Fairburn City council met in closed session for more than an hour Thursday in a called meeting to discuss the reappointment of city clerk Nancy Faulkner, an appointment that was delayed at the council’s Jan. 14 meeting at the request of Councilman Mario Avery. The Thursday vote to reappoint was 4-2, with Avery and Councilwoman Elizabeth Hurst voting in opposition.

The impasse began at the Jan. 14 council meeting when Avery said he had questions about the city clerk’s availability at her post while Hurst questioned concerns over being unable to receive timely information from the assistant city clerk, a position that had been proposed for appointment but was later stated by Faulkner as not being needed at the current time.

Faulkner responded to the development Jan. 14 in a letter to the mayor and council, noting what she said were statements by Avery that, intentional or not, called into question federal protection relating to her medical condition. Faulkner also questioned the motivation of Hurst’s comments, describing the statements made by several black, Hispanic and white city employees that took exception to comments allegedly made by Hurst, as being racially motivated.

Avery and Hurst responded to Faulkner’s letter. In comments Jan. 17, both denied Faulkner’s allegations, saying that their intention behind requesting the delay in appointments were based solely on issues relating to the Faulkner’s availability to perform her job and the proposed assistant city clerk’s job knowledge and competency.

Avery and Hurst voted in opposition to reappointing Faulkner at the Jan. 24 called meeting, though Avery had wanted to abstain until he heard the city attorney’s definition of such a move.

Faulkner responded after the meeting, reaffirming her position regarding Hurst’s alleged comments and noting her current belief that Avery had been given mis-information about the matter.

“I continue to stand by the allegations that I reported concerning Ms. Hurst. I did not make those allegations myself, I merely reported them. I am not responsible for Ms. Hurst’s reputation, she earned that herself. Hopefully now that she is aware of the perception that people have of her, she will act accordingly, concentrate on what is truly best for the city of Fairburn and have a successful political career,” Faulkner said in a statement after the meeting. ”As for Mr. Avery, I would like to go on the record and state that I had no intention of attacking his character. I have known Mr. Avery to always have the city’s best interest at heart, as well as the city employees. He truly puts forth his best effort and I believe he is a good man with good intentions. I do not believe he is racially motivated; however I was surprised and confused about his objection to my reappointment. I now believe that he was given wrong information and that he was used by other people for their own selfish political agendas. He is as much a victim in this as I have been.”

Faulkner said she was disappointed that there was no a unanimous decision to reappoint her as city clerk. Faulkner said she is looking forward to putting the issue “behind us so we can get back to the business of serving the citizens of Fairburn.”

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