The

response to Annie McMenamin's withdrawal of her ethics

complaint against fellow councilman Dan Tennant has

sparked a debate between Tennant and another member of

the council.

Carol Fritz

issued a written statement Tuesday afternoon to a pair of

local media outlets after they requested comments from

her. She also forwarded her comments to her four fellow

councilmembers.

Tennant

faxed The Citizen a copy of that statement Wednesday,

along with a statement of his own in response to comments

she made about him.

These

remarks were initiated by a letter McMenamin issued

Monday, which is printed in its entirety on page 3A of

this edition, along with a previous letter from Tennant.

Fritz

recounted the council's recent decisions to adopt

measures requiring a three-vote majority to pass any

motion and prohibiting discussion of an issue by more

than two council members outside a public meeting.

She then

described an episode after the Jan. 20 meeting, where the

latter decision was passed, in which she said Tennant

approached concerning the city attorney appointment.

She said

Tennant suggested getting the issue on the agenda in

February, when Robert Brooks would not be in attendance,

so that a 2-1 vote could defeat the reappointment of

Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey, since McMenamin routinely

abstains from such votes due to her daughter's employment

at that firm.

"I

informed Mr. Tennant that was not how I did things, and

did not consider a 2-2 vote or a 2-1 vote a win on any

matter," Fritz wrote. "It defied the whole

intent of having a City Council."

Fritz went

on to say that Tennant's actions motivated her to

introduce at the Feb. 3 meeting the ordinance amendment

requiring three or more votes to pass any motion,

regardless of who was in attendance. That measure passed

4-0, with Brooks absent.

"I

have not, during any of my time on the council, had any

other council member even ask me once to vote their way,

or felt any influence or pressure in any way, shape, or

form to do so," Fritz wrote. "If anything, I

have been critical of the fact that there is so little

communication between council members, as opposed to Mr.

Tennant's insinuations and beliefs to the contrary."

Tennant

reported in a statement released Wednesday afternoon that

he and Fritz had "numerous conversations in December

and January regarding the appointment of city

attorney." When Brooks announced that he would not

be attending either February meeting, Tennant wanted to

know if the appointment could be made by a majority if

someone abstained.

"Evidently

the council meeting rules and procedures did not address

this subject specifically," he said. "But I

believed then and still believe it is a legitimate

question."

Tennant

pointed out that he was one of those voting in favor of

Fritz's amendment requiring three votes. "But I make

no apology for discussing the procedural mechanisms in

place prior to voting for the amendment."

He also

stressed in his statement that the ethics complaint

against James Webb which has delayed the official

reappointment of Webb's firm has not been proven. "I

strongly believe in one's innocence until proven

otherwise," he said.

But Tennant

did refer to the city attorney's continuing service

"on an interim basis at a 30 percent pay increase

for the month of February, ordered by Mayor Lenox."

Tennant

stated from the outset that he is against the

reappointment of Webb, Stuckey & Lindsey because the

firm "is the high bidder among several highly

qualified candidates, and I do not believe in wasting

taxpayer dollars."

With his

own statement, Tennant released what he said was a

portion of a Jan. 18 e-mail sent to him by Fritz, which

he said clearly refutes her public statement released

Tuesday. A portion of Fritz's comments, as quoted by

Tennant, are as follows:

"We

would be two for, two against vote, so I don't think we

can win this battle. I did check and found out there is

no way we could pull anything off with Brooks gone and

Annie abstaining. There still has to be a majority vote,

no matter what. A 2-1 vote is no vote. The best I can see

happening is to table this until the first meeting after

the retreat, if the votes are there. We can discuss all

the pros and cons to all the combinations/circumstances

and see what comes of that."

Tennant

said that he checked with city manager Jim Basinger to be

certain that his discussions with Fritz were proper,

since there were only two council members involved.

When

contacted Thursday morning about Tennant's latest

statement, Fritz said that she never suggested it was

illegal for two council members to discuss anything

privately, but she found his possible method of attaining

a vote on this issue questionable.