2 councilmen criticize mayor
Mayor should be 'good will ambassador' and not micromanage city, tape reveals
BY LELAND ACKER

Former Alto Mayor Carey Palmer should have spent his time being a good will ambassador instead of trying to oversee city operations, said two Alto City Council members during a special meeting held at noon Dec. 6 at city hall. The Cherokeean Herald, which did not have a reporter at the meeting because it had not been notified, obtained the audio cassette of the meeting through an open records request.

Councilman Earl Clark said Alto was run under a weak-mayor system, while Councilman Monty Collins criticized Mr. Palmer for micromanaging the city operations. Both expressed disdain for Mr. Palmer's decision to instruct Charlie Luse, Alto utilities supervisor, to notify the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) of a sewage bypass which occurred on U.S. 69 between the Alto ISD campuses and the Alto Housing Authority.

"Carey is a hands-on mayor," Councilman Collins said. "I think maybe he would like to be more hands-on. He goes beyond the chain of command and causes discontent to those in between."

"Alto is run under a ceremonial or weak mayor form," Councilman Clark said. "The council has legislative and executive authority. The council should instruct the mayor to handle his job as good will ambassador and quit trying to run the city."

Alto is a Type-A General Law rule municipality, said City Administrator Debbie Dannelley. The Texas Municipal Law and Procedure Manual says the mayor of a Type-A municipality serves as the chief executive officer of the municipality and causes all laws and ordinances of the municipality to be enforced.

The manual goes on to say that the mayor inspects the conduct of all subordinate officers in the municipal government and causes all negligence, carelessness and other violations of duty to be duly prosecuted.

Councilman Clark continued, "Mr. Luse has two writeups against his record. Both are illegal if not approved by the council."

The first write-up on Mr. Luse's record stems from a March 22 incident where a resident called in an overnight gas line emergency in Wells. Debbie White, who was mayor of Alto at that time, said the city's answering service had "been trying to contact Mr. Luse for a while," when she received a call from Mrs. Dannelley at 12:47 a.m.

Mrs. White said she made efforts to reach Mr. Luse (who resides in Nacogdoches) via cell phone for approximately 20 minutes before contacting the Nacogdoches Police Department to go to his house and wake him up.

At 2:09 a.m., Mrs. White said Mr. Luse answered his phone. Mr. Luse was written up for not answering his cell phone, Mrs. White said.

The second write-up on Mr. Luse's record happened when the City of Alto was written up on June 26 for failing to maintain an adequate chlorine level at the stand pipe and in the pressure plane served by the new booster plant on FM 752 West. Mr. Luse was written up for not ensuring the chlorine level was at the proper level. At that time, Mr. Palmer said he wrote-up Mr. Luse for placing the residents' health at risk.

Councilman Clark proposed that the city administrator should contact the mayor pro tem if she needs assistance.

At the heart of the controversy was Mr. Palmer's decision to notify TCEQ of the sewage bypass on U.S. 69.

"I think you overstepped your bounds when you talked to the TCEQ man," Councilman Clark said.

Mr. Luse told the council he knew about the sewage bypass a week before contacting TCEQ.

"Was it necessary to call?" Councilman Collins asked.

"Everything needs to be reported," Mr. Luse said. "(But) you don't report everything. This is the way cities are run."

"Were we in violation of state law by not reporting?" Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Annie Walker asked.

"Cities do this all the time," Mr. Luse said. "Every city does it. (TCEQ) knows things are happening. They don't need the extra paperwork."

Mr. Luse said neighboring cities were contacted and those cities said they would have cleaned the spill and not notified TCEQ.

"Lufkin and Nacogdoches said they usually don't call the state, they just clean up the problem," Mr. Luse said. "You don't call the cops when you do something wrong."

Mr. Luse complained that the council did not trust him to do his job.

"Do you rely on the department heads to do (their jobs)? Or do you rely on people who have just been voted in?" Mr. Luse asked. "How about you let people who are licensed do their jobs."

"So far, we've been relying on you for vehicle maintenance records and mileage reports and we can't even get that," Councilwoman Walker said.

Councilman Collins said the council needed to trust the persons doing the job and criticized Mr. Palmer for micromanaging the city.

Councilman Clark criticized then Mayor Palmer for being involved in the day-to-day operations in the front office. Councilmen Clark and Collins expressed their desire to minimize state involvement.

Mr. Palmer resigned as mayor following the meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Annie Walker will preside over the meetings and serve as mayor until the council decides how to fill the position. The mayor position will then be placed on the ballot in a special election in May.