Greenback approves lawsuit again

The Greenback Board of Mayor and Alderman voted 4-1 late Tuesday to pursue legal action against the Greenback Volunteer Fire Department and possibly former Mayor Tom Peeler to reclaim improperly donated property.

With Peeler canceling the November and December meetings after losing his re-election campaign and new Mayor Dewayne Birchfield canceling the January meeting due to a disagreement between him and some aldermen, Tuesday’s was the first meeting of the board since Oct. 9, 2018, piquing significant interest from the roughly 50 people present.

At his inaugural meeting as mayor, Birchfield first addressed the transitional actions necessitated by the election and the resignation of Alderwoman Polly Evans and City Attorney James Scott.

The board first recognized the mayor’s appointment of Melanie Davis of Kizer & Black Attorneys PLLC in Maryville. Davis, who also serves as the city attorney for Maryville, initially was appointed by Birchfield in early January, following Scott’s resignation at the time of Peeler’s departure in December. At many points throughout the evening, Davis helped Birchfield steer the meeting due to the procedural novices on the board.

Next, the board voted 3-1 to appoint former Alderwoman Linda Black to fill Evans’ seat, also vacated at the end of Peeler’s tenure. The dissenting vote was Alderwoman Robin Peeler-Blankenship, Peeler’s daughter.

With the whole board sworn-in, agenda approved and financial report accepted, Birchfield proceeded to make his mayor’s comment, addressing the city’s new goal of being transparent and plan to ratify ordinances passed illegally due to lack of meeting notice, lack of publication or improper readings under Peeler.

“Angie Carrier from (the Municipal Technical Advisory Service) was down here for three hours going over these things,” Birchfield said of the ordinances in question. “Once we get these ordinances all in one book, we’ll put them all out there in one book and give it two readings to pass all of them at once.”

Birchfield also said that the board will hold a work session between now and the next regular meeting to discuss the hiring of a new city recorder to replace Norma Peeler, Tom Peeler’s wife and former city recorder, treasurer and director of human relations.

Lawsuit

The board also voted to pursue legal action against the Greenback Volunteer Fire Department to reclaim two properties illegally donated to the department by Peeler after he left office.

“Talking to representatives of the state, by giving this property away, the city will lose all rights to grants, because it’s not in compliance,” Birchfield said, noting that the land was under use restriction, limiting it to recreation, but was given to the fire department. “We need to get it back and that’s where we’re going to stand on that.”

Davis added that in addition to being bad for the city, the deeds were illegal because they were signed by Peeler after he left office.

“There are a number of legal problems with the deeds as well. There are technical issues that cause the deeds to not be appropriate,” Davis said. “And also there is an issue about the minutes of the meeting in October of last year when (the donation of the property) was passed. It’s unclear as to what was actually approved in the minutes and also there’s a question about whether or not that meeting was publicly noticed appropriately.”

After extensive clarification to members of the public, the board approved legal action 4-1. Again, Blankenship dissented. Blankenship refused to comment on her votes after the meeting.

When asked by a member of the public what the time frame on the lawsuit would be, Davis estimated nine to 12 months, if it is contested. Both Davis and Birchfield said they had tried to reach out to Fire Chief Ronnie Lett to request that he quitclaim the properties back to the city to avoid a lawsuit, but Lett did not comply.

“He told me he can’t talk to me,” Birchfield said of reaching out to Lett.

Davis added that they likely would file the suit in the next month and “put them on notice” ahead of time to deter the fire department from altering the property.

Davis told The Daily Times after the meeting that the initial suit will be filed “at least” against the Greenback Volunteer Fire Department LLC, but could also name Peeler as a defendant.

An embattled Peeler also has had an attorney threaten nine of his former constituents with defamation lawsuits after the fallout of his transition.

Public concern

Of the approximately 10 members of the public to make comments, most were questions around what the impact of the lawsuit would be for the city and the fire department. Members who did not identify themselves asked what it would do to the fire department and its relationship with the city.

“We’re not after the fire department, and they’ll go back to where they were before,” Birchfield said. “The thing I’m trying to do is get the communication out to the people of Greenback, our town, and I want everyone to have a sayso. The door’s always open and if you want to talk to me feel free to come. But like I say, we got to take care of this town and now we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Later in the meeting, it also was announced that the city is working on a website that will house minutes and agendas for public access, to combat the alleged lack of transparency in Peeler’s tenure.

“That’s why (Birchfield) decided to run, he was very very fed up with the lack of transparency in this government,” said Wendy Tittsworth, a citizen close to Birchfield. “When you walk in this place and say ‘can I see something,’ it shouldn’t be like ‘why are you asking that;’ it should be like ‘absolutely and thank you for giving a crap enough about the city to come ask for it.’”

Birchfield added that they also would have accessible paper copies for those who “still have an outhouse” and might not have access to the website.

Other members of the audience gave comment to support the action of the board and to generally celebrate the change of watch in the city’s government.

“I’ve lived here for about 17 years, and I want to tell you all this melee is the best thing that has happened to this town since I’ve been here,” resident Paul Mingee said. “There has been some illegal stuff done in the past, as we’ve found out, so now the state is leery about giving us funding. ... We need to get this back.”

After the meeting, Birchfield told The Daily Times that he had been “very blessed” with good help in the transition and that he was pleased to see so much of the public in attendance.