GOULD – Two members of the Gould City Council charged that Mayor Earnest Nash refused to allow the council to fill the vacant city recorder/treasurer position by an appointment Tuesday evening.
Aldermen Sonya Farley and Harry Hall said Nash rebuffed their efforts to appoint Pamela Gibson to fill the office by appointment. Hall said no action was taken on two other items of business on the agenda.
When he announced that Mary Prewett had resigned, Nash responded that Prewett should have given her resignation to the mayor, Hall told a reporter.
The alderman said he explained that Prewett felt she had been harassed by Nash and “was afraid of him. I couldn’t blame her.”
Prewett submitted her resignation Friday, council members were told, and they were rebuffed when they submitted Gibson’s name to fill the unexpired term, the two aldermen told The Commercial.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I see you talked to Mary Prewett,” Nash said Wednesday when contacted at his City Hall office, apparently referring to a story published Wednesday that quoted both the mayor and Prewett. “I don’t have anything I want to say to you.”
Prewett told The Commercial Tuesday that she had resigned because of Nash, adding that he frightened her. She gave her written resignation Friday to Hall.
Nash told a reporter Tuesday that he was not aware Prewett had resigned. Prewett, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term on Feb. 9, said Nash served as recorder/treasurer before being elected mayor and assuming office Jan. 1. Prior to the first of the year he served as both recorder/treasurer and acting mayor.
She said she found the recorder/treasurer’s office “a royal mess,” with bank statements that had not been reconciled and bank deposits had never been entered in municipal records, adding she had to explain to state auditors why Gould had not maintained proper financial records, including a disbursement journal, from 2008 through 2010.
Nash on Tuesday said he did not anticipate the council would address the vacancy when aldermen met later that day, noting the brief agenda included business on water rates and adoption of the 2012 municipal budget. He said council members could address the recorder/treasurer appointment in January.
Hall and Farley said the council was unable to push through a resolution to lower water rates and will attempt to lower the rates next month by ordinance.
The alderman said the mayor’s proposed budget for the coming year, which included a $5,000 annual raise for Nash and a $70,000 allocation for the municipal police department “that doesn’t do anything,” was not adopted.
Nash and four of the six members of the City Council have been feuding for months, with the mayor regularly vetoing ordinances and resolutions adopted by the four.