Yesterday I posted a blog that was pieced together from various sources. However, I will admit that I never contacted one of the main sources. I jumped to the conclusion of guilt because of my previous encounters with many of the players involved. Namely, Ben Winston, Kent Crider and Stephanie Mullings. As I stated, no one ever said Stephanie interacted with anyone regarding the water issue. So, I didn't bother attempting to contact her for her side of the story. To be honest, I don't know why I didn't contact her. I suppose I thought she would avoid the truth or refuse to comment. Either way I was wrong for not affording her the opportunity to defend herself or explain the accusations that were being levied against her mother. I try to remain open minded but since Stephanie and I have such a tumultuous history, I don't think we'll ever be able to see anything eye to eye. In my opinion, she will never get over the things I've said about her in my blog and I can't get over the fact that she will never explain her involvement in the plot to ensure that I was arrested for an illegally issued parking ticket. So I guess we're at an impasse. However, despite her abuse of power and retaliatory tactics used against me, I want to fairly report events that led to the water billing debacle.
The other night at the special called meeting, Mayor Ben Winston was doing everything in his power to avoid the question as to weather or not he approved having Stephanie Mullings water services restored without the payment of a reconnection fee. Thankfully, Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers has decided to investigate the matter and she said she will get to the bottom of the matter. After the post entered the bloggershpere, I guess there were those that immediately contacted Stephaine and Faye so they can read the blog post since they "never read this blog." Anywho. Faye Engle wanted me to meet her so she could correct me on the errors that were contained in the blog. Since we are living in such a time when individuals don't like to talk out their differences; they rather shoot first and claim they were afraid later. I never had any indication that Faye was racist but she was seemingly outraged so I wasn't taking any chances of getting "set up". I think it is better to remain careful, especially when you're dealing with a group of individuals that have harbored such a bitter grudge against another person for so many years. Yes, this friction between us has been going on for quite some time.
So, in fairness, Faye Engle stated the following in regards to the post I made regarding the water bill issue:
"Why did you say you would meet me and then not come. I waited until after 5 on you. Someone's water bill is not covered under the HIPA law. I would not have the proof if she had not given it to me, so therefore I had her permission. Her water bill has been paid on time every month because I have been paying her bill with mine since she has been unemployed. Her water was turned off because of an illegal charge on her water bill. When I paid her water bill in December, I paid the amount stated on the bill. When I got to the car, I realized there was a balance due of $13.20. When I went back in the city clerk said she added another garbage fee because she put out garbage cans when she had a dumpster. It is illegal to add a charge to a customer's bill after the bills go out. Check the garbage ordinance, it does not state that you can charge a customer extra garbage fee. A city clerk can only charge charges set forth by state statute and policy and ordinances set forth by the board. She cannot take it upon herself to charge extra charges that is not set forth by policies and ordinances. She then added a $10 late fee, for a total of $23.20. When I started to go pay mine and her bill Friday, Stephanie could not find her bill. So I called the city hall to get the amount of her bill. She told me how much the bill was and asked had it been turned off. I told her no, but when I called Stephanie and she checked, it had been turned off. She or I neither one called Ben Winston. She did call one of the aldermen and he agreed this charge was wrong. He was the one who called the mayor about turning her water back on. I then went to the city hall and paid our water bill. On her receipt it had the $23.20 there plus had the cut-on fee added. I never mentioned the mayor. never raised my voice and I certainly did not cuss anyone. All I said was that this was being taking care of. Her water was cut off for this $23.20 illegal charge, even though her bill was paid every month. Also when I worked at city hall water was never turned off on Friday in respect of the customers. Lots of people do not get home until after city hall closes and they are without water all weekend. OAN my water was turned off too! But my alderman took care of it, saying it was turned off by mistake! I called the city hall and asked if my name was on the cut-off list, they said 5 other people had their water turned off by mistake. They really need to double check this list before sending it out."
I copied the entire statement to avoid any accusations of not giving all the details as they were relayed to me. There was another comment in the post that said I like to stir the nest; it wasn't made by Faye, but another reader that dislike anyone attempting to get at the truth. So, I'm going to take the high road and decline to post the additional information that was shared with me about handwriting analysis, and notarizing documents when the person was not in the office. Do I think Stephanie stole money from city hall? I don't know. I think a lot of the miscalculations simply occurred because there were not checks and balances in place and she knew the majority of the board (namely Crider, Johnson, and Gibson) were more concerned with blocking Mayor Holder than they were attending to the business of the city. So, Mullings didn't have a reason to be on top of her job and as a result, the city lost money, minutes and momentum. It seems that this city want to move forward but without holding anyone accountable. Until we address the lack of accountability and have a hearing regarding the lawsuit filed against the previous Mayor and board of alderpersons, we will still have a lot of unanswered questions.
Yesterday I posted a blog that was pieced together from various sources. However, I will admit that I never contacted one of the main sources. I jumped to the conclusion of guilt because of my previous encounters with many of the players involved. Namely, Ben Winston, Kent Crider and Stephanie Mullings. As I stated, no one ever said Stephanie interacted with anyone regarding the water issue. So, I didn't bother attempting to contact her for her side of the story. To be honest, I don't know why I didn't contact her. I suppose I thought she would avoid the truth or refuse to comment. Either way I was wrong for not affording her the opportunity to defend herself or explain the accusations that were being levied against her mother. I try to remain open minded but since Stephanie and I have such a tumultuous history, I don't think we'll ever be able to see anything eye to eye. In my opinion, she will never get over the things I've said about her in my blog and I can't get over the fact that she will never explain her involvement in the plot to ensure that I was arrested for an illegally issued parking ticket. So I guess we're at an impasse. However, despite her abuse of power and retaliatory tactics used against me, I want to fairly report events that led to the water billing debacle.
The other night at the special called meeting, Mayor Ben Winston was doing everything in his power to avoid the question as to weather or not he approved having Stephanie Mullings water services restored without the payment of a reconnection fee. Thankfully, Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers has decided to investigate the matter and she said she will get to the bottom of the matter. After the post entered the bloggershpere, I guess there were those that immediately contacted Stephaine and Faye so they can read the blog post since they "never read this blog." Anywho. Faye Engle wanted me to meet her so she could correct me on the errors that were contained in the blog. Since we are living in such a time when individuals don't like to talk out their differences; they rather shoot first and claim they were afraid later. I never had any indication that Faye was racist but she was seemingly outraged so I wasn't taking any chances of getting "set up". I think it is better to remain careful, especially when you're dealing with a group of individuals that have harbored such a bitter grudge against another person for so many years. Yes, this friction between us has been going on for quite some time.
So, in fairness, Faye Engle stated the following in regards to the post I made regarding the water bill issue:
"Why did you say you would meet me and then not come. I waited until after 5 on you. Someone's water bill is not covered under the HIPA law. I would not have the proof if she had not given it to me, so therefore I had her permission. Her water bill has been paid on time every month because I have been paying her bill with mine since she has been unemployed. Her water was turned off because of an illegal charge on her water bill. When I paid her water bill in December, I paid the amount stated on the bill. When I got to the car, I realized there was a balance due of $13.20. When I went back in the city clerk said she added another garbage fee because she put out garbage cans when she had a dumpster. It is illegal to add a charge to a customer's bill after the bills go out. Check the garbage ordinance, it does not state that you can charge a customer extra garbage fee. A city clerk can only charge charges set forth by state statute and policy and ordinances set forth by the board. She cannot take it upon herself to charge extra charges that is not set forth by policies and ordinances. She then added a $10 late fee, for a total of $23.20. When I started to go pay mine and her bill Friday, Stephanie could not find her bill. So I called the city hall to get the amount of her bill. She told me how much the bill was and asked had it been turned off. I told her no, but when I called Stephanie and she checked, it had been turned off. She or I neither one called Ben Winston. She did call one of the aldermen and he agreed this charge was wrong. He was the one who called the mayor about turning her water back on. I then went to the city hall and paid our water bill. On her receipt it had the $23.20 there plus had the cut-on fee added. I never mentioned the mayor. never raised my voice and I certainly did not cuss anyone. All I said was that this was being taking care of. Her water was cut off for this $23.20 illegal charge, even though her bill was paid every month. Also when I worked at city hall water was never turned off on Friday in respect of the customers. Lots of people do not get home until after city hall closes and they are without water all weekend. OAN my water was turned off too! But my alderman took care of it, saying it was turned off by mistake! I called the city hall and asked if my name was on the cut-off list, they said 5 other people had their water turned off by mistake. They really need to double check this list before sending it out."
I copied the entire statement to avoid any accusations of not giving all the details as they were relayed to me. There was another comment in the post that said I like to stir the nest; it wasn't made by Faye, but another reader that dislike anyone attempting to get at the truth. So, I'm going to take the high road and decline to post the additional information that was shared with me about handwriting analysis, and notarizing documents when the person was not in the office. Do I think Stephanie stole money from city hall? I don't know. I think a lot of the miscalculations simply occurred because there were not checks and balances in place and she knew the majority of the board (namely Crider, Johnson, and Gibson) were more concerned with blocking Mayor Holder than they were attending to the business of the city. So, Mullings didn't have a reason to be on top of her job and as a result, the city lost money, minutes and momentum. It seems that this city want to move forward but without holding anyone accountable. Until we address the lack of accountability and have a hearing regarding the lawsuit filed against the previous Mayor and board of alderpersons, we will still have a lot of unanswered questions.
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