Editor, Jan. 17, 2012, the first meeting of the new city council was held. I will be using names and only because the newspapers will have articles that do. My view point is from the audience. I apologize ahead of time to the innocent family members of this council.
James Fuller, the mayor; a man who told numerous people, including me, that he was going to do things the right way, has failed. He completely took over the meeting as mayor, council and police chief. This was also a statement he made, that he would be all three.
It was obvious that Frank McClelland, Gwen Davis and Mary Hamilton had no minds of their own and when he entertained each motion they immediately made a motion and all three voted for what he wanted. Why? Gwen Davis had her daughter hired. Frank McClelland had his wife hired and the mayor made Mary Hamilton mayor pro-tem with an extra $100 per month. All three of them voted for themselves or family members when it’s correct to abstain. The mayor lumped all positions that were filled together and these parties were in the mix.
When Mark Chesser spoke and asked questions, the mayor basically shut him up. Mark brought up the fact that Cindy should not be driving the school bus on the city’s time and Fuller quickly told him she would drive the bus. There was no conversation with the rest of the council members.
Mr. Chesser and Mr. Manning were never included when all these decisions were made on hiring. These decisions were already decided, while the election was going on by Mr. Fuller; I know for a fact he used his position as water superintendent for votes.
There is no hope for Frank McClelland to change now that his wife holds the position of city clerk, because he will never go against James Fuller. I hope Mary will do the job she told me she would do and discuss issues with the two members on the left of the mayor and listen to all the facts.
There were seven people who lost their jobs that night and their health insurance. None of these people were ever written up for wrong-doing. Ms. Hamilton, in a previous meeting, asked if anything was ever written up on Tara, and there was nothing. She went into a lengthy speech as to how she does things where she works, but she hasn’t followed through with this concept. None of these seven had a bad record, and yet they hired back one that did. It will cost the city $120,000 in unemployment for the next year.
Just let’s sit back and let the mayor bankrupt the city; he’s already talking about a loan.

Janis M. Goode, Ludowici