Earle mayor calls on council for ‘order’

Earle mayor calls on council for ‘order’

Jones: ‘ You will respect me … whether you want to or not’

news@theeveningtimes.com

You may not like her personally. But you will at least respect the office.

Earle Mayor Carolyn Jones called for order and civility to prevail at all future city council meetings following last month’s contentious one. “Tonight’s meeting will be conducted peacefully and in order,” Jones said at the beginning of the June city council meeting.

Jones got into a heated squabble at the May meeting with Councilman Kenneth Cross after Cross led the charge to restrict the mayor’s of a city owned vehicle to official business only.

Cross was ruled out of order several times during the meeting when he tried to ask questions of department heads and had to talk over Jones to be heard.

Jones tried to adjourn the meeting and subsequently walked out of the meeting forcing the council to turn to Councilman Robert Malone to serve as Mayor Pro Tem to conduct the rest of the meeting.

In her opening remarks, Jones said from now on according to the rules of order any councilman wishing to be heard must first be recognized by the mayor.

“If you do not address the chair, I will not recognize you,” Jones said. “I’m the chair.”

Jones said there will also not be any profanity, arguing, or name calling tolerated as well. “If you want to continue to be disrespectful at this board meeting I will ask you to leave,” Jones said.

Jones said while the mayor’s job is to run the meetings, she is still the mayor and should be accorded the respect that the office deserves.

“I have been called just a facilitator. I am that,” Jones said. “But I am also the mayor. President Obama is the facilitator at his meetings. But he is still the President. Our governor is the facilitator of his meetings. But he is still the governor. I am the mayor and you will respect me as mayor whether you want to or not.”

Jones also asked that citizens speaking during the citizen’s concerns portion of the meeting restrict their comments to concerns specifically in their war and to first contact their respective councilman or councilwoman before addressing their concerns to the whole body.

By Mark Randall