Camilla City Council has contentious first meeting of 2016

 

By Terry Lewis

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CAMILLA — When Rufus Davis was elected mayor of Camilla in November, he vowed to bring change to city government starting with the City Council. If the city’s first work session of the year Tuesday night is any indication of that change, then the mayor, council and citizens of Camilla might be in for a bumpy ride.

In a letter sent Tuesday to a local media outlet, Davis, who was sworn in to office last week, fired the first shot in what could be a cantankerous tenure. Saying he had resigned as executive director of fiscal and administrative affairs at Albany State University to concentrate on being Camilla mayor, he said that Tuesday night’s meeting would include citizens confronting the City Council over council members refusal to come to a meeting he called last week and the city manager’s refusal to give him keys to City Hall and office furniture.

The City’s Council’s meeting room was standing room only Tuesday night, with the overflow crowd standing in the lobby straining to hear what was said in the cramped room. The meeting lasted just more than two hours.

The meeting began smoothly enough with the mayor, City Manager Bennett Adams and council members discussing goals for the year, utility rates and a possible community swimming pool. After about 45 minutes, Davis opened the floor to citizens’ concerns and complaints, and the meeting quickly devolved from there.

Gwyneth Thomas was the first to step up to the podium.

“I definitely have a complaint. The competency of the City Council has really let me down,” Thomas said.”When the mayor called for a called meeting to have the City Council to meet with the citizens of the city, everyone but Ms. (Vivian) Smith seemed to think it was not necessary. You are sitting in these seats to serve us and if you don’t know what we want and what we need in the community, how can you serve us?

“We are not satisfied. You are not servicing us, you are servicing your own egos. Go back and search your records over the past 10 years and I challenge you to find anything this council has done for the citizens of Camilla and I might listen to you. And when we do try to speak up and have our voices heard, you disrespect our mayor. Come on, City Council, represent us, because we are going to fight hard to get you all out of these seats.”

Davis then jumped into his desire to have a key to City Hall.

“It’s true I asked for the keys to City Hall because I am the mayor of Camilla and I represent the people of Camilla,” Davis said. “It’s indignant to say I can’t get the keys because it’s a security issue. There has been a contentious relationship between me and Mr. Adams since I arrived. Off the page, there is a lot of back and forth and nastiness. People are pissed about that. I simply asked for keys.

“And if anyone here is impatient with citizens talking, you are free to leave now, because citizens here don’t get to talk a lot when they have your attention. So they are going to have it tonight. If you are offended, frankly, I don’t care.”

After the meeting was adjourned, some wondered how keys to City Hall could lead to acrimony.

“I’ve lived in Camilla all my life and no mayor has ever had the keys to City Hall,” Jud Vann said.

Ray Muggridge, who said he has lived in the city off and on since 1963, appeared to be a bit bewildered by what he had just witnessed in the council chambers.

“There is no doubt we have some issues that need to be addressed, like our utility bills,” he said. “What we saw tonight has been building for weeks, and it’s important for us to remember we live in the same town. But the mayor has been on the job less than two weeks and there may be a learning curve for him and the City Council.

“I think they are all good people and I hope cooler heads prevail as we move forward.”

Davis, one of the last to leave the building, said his goal for the city was simple.

“I want to try to give a voice to the citizens of Camilla,” he said. “Let’s face it, the demographics of the city have changed and that should reflect the priorities of ordinary citizens. There is a feeling that the old mind set was not responsive to the majority of our citizens and that has led to strong tension between the two factions.”