Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon and the city council are at odds over allegations of conspiracies and cover-ups. The latest conflict came during a live-streamed council meeting where a new council member was appointed following the retirement of Jerry Johnson.
The meeting turned sour when Kennon moved to appoint former school board member Nelson Bauer to the council seat. The council voted down the appointment 3-2. Pat Simpson was ultimately appointed. Simpson, a former TNN and HGTV host, has served on the Orange Beach planning commission since 2017.
After Simpson’s appointment, councilman Robert Stuart told Nelson he would like to address him before he left the council chambers. That’s when Kennon struck his gavel and told Stuart he was out of order and to “please ask to be recognized.”
After addressing other city business, the conflict continued, with Stuart attempting to speak with a resident about the city school board's transparency and actions. Kennon threatened to remove Stuart from the meeting if he continued speaking about the superintendent of schools, who was not present. He said rumors and conspiracies are being spread throughout the community.
The city funds the school system and the council appoints school board members. Still, Kennon said the city has no right to get involved with school operations.
Stuart said his issue is not with Nelson, but he has questions that remain unanswered, including how ACT scores and total achievements are calculated. He said that if the city cannot obtain basic information, it is time to appoint new board members. Stuart said that when he has asked questions, he has been met with hostility from the mayor.
“The first time you threatened me in my first workshop, this was about the school, and all I did was ask a simple question, and you go off throwing f-bombs everywhere and wanting to fight physically,” Stuart said. He told the mayor he was not scared of him.
Kennon denied trying to fight Stuart and continued to slam the gavel, telling Stuart, “You’re done." He suggested that Stuart raise his issues at a school board meeting rather than a city council meeting.
School board member Randy McKinney said his only request is that the city council and the school board begin to get along and work to improve the city and the school system.
“If you ever have any questions, as long as I’m president, give me a call,” McKinney said. “I’ll get you some answers, but don’t pile a bunch of stuff on us that’s nonsense that’s just to irritate people. That’s one request.”
Kennon said the city is run as a business and praised the school board for taking the new school system from mediocracy to number two in the state in three years.
The full meeting can be viewed online.
The meeting tensions come amid reported ethics complaints filed against Kennon by three council members. A local alternative weekly newspaper reported the complaint was filed by Stuart and council members Ginger Harrelson and Jeff Silvers. The complaint reportedly raised concerns about a controversial interaction between the mayor and police in 2024 at the Coastal Resources building, as well as other issues.
Last year, Kennon and his wife sat down exclusively with 1819 News to answer questions about the incident. Kennon denied accusations that he abused his wife and other allegations. At the time, he said it is against city policy to release body-worn video of any kind.
A federal lawsuit currently in litigation requests the release of the footage and other recordings. The lawsuit filed by citizen journalist Christle "C.C." Dixon-Moreno seeks declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief after the City denied a public records request. The City deemed the items “investigative materials.” The Plaintiff argues that due to Kennon’s involvement in the incident, there is a conflict of interest because he has supervisory authority over the police department. Centering on transparency and government accountability, the suit also claims Kennon blocked Dixon-Moreno on official social media accounts.
The city has denied an administrative block of records, any conflicts of interest and any unconstitutional policies. Attorneys for the City stated the body-worn footage is protected under the state’s Public Records Act. Three of seven counts have been dismissed.
Kennon said the audio of the interaction with police has already been leaked and he has requested the body-worn footage be released. However, he reiterated that he was instructed by attorneys that releasing the video would violate city policy.
“The attorneys for the insurance company, law enforcement and everybody else has said that would be chaos if we released any body cam video and we do not know how bad the legal ramifications would be,” Kennon told 1819 News. “I think it is so important that the public understands that it has nothing to do with what’s on the video. This is a policy that the council put in place. I am in no way protecting it because I’ve already tried to release it and could not because I did not have the authority to release it.”
Kennon said the lawsuit has nothing to do with the body camera footage of his release, but rather with whether any body camera footage is public record.
The mayor said he has not seen the ethics complaint and claimed that some of the information released was presented in an executive session. He said that information should never have been made public and was "taken completely out of context.”
1819 News submitted a public records request to the Alabama Ethics Commission on June 18, but that request was denied.
“Any complaint filed with the Ethics Commission is protected by and subject to the same restrictions relating to secrecy and nondisclosure of information, conversation, knowledge, or evidence of Sections 12-16-215 to 12-16-216, commonly referred to as Grand Jury Secrecy,” chief counsel Brian Paterson told 1819 News. “Therefore, we do not have any records responsive to your request that are not or would not be protected by Grand Jury Secrecy.”
An Orange Beach city council member declined to share the document.
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