The response to Annie McMenamin's withdrawal of her ethics complaint against fellow councilman Dan Tennant has sparked a debate between Tennant and another member of the council.

Carol Fritz issued a written statement Tuesday afternoon to a pair of local media outlets after they requested comments from her. She also forwarded her comments to her four fellow councilmembers.

Tennant faxed The Citizen a copy of that statement Wednesday, along with a statement of his own in response to comments she made about him.

These remarks were initiated by a letter McMenamin issued Monday, which is printed in its entirety on page 3A of this edition, along with a previous letter from Tennant.

Fritz recounted the council's recent decisions to adopt measures requiring a three-vote majority to pass any motion and prohibiting discussion of an issue by more than two council members outside a public meeting.

She then described an episode after the Jan. 20 meeting, where the latter decision was passed, in which she said Tennant approached concerning the city attorney appointment.

She said Tennant suggested getting the issue on the agenda in February, when Robert Brooks would not be in attendance, so that a 2-1 vote could defeat the reappointment of Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey, since McMenamin routinely abstains from such votes due to her daughter's employment at that firm.

“I informed Mr. Tennant that was not how I did things, and did not consider a 2-2 vote or a 2-1 vote a win on any matter,” Fritz wrote. “It defied the whole intent of having a City Council.”

Fritz went on to say that Tennant's actions motivated her to introduce at the Feb. 3 meeting the ordinance amendment requiring three or more votes to pass any motion, regardless of who was in attendance. That measure passed 4-0, with Brooks absent.

“I have not, during any of my time on the council, had any other council member even ask me once to vote their way, or felt any influence or pressure in any way, shape, or form to do so,” Fritz wrote. “If anything, I have been critical of the fact that there is so little communication between council members, as opposed to Mr. Tennant's insinuations and beliefs to the contrary.”

Tennant reported in a statement released Wednesday afternoon that he and Fritz had “numerous conversations in December and January regarding the appointment of city attorney.” When Brooks announced that he would not be attending either February meeting, Tennant wanted to know if the appointment could be made by a majority if someone abstained.

“Evidently the council meeting rules and procedures did not address this subject specifically,” he said. “But I believed then and still believe it is a legitimate question.”

Tennant pointed out that he was one of those voting in favor of Fritz's amendment requiring three votes. “But I make no apology for discussing the procedural mechanisms in place prior to voting for the amendment.”

He also stressed in his statement that the ethics complaint against James Webb which has delayed the official reappointment of Webb's firm has not been proven. “I strongly believe in one's innocence until proven otherwise,” he said.

But Tennant did refer to the city attorney's continuing service “on an interim basis at a 30 percent pay increase for the month of February, ordered by Mayor Lenox.”

Tennant stated from the outset that he is against the reappointment of Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey because the firm “is the high bidder among several highly qualified candidates, and I do not believe in wasting taxpayer dollars.”

With his own statement, Tennant released what he said was a portion of a Jan. 18 e-mail sent to him by Fritz, which he said clearly refutes her public statement released Tuesday. A portion of Fritz's comments, as quoted by Tennant, are as follows:

“We would be two for, two against vote, so I don't think we can win this battle. I did check and found out there is no way we could pull anything off with Brooks gone and Annie abstaining. There still has to be a majority vote, no matter what. A 2-1 vote is no vote. The best I can see happening is to table this until the first meeting after the retreat, if the votes are there. We can discuss all the pros and cons to all the combinations/circumstances and see what comes of that.”

Tennant said that he checked with city manager Jim Basinger to be certain that his discussions with Fritz were proper, since there were only two council members involved.

When contacted Thursday morning about Tennant's latest statement, Fritz said that she never suggested it was illegal for two council members to discuss anything privately, but she found his possible method of attaining a vote on this issue questionable.

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