A special meeting was called at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the city hall to address vacancies left by the recent departures of council member Susie Browder and city secretary Jana Garner.
Garner’s termination last week is part of a chain of events including: councilwoman Susie Browder walking out of the meeting, a reported assault in the parking lot by a former member of the city council, and Mayor James Toome receiving injuries from a brick thrown through his window.
“During the previous meeting we had a citizen that reported that she had been assaulted out in the parking lot by a former member of the city council who had resigned that night,” Police Chief Brian Davis said.
The assault allegations have left some residents uneasy about their leadership on the city council.
“I’m upset and appalled at the reactions to this, if a member of the city council reacts that way then it just goes to show what kind of members we had on our city council to begin with. It’s ridiculous and this behavior gets passed down to our children. That type of behavior just needs to be weeded out,” said Stephanie Forbes, a resident who attended the meeting.
Despite the prior events,
the council did fill three of four vacant positions .
Justice of the Peace Raymond Britton was appointed as interim municipal judge. In a unanimous decision, Alvin Posey was voted as the new emergency management coordinator and Larry Roming was voted in as temporary city secretary.
However, the city council still has a vacant seat.
The council also decided to post the vacancy of the city secretary position in the major city newspapers as well as the “Local Suburban Courier.”
In handling the complaint about the occurrence after the previous meeting, Police Chief Davis said that he has contacted the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department and “to avoid any appearance of bias, they’ve agreed to take over the investigation of this case for my department.”
Resident Diana Hargrove also announced during the open session of Monday’s meeting that she had received an anonymous phone call threatening her children if she spoke at the meeting.
Late Sunday evening the mayor received another close call.
“I heard a knock on the door and when I went to look out the window a brick came through and struck me in the face,” Toome said.
Toome said he received scrapes, abrasions and a scratched cornea.
The police are investigating the incident.
