On Monday, Nov. 3, District Judge Robert Bryant administered the oath of office to Mayor Dexter Hinton and Marion city council members, including newcomers Ann LeCroy and Stanley Kennie, at the start of the city’s organizational meeting. The council then hit a series of deadlocks on basic setup items, setting a contentious tone that later reached the audience and helped precipitate an emergency meeting the following night.
Councilmember Willie Jackson was the only nominee for mayor pro tem and was approved on a unanimous voice vote.
The council split 3–3 over whether to hold regular meetings on the first and third Thursdays at 6 p.m. or to keep the current schedule. After the tie, the mayor announced the schedule would remain as it is for now.
Members also debated a procedures ordinance that, as drafted, referenced Thursday meetings. Councilmember LeCroy pushed to include a public-comment period. After back-and-forth over timing and whether a quorum would be required to hear comments, the mayor said public comment would be placed as the last item on the agenda before any executive session. The council passed a motion to that effect by unanimous voice vote.
A 3–3 tie also stopped an early attempt to confirm the slate of department heads, including City Clerk Laura Hinton, Police Chief Kendrick Howell, and City Attorney Ainkah Jackson. Councilmember Stanley Kennie made a motion to table those appointments for up to 90 days, which failed with the mayor breaking the tie against it.
“I’ve never met the chief,” Kennie said, asking for time to review the positions.
Money-handling arrangements produced the sharpest exchanges. The council needed to remove former members from city bank accounts and add current officials as signers for city accounts at Marion Community Bank, First Citizens Bank, and West Alabama Bank and Trust.
The current signers are the mayor and the clerk, according to city procedures. Former Councilmember Jefferson Nail was the third signature. City Attorney Jackson and Clerk Laura Hinton warned of legal and operational risks if changes were delayed.
Stanley Kennie objected to any arrangement that would place two members of the same family on the same check signature line. Mayor Dexter Hinton and City Clerk Laura Hinton are related by marriage. Laura Hinton is the wife of Dexter Hinton’s brother, Lionel Hinton.
After a recess for executive session, the council unanimously approved a resolution to remove signers Nail and former city magistrate Kristi Milner as account signatories and to add Chief Joseph Horton as a signatory to the city’s fire department account. The council also agreed to revisit the question of adding LeCroy as a third signer. The mayor asked for that motion later in the meeting, and the council voted unanimously to add LeCroy as a third signature.
Audience tensions rose during the evening. After the third failed vote on signatories, audible groans could be heard from the public.
While the council met in executive session, a police officer escorted at least one audience member from the chambers.
A budget work session first proposed for Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m. was postponed, with Clerk Hinton noting that budget materials and final depository arrangements were not yet in place. A previously scheduled Nov. 13 session regarding water meters was confirmed for 11 a.m.
The contentious Monday meeting set up an emergency session on Tuesday night, Nov. 4.
