The Crossville city council's budget
work session had a few moments of friction between some council
members but the real issue came after the meeting was over when
according to statements, one council member allegedly bumped another council
member as they were leaving city hall.
The incident involved council member
Pete Souza and Jesse Kerley. Kerley stated that Mr. Souza was
speaking angrily to Jerry Kerley, Kerley's father and Crossville director of water
resources. Councilman Kerley said he informed Mr. Souza to stop.
According to Councilman Kerley, Mr. Souza then bumped councilman Kerley with his shoulder
as he was going out the door.
Howard Burnette of the Crossville
Recall group was reportedly in the parking lot at the time of the
interaction and others are believed to have seen the incident as
well. The city hall's video camera's may have captured the incident
and Councilman Kerley reported the incident to Crossville Police
Chief Rod Shoap right after it happened.
Several times during the meeting
discussion Mr. Souza and Mr. Kerley traded glares with each other.
In addition, during the discussion of the downtown sidewalk project,
Mr. Kerley and Mayor James Mayberry had brief angry words over
Kerley's accusation of benefit to Mr. Mayberry from the sidewalks.
Animosity continues to surround the
council over Mr. Souza's involvement with the recall movement against
Council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris and the split votes
over firing the previous city manager.
During the budget work session, the
council cut all funding by 10 percent to the non-profits while adding
a number of project back into the budget that took the budget from
$557,041 in the red up to just over $1 million in the red. Funds to
cover the deficit will come from the city's rainy day fund that holds
over $10 million.
More details on the budget changes to
come.
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