Nobles continue talking about various historical matters. Police Chief Wes Kicklighter is standing off to the side of the room and at various times steps out into the hallway.
At 29:30, Weaver, Janeczek, and Nobles return to discussing city business, including Nobles’ reason for abstaining from the recent vote.
At 30:25, Nobles mentions how Councilwoman Cynthia Miller was “barking” to him and was then “nasty to Mrs. Tammy,” before stating, “I don’t know what we’re going to do about that.” They discuss some alleged ‘scheme’ she is running and having one of the Glennville police officers escort her out.
At 30:45, Weaver can be heard referencing Councilwoman Miller being a pastor and why he’s never asked her to pray ahead of the meetings. Janeczek replies “There are churches of Satan, you know.” Weaver then outlines what types of things a person won’t do if a person is a Christian and discussion between the three continues on to doing business with people of other faiths. A business owner who is of the Muslim faith is mentioned as a terrorist.
Around 33:00, Waters wraps up her conversation with Fravel and she joins the conversation with Janeczek, Nobles, and Weaver. Still on city business, they discuss matters of public works and the membership in the Tattnall Municipal Association.
Weaver says he thinks the city should withdraw from it because it was developed in the era of Brent Walker for the municipalities. “Bless his heart, I don’t have a lot to say good about Brent,” Weaver said. “Then the county got in it, then the Tattnall DDA, it’s just not the same.”
Janeczek asks what the benefit was “other than a free meal.” Waters and Weaver both said that council members get to talk with other cities, but that there’s no mingling and that the members from Glennville sit by themselves.
Discussion of Council Meeting Attendance and Agenda Process
At 34:30, Weaver says he “can’t understand why everybody was here today,” referencing the special-called meeting. Janeczek replies “I have a feeling that the fact that there were so many people here to a meeting that was scheduled last minute and there was stuff that was on the agenda that you didn’t ask to be put there, and [turns to Waters] did you ever get the answer to your question as to where the leak is coming from and how people over in the Chamber of Commerce get information before we do?”
Weaver replies that he had a few words with the city clerk and he told her he wanted to see the agenda and he was unsure how it slipped past him, but he did not want a citizen on the meeting agenda for the special-called meeting and that she could speak at the regular meeting.
“Then she told me she didn’t know and I didn’t say it and Paulette [Weaver’s wife] said she was hoping I would and I didn’t, but you’ve been there thirty years and you don’t know that? The mayor sets the agenda but it ain’t an agenda until y’all vote on it,” Weaver says.
NOTE: Under the Georgia Open Meetings Act, when a special meeting is called, the purpose of the meeting must be published for the public to review. The city’s announcement of a meeting purpose did not accompany the announcement for the meeting and, as such, the city clerk’s action of providing the preliminary agenda items to the public was proper. Additionally, the same law requires that an agenda be posted at the meeting location and provided to the media ahead of the council meetings, at some point in the two weeks leading up to the meeting and with as much time as reasonably available. (See OCGA 50-14-1(e)(1))
This is also echoed by the Open Government handbooks provided to cities by the Georgia Municipal Association. In their handbook, they write that it must be posted at some point in the two-week period before the meeting AND “the clear intent of this provision is to ensure that the public is informed of the matters that will come before the body.”
Weaver’s commentary that “it’s not an agenda until you vote on it” is absolutely false and in conflict with the Open Meetings Act.
Police Chief Asked to Step Out of the Room
At 35:40, Nobles asks Chief Kicklighter to step out because he needs to say something in private. He exits and Waters asks “I don’t think we can close the door, can we?”
Weaver replies, laughing, “We’re going to have to put something on the wall. Give 24 hours notice,” referencing the Georgia law requiring the meetings with a quorum of council me published. Janeczek laughs.
Nobles then asks the others, in explaining why he believes a woman told him that she should be ashamed of himself, “Do y’all remember back during the election that Laurie said emphatically that she had overheard some at the Chamber of Commerce saying Debbie Crowe ran, the reason she ran was to help Dusty get Rob’s job. Do you y’all remember hearing that?”
“I heard that,” Waters replies.
“So, Laurie said emphatically, and I really just don’t believe Laurie would lie about something like that, could be wrong, been wrong before about stuff, but the way she is about her stuff, the way she talks and interacts, I really don’t think she’d making something up like that. Anyway, so, that was disclosed to Rob the other day. Greg had told him and I told him,” Nobles says.
“I told him,” Janeczek said, raising his hand.
“And uh, I told Rob not to worry about it and said he’s doing a great job but just so he would know, from a reliable source, I believe Laurie, that’s what we believe, what I believe, anyway, that’s the only thing I can think. Rob must have gone back and said something to somebody and that’s why Emily thinks we did something bad to Dusty.”
Discussion of Former City Attorney
Weaver then says they’ll be getting [an employee named] Emily a plaque with her check and they need to do something for city attorney Hugh McCullough as well.
“I don’t think tar and feathers is quite enough,” Weaver says.
Janeczek asks if the [the city attorney] ever said why he quit with no notice. Weaver replies that it was because of a lawsuit brought on by the city against the Knight family on Hilltop Road.
“We got a court ruling on it then we want to change it and he said you don’t just go back to the judge and say “uh oh, we’ve been through all of this, but we were wrong.” He also tells them that McCullough said there were other things that he did not want to share at the time.
Nobles says the departure of McCullough is an overall net positive. “I think he’s been passive aggressive for a long time.” He then goes on to say that the new city attorney prospect is a Republican and they know that McCullough voted for Barack Obama.
The conversation then turns to receptions for city employees and Councilwoman Waters said she would not be attending an upcoming reception due to “the display” that occurred earlier. Weaver mentions another reception where former city manager Stan Dansby attended and avoided him [Weaver], but he still thought it was a nice gesture for him to attend.
As Weaver is walking toward the door at the 42:45 mark, he shares a conversation with the prospective city attorney regarding a lynchmob. “I told him to leave those over there in Bryan County, we’ve got our own bunch.”
At 43:00, Nobles says “We like going from an Edsel to a Mustang,” referring to the new city attorney.
“I Wish You Would Not Have Disclosed That”
After Weaver and Waters exit, Janezek tells Nobles, “I wish you would not have disclosed that,” to which Nobles replies, “We had to…cause they were going to,” and references calls that are going to be made after the council meeting.
Some of the audio is then hard to discern due to Janeczek chewing while speaking, but Janeczek twice says “She was f***ing helping them.”
“She’s pissed off cause she got caught,” Nobles replies, referring to Councilwoman Miller and the earlier alleged scheme.
“YEAH! She sure is,” Janeczek replies.
“What I would like after that display, I think we need to ask for her damn resignation. I don’t want to put up with her [inaudible],” Nobles says.
“I’ll second it. I’ll second it. That was showing some serious ass in front of the public,” Janeczek answers.
They then joke about a loud mouth, a big ass, and never seeing Nobles and Sasquatch in the same room. Nobles says, “If I didn’t need the money, I’d make a motion to cut the city pay down to $1.”
Janeczek replies, “Oh my God!”
In total, the meeting after the meeting with a quorum lasted over twenty-one minutes. The video is posted below in its entirety.
