PANDORA'S BOX

Today the phrase “to open Pandora’s box” means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching negative consequences. Once open all the evils fly out, only leaving the good.

Fairhope has opened Pandora’s box thanks to the HR director and her $100,000 lawsuit against the city. Now the contents are slowly going to be public. The latest item out of the box is the claim of Sherry Sullivan and her wrongful termination.

Dan (Byron Daniel) Merrill

Dan (Byron Daniel) Merrill, 73, of Daphne, died March 5, 2014. He was born on Sept. 15, 1940. Growing up in Dozier, Ala., a town he loved all his life, he was a 1958 graduate of Dozier High School. Dan served four years in the U.S. Marine …

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Sullivan and Jennifer Fidler were fired, and no one knows why. Now we will find out. Fidler is the witness for the HR director. Want to make a bet that Fidler doesn’t jump in with her own lawsuit?

The mayor is constrained by liability not to comment on the firings and she has denied any assault took place.

Guess what is in the box?

JACK IN THE BOX - AIRPORT

The Airport Authority has a great idea! They are going to use your tax dollars to hire “ the top ethics attorney in Alabama” to investigate me and The Ripp Report, and attempt to “head off” any investigation with the Attorney General’s office and the Ethics Commission. Your tax dollars are going to pay for the defense of the authority board members, Jack Burrell and Ray Hix, who are the focus of the complaint.

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If you think Jack Burrell, come fly with me, had nothing to do with the all the above, then you also probably think you can jump out of an airplane without a parachute and you don’t know Jack.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK

I have followed four Fairhope city councils and one thing I can tell you is with each new council several things became abundantly clear. The new members of the council are usually influenced by longer serving members. However, the newer members are usually kept in the dark as to the backstory involving long-term issues concerning the city. Another observation was the utter lack of transparency and accountability. I give our previous Mayor full credit for using the aforementioned tactics.

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Now we will have lawyers involved and “cross examination”. Swearing to the truth and all that legal stuff will bring all the dirt to the surface. They are going to wish they never opened that box.

Also in the box is the airport scandal involving none other than Jack, however he had the support of the airport authority and Joe Mc Enermy, the chairman, parroting what Jack told him. The airport authority board knew what was going on and remained silent, even when faced with facts they could not deny.

The “gift” is in the box as well, free wet lands for the city and new liability.

RE-GIFT GIFT ??

ATTENTION FAIRHOPE TAXPAYERS FW: Fly Creek PUD Amendment & the Deed to the City of the Most Sensitive 4 Acres Mitsy, “email to all council members and Mayor Wilson would greatly benefit the City. It concerns the importance and impact of the Deed of Gift from Corte to the City of the lowest 4 acres between the retention pond outfall pipe and Fly Creek." “At the Council meeting there was confusion over the discovery that in Fall 2016 - while the developer was attempting to gain Site Plan Approval for a one-point drainage system through the out-fall pipe of the current detention in violation of the PUD Amendment 1572 requiring a non-point discharge system diffusing the water across the entire south side boundary - the Developer was also deeding to the City the entire 4 acre parcel, including wetlands, that the outfall pipe spills directly onto and is immediately adjacent and between the proposed project and Fly Creek.

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The evil will come out of the jar leaving the good to prevail. Mayor Wilson is no saint but the city council, particularly the three new members, have refused to inspect the contents of the box. Jack’s conflict of interest, Boone’s LLC’s and all the past deeds of the last administration. The council, led by Jack, supports the efforts of the HR director and Sullivan while refusing to support the Mayor or City.

I wonder if the three women have thought how this was going to look on their resume or what the end result was going to be?

Please remember we only had two mayors in 40 years and both left office under a cloud of corruption. So, to see this kind of fireworks should be no surprise. The GOB’s and girls are trying anything possible to reverse the election.

Another take on the situation is:

What is wrong with Fairhope?

The fastest growing city in Alabama's fastest growing county has generated plenty of headlines in the past six months, but none of it positive from city hall. Most of the attention has been on the ongoing bickering between the new mayor and the city council. The attention might swell in the coming weeks after a claim of harassment surfaced last week involving the mayor.

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A good article, however it should be mentioned that a few quotes seem to be very misleading. Diana Brewer, who lost her council seat then went down with the ship, Maritime Museum, is weighing in on “Vision”. Give me a break she has no vision and she supports the Corte Apartments and the destruction of the wetlands. Her new job is with Weeks Bay Foundation who have made their position on wetlands very clear. Diana takes to social media defending her position which is opposite of her employer and board, she should stay in the box.

Joe McEnermy chairman of the airport authority, came out of the box saying the mayor’s “foray into airport authority dealings had a hint of conspiracy theory to it.” He is the Chairman and knows the whole story and has supported Jack’s lies. Let’s see how he does on the stand.

Under professional management Gregg Mims is mentioned, a former Fairhope administrator who resigned in 2012. “Professional” management. Hell, he formed the BOB club, band of brothers, a group of city employees meeting secretly to overthrow the then administration. His resume was hit hard by his actions and it is obvious that the employees coming out of the box did not think about their own resume’s.

I do agree that the mayor made a bad mistake when she took office and decided not to fire or replace any employees. She had hoped they would accept the election results and put the community before sour grapes. She was wrong. She should have fired them right off the bat.

We will have to wait and see if our junior councilmen, Conyers, Brown and Robertson put the city first or they decide they want to climb in the box with the rest.