Loudon reinstates Ty Ross

“This is just something that had to be done,” Harris said. “I don’t think anybody intended for the meeting two weeks ago to go the way it went. It just kind of escalated and snowballed honestly and went kind of in a direction nobody really intended. I don’t think there as any ill will intended, but that’s where we wound up.

“It was just very important to show Ty Ross that he’s got our full support and that we’re all behind him,” he added. “According to all the council members we talked to, they regret that it happened and now we’re ready to put it behind us and move forward. We had to get past this and now I think we can be stronger because of it.”

Council first discussed appointing a city attorney. Ford asked council to reappoint his firm, Ford & Nichols, with staff attorney Kris Frye serving as the new city attorney.

“It was a bad set of circumstances with me standing on a sidewalk with me on speaker phone when that resignation came down a couple weeks ago,” Ford said. “We’ve all had time to think about it. … It really was a last second thing that came up that I didn’t get a lot of time to announce that I wouldn’t be here. I hate that it happened.

“We have many projects with the city that we have a great working relationship with the city on,” he added. “We’ve got all the title searches done on the Queener Road project and we are ready to move and start closing on those properties. Several things we’ve got going on with the city that we would like to see through.”

Tim Brewster motioned to appoint Frye, which was seconded by Johnny James. The vote passed 5-0. The only question was from Tammi Bivens on whether Frye would attend all meetings and workshops, which he agreed to do.

The vote followed to reinstate Ross. Brewster again motioned and Tim Dixon seconded, with the vote passing 5-0. Brewster made the motion to suspend Ross two weeks earlier.

“The biggest thing from two weeks ago was we didn’t know the city attorney wasn’t going to be here,” Brewster said after Monday’s meeting. “That caught us off guard and basically we did what we thought was right. We had to go with what we thought was right.”

Harris believed the decisions made during the March 18 meeting were unfair to Ross, who he called “one of the best things that has happened to Loudon in many years.”

“His leadership qualities and integrity are both at very high levels,” Harris said. “He has a great vision for Loudon and if we will all get behind him and support him, great things will take place in our community.”

Brewster called the last two weeks an “eye opener.”

“I mean, Ty is a good man,” he said. “He’s good for Loudon, but he’s got to communicate with city council. We’ve got to know what’s going on. We can’t wait for the meeting to find out what’s being done in Loudon.”

Council then voted to rescind the investigative authority given Kennerly Montgomery. James motioned and Bivens, who initially made the motion to investigate, seconded. Bivens noted that she still had concerns she would address directly with Ross.

“Loudon’s got to move forward,” Brewster said. “We’ve got to make some progress. We’ve all got to get on the same track. The city manager works for city council. The city council is elected. We get the complaints.”

Harris hopes council can learn from what occurred two weeks ago.

“What I want to do is follow up with this and have maybe a retreat or some time spent together … on ethics and the open meetings act, get trained in that and cover that in more detail amongst all of us,” he said. “This can be an opportunity that brings us closer together.”

Council briefly discussed moving forward with a previous plan for a committee to come up with a plan of action for future situations involving feral cat populations in the city, which was originally a recommendation of Ross during the March 18 meeting.

Ross, after the final vote, offered an olive branch to Chapman with a public apology and the opportunity to provide input with the committee.

“I want to apologize to you publicly a second time,” Ross said. “As stated previously, I’m willing to work with you on a means to resolve this issue down the hill for the betterment of all involved, human beings and animals. I’m serious when I said I would like to do an advisory panel and we’re going to find a solution to this. I welcome your input.”

Chapman said she knew solutions could be found.

“If I can be helpful with that, I would gladly do that, but we need everybody on the same page and we need everybody going in the same direction,” she said.