WHAT’S NEXTThe East Ridge City Council meets tonight at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall to discuss the open council seat, among other matters.
East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert, Vice Mayor Larry Sewell and Councilman Denny Manning have privately communicated about who should fill a vacant council seat, according to statements and documents obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
On Nov. 18, Sewell, using his taxpayer-funded city e-mail account, sent the following message to Lambert but no other councilman: “Kevin Wright called and asked to be on the list for the open seat.”
And after Thursday’s City Council meeting, Lambert acknowledged that he had spoken to Sewell and Manning about the council seat.
“I have talked to, at different times, Larry and Denny about some people who had expressed interest to me, but I haven’t really told them I’m going to go with this person or that person or whatever,” Lambert said.
Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the private discussions “give reason for taxpayers and voters in East Ridge to distrust the council on future decisions.”
“This gets close to deciding or deliberating public business in secret,” he said.
The East Ridge council seat opened in November after then-Councilman Lambert won the city’s mayoral race, setting off a contentious battle about who should fill the council opening.
Sewell and Councilman Jim Bethune captured the two council seats up for re-election. Since then, many residents have supported third-place finisher Marc Gravitt for Lambert’s former seat, but councilmen have deadlocked on the matter every time they’ve discussed it in public.
During last Thursday’s City Council meeting, Lambert said residents had sent him “several” e-mails that endorsed either an open interview process or specific candidates.
A public records request from the Times Free Press asked for e-mails from all City Council accounts “containing any discussion about the vacant seat on the East Ridge City Council, candidates for said seat and any other information pertaining to the vacancy.”
The records request yielded the Sewell-to-Lambert correspondence, but no e-mails from residents.
“Either the e-mails don’t exist or they feel like communication from constituents is supposed to be confidential,” Gibson said.
A 2008 opinion from the Tennessee Office of Open Records Counsel states that access must be granted to constituent communications received by a local government official “in connection with the transaction of official business.”
“Generally speaking, communication of an opinion on a matter to an elected local government official is not deemed confidential,” the opinion states.
On Tuesday, Manning confirmed several talks with Lambert and Sewell, saying the trio discussed which candidate “would be best for the City of East Ridge.” He declined to name the candidates because he didn’t want to “embarrass” Lambert or Sewell.
Until now, there has been no public discussion of a “list,” and Lambert has circumvented specific questions from the Times Free Press about who he supports. Sewell hasn’t returned repeated calls from the Times Free Press to discuss his feelings about the seat.
The disclosures came a week after Lambert unsuccessfully lobbied for a public interview process “to ensure transparency” in filling the open seat.