Bauxite will likely not replace its city attorney for the rest of the year, Mayor Johnny McMahan said Friday.
Pam Perry, who is also the city prosecutor, was paid $250 per month as city attorney before stepping down from the post she had served in since McMahan appointed her in January 2013.
McMahan said $250 per month was not an attractive enough price to hire a new attorney very quickly.
Perry had asked for a raise but was not given one, McMahan said. The previous city attorney, Lorraine Hatcher, made $500 per month, he said.
"We'll just see what happens," he said. McMahan is not seeking re-election this year.
Perry resigned Thursday after she said she spent more than 30 hours responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from Alderman Mona Struble. Perry eventually produced 2,000 pages of emails for Struble.
Perry said she normally worked only three to four hours per month as city attorney and agreed to the pay and position under the impression that she would simply attend Town Council meetings, review ordinances and answer questions.
She had been doing more than that for the past few months at the request of council members and was not paid for it, she said.
Struble had asked Perry to do research to end a federal lawsuit involving the city and former Alderman Debbi Purifoy, which McMahan said was not a part of Perry's duties as city attorney.
"The council members were asking her to do more than what she agreed to when I hired her," McMahan said.
Struble said she sent Perry the Freedom of Information Act request for emails July 29 because she and other aldermen believed McMahan was violating the law, and she was looking for evidence.
"I found some illegal activity going on, and I asked her to help me, to guide me how to get him with malfeasance," Struble said, noting that she believed the city was paying an employee's wife instead of the employee so that he could continue to get disability payments.
McMahan said the accusations are related to the city making a check out to a female member of a family doing repair work for the city, although he wasn't sure which members of the family were doing the repairs. He said the woman handled the finances for the family.
Perry said she believed she was responsible for fulfilling the request because Struble filed it with her and not the rest of the city.
The newly appointed recorder/treasurer, Candice Carpenter, will take over fulfilling the rest of the request. Carpenter is also the clerk and district court clerk, which were once separate jobs.
McMahan and Struble have been at odds in recent months, including a time when McMahan asked Struble to resign because he said she didn't live in the city.
Struble's water meter had recorded no usage at her property, but she said she proved to McMahan that her water meter was just broken.
A week later, Struble introduced a vote of no confidence in McMahan to the Town Council, which passed 3-1.
Metro on 08/23/2014