Though Russell County Commissioner Gentry Lee apologized and reworded his motion from the previous meeting, it might not be enough to get city officials to remain in partnership with them on the Russell County-Phenix City Animal Shelter, which opened last week.
In a 3-1 vote, the vote carried narrowly after Commission Chair Mervin Dudley changed his vote from no to yes. Commissioners Tillman Pugh and Cattie Epps abstained from the vote, while Commissioner Ronnie Reed voted no. Commissioner Larry Screws was not present.
“In making this motion, I unintentionally used the words ‘bill for half’ in reference to the city. This was not my intention or the commission’s intention,” Lee said before making his new motion. “Before I make this motion, I would like to apologize to the city and to the commission for using this wrong wording. The intention was to inform the city of our action, not bill.”
When commissioners had their say concerning the issue, one said he only voted for the $50,000 one-time allocation because he was under the impression that the Phenix City Council was in agreement.
“Mr. Lee had made the comment that Mr. Wetzel had agreed to the $25,000 and that’s why I went forward with our vote and I think that’s what influenced this panel,” Pugh said.
Lee agreed that he had a conversation with City Councilman Jimmy Wetzel. However, Wetzel recalls the conversation between the two men at his barbershop a little differently.
“I told Gentry that whenever the city and county worked out this agreement, it looks like they didn’t include enough start-up cost,” Wetzel said. “I told Gentry at some point in time a representative from the city council and the county commission need to sit down with the city manager and the county administrator and people from the animal board to discuss this issue. … Next thing I hear is that Gentry has gone down there and said I’m in favor of an appropriation and we never discussed any amount.”
In a letter from City Attorney James Graham, the city proposed to buy the county out of the shelter or allow the county to buy the city out of the shelter.
Phenix City is still operating a shelter it had prior to the new shelter opening.
“When the shelter opened, we didn’t send any of our animals over. Our shelter is still up and running,” Wetzel said, adding that the council has directed the city manager not to release any additional funds to the shelter until this matter has been resolved.
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