The Wedowee Town Council approved two measures at an emergency meeting on Monday to protect City Hall documents and employees.
Councilmen Jerry Huddleston, Pam Johnson and Dinah Lee called the meeting "to prevent property damage."
Mayor Tim Coe said he did not believe there were grounds to hold an emergency meeting, based on the Alabama Open Meetings Act, which allows emergency meetings "to avoid physical injury to persons or damage to property."
Huddleston said he witnessed a suspended Wedowee Utilities employee handling documents after the announcement of a criminal investigation into the utility. Huddleston also accused the employee of taking IRS documents from the utility board office, though he said the documents had been returned.
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"We just want to make sure and take a proactive stance that the documents that we have that are property in the town, the contents of City Hall is property, and we want to make sure those are preserved and divvied out and read by the public," Huddleston said. "But it needs to be in orderly fashion and whatever that policy is, is what we'll abide by."
The town does not have a written policy on viewing public documents, so the council unanimously approved a measure to establish a standard operating procedure for document requests. The council discussed uploading meeting minutes online to make them easily accessible to the public.
The council also approved a measure to enhance safety at City Hall by locking offices and having staff greet people at the service window, and to consider adding security cameras.
Wedowee Utilities will hold a meeting on Wednesday at 9 a.m. and will allow public comment.
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