The Ripp Report has been reporting on the Airport scandal since Nov. 2016,
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.
Fairhope voters, we did it once and now we have to do it again. And that is show our mayor support and remind the city council the majority won the election. Our council has been under the influence of the minority and turning a blind eye to the majority. They have allowed previous personal friendships to take front seat to city issues, following senior councilmen down a path of falsehoods. The newly elected council, three members, have been convinced— so far, that facts are fiction, such as the airport scandal.
Open Letter to Fairhope Airport Authority
Attention Josh Myrick, Attorney
Joe McEnerney, Chairman
Jack Burrell, City Council
Dear Sirs;
Thank you for providing the Ripp Report with the information we requested. The summary outlined in this letter contains information from your documents: A. Request for Advisory Opinion from the Alabama Ethics Commission, Dennis R. Bailey. B. Notice of Request for Bids for Airport Ground Lease. C.Ground Lease and Operating Agreement, Dec 17th 2015.
The Fairhope City Council needs to do more reading of facts than listening to unsubstantiated statements by Council President Burrell. One thing needs to be made perfectly clear the issue of the complaint against Mr. Burrell and Mr. Hix is not going to disappear because Mr. Burrell dismisses it.
We're just getting started.
Authority explains how board member won hangar lease bid When the Fairhope Airport Authority posted an overview and timeline regarding a controversial hangar lease awarded to a board member, the link to supporting documents did not work for a
“The appropriation from city coffers to the airport is more than we spend on all 5 of our public schools and is 21% of our debt and accommodates less than 1% of the population.”
The Ripp Report is being investigated by attorneys hired by the Fairhope Airport Authority because we filed a complaint against them. Please take into consideration that this is the same attorney who was hired by board member Ray Hix to request an advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission.
The Fairhope City Council pounced on Mayor Wilson for exercising her rights and responsibilities as Mayor to hire and fire employees.
Alabama Supreme Court rules mayors have power to hire and fire municipal employees blog.al.com In Alabama, mayors alone have the power to hire and fire municipal employees, according to a state Supreme Court ruling in a Birmingham-area case that apparently also resolves the key dispute underpinning long-standing mayor-council power struggles in Fairhope and Daphne.
Every Fairhope City council meeting begins with a prayer and the pledge of allegiance. What irony, when the council president then explains to attending citizens that their right to speak is a privilege— not a right. The council president then explained that the 3 minute limit on public participation was at his discretion. This is how our previous Mayor handled critics, complaints or investigations— absolutely no transparency. Make no mistake, as an American, it is your right.
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.
The Ripp Report and BCLE are offering a $5k cash award to anyone who can prove that the contents of the formal complaint against Councilman Jack Burrell of Fairhope are false. Prove that the documents quoted or provided are fabricated or altered from their original copies or that there is any willful malicious intent to mislead the public for any reason or to unlawfully disparage Mr. Burrell by making fictitious claims or providing erroneous documents, and you will be five thousand dollars ($5k) richer.
Fairhope tossed out the Mayor of 16 years and ever since the sounds of rat traps are going off all over Fairhope. It is not uncommon for the new administration to discover past deeds of employees and elected officials that were unethical or criminal. The interesting thing is that it is usually the good employees who come forward with information once they do not have to fear retribution from a Mayor who covered and condoned such behavior.
