GOULD – Aldermen Ermer Preston and Essie Mae Cableton, two allies of Mayor Earnest Nash Jr., on Tuesday evening urged the warring factions of the Gould City Council to resolve their differences for the betterment of the Lincoln County town.
The council met for about 45 minutes Tuesday, but took no action on several issues Nash said needed to be resolved as soon as possible.
He accused Pamela Barley-Gibson, city recorder-treasurer, of providing inaccurate and “inadequate” minutes of council meetings earlier this year. When Barley-Gibson attempted to answer the charges, Nash repeatedly rapped his gavel.
He contended the council minutes, which indicated aldermen authorized Barley-Gibson and former Alderman Harry Hall to sign municipal checks and obtain mail at the post office, were falsified and did not match a tape recording of the meeting.
“It’s because of a fight,” Alderman Sonja Farley interjected. Farley and Alderman Veronica Tensley defended Barley-Gibson, with Tensley noting Nash vetoed the appointment of the recorder-treasurer three times.
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Nash said he only vetoed the appointment twice for valid reasons.
“I am sick of this,” Cableton said. “I am fed up with this.”
Cableton asked Barley-Gibson if she could work together with Nash. Barley-Gibson replied that Nash has kept her locked out of the recorder’s City Hall office and recently told her the presence of state auditors at City Hall was “none of your business.”
Nash said he had prepared documents for the council to act on Tuesday to resolve issues on city checking accounts, but Cableton moved to table the measures. Her motion was adopted by a 5-0 vote.
Five criminal charges pending against Nash were filed by Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter in March. Barley-Gibson and Hall accused Nash of two counts of battery in the third-degree stemming from a February altercation at City Hall.
A civil trial is scheduled to begin this morning in Lincoln County Circuit Court at Star City involving two Nash supporters and the Gould Citizens Advisory Council on a suit seeking to remove Alderman Roseanna Smith-Lee and Hall from the city council. Hall resigned as a council member after the suit was lodged.