Fairhope city resources may have been improperly used at a Sept. 25 rally for then U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore at Oak Hollow Farm, according to documents obtained and researched by The Courier.
The Courier submitted a public records request on Oct. 12 for “any and all communications between Mayor Wilson, Sherry-Lea Bloodworth Botop, Chief Petties (or other police officials) and any public works staff regarding the Roy Moore event at Oak Hollow.”
The City responded to the request on Dec. 8, but at least one email was omitted from the documents sent to The Courier by the city.
Prior to the Sept. 25 Moore rally held at Oak Hollow Farms, the campaign reached out to the city for the use of barricades to help with security at the event.
From the documents that were sent to The Courier
In an email dated Sept. 28, Assistant Director of Public Works Arthur Bosarge sent an email to Environmental Officer Dale Linder asking Linder to check and make corrections to an attached invoice for labor and materials involved with the “cost of delivery set up and pick up of barricades to Oak Hollow for special event.”
In that invoice, the City charged $25 per hour for labor, with six workers working four hours at an incorrect billing of $300. The City charged $150 for “materials” and $100 for “fee for truck per day,” for a total of $550.
In a subsequent email, Linder told Bosarge he had updated the invoice as requested, changing some of the totals.
The labor costs were changed to $600, which accurately reflects the cost of four hours of work for six city workers at $25 per hour. The “materials” cost was lowered to $0 and the “fee for truck per day” was lowered to $50, making the new total $650.
Bosarge then sent Linder’s corrected invoice on to Community Development Director Sherry-Lea Bloodworth Botop.
Document omitted from the public record request
Not included in the city’s official records release was a set of emails from Sept. 25 that were obtained via a confidential source and verified by The Courier in the days following the public records release by the City.
The emails are an exchange between Bosarge and Botop, with Fairhope Police Chief Joseph Petties copied as well.
At 12:19 p.m., Bosarge writes Botop.
“Sherry as requested we delivered and set up barricades as requested,” Bosarge wrote. “I will follow up with an email on the cost of delivery, set up and take down.”
Botop replied at 3:24 p.m.
“Thank you Arthur!” Botop wrote. “Much appreciated! Chief, I would like to submit all costs together.”
The Courier questioned city officials why this email exchange was omitted from the public records request, but no answer was given by the City.
City’s statement
Attached to the documents given to The Courier was a statement from the mayor’s office, which reads as follows:
“The campaign for a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat, Roy Moore, scheduled a political event within the police jurisdiction of the City of Fairhope for September 25, 217 (sic). This event was scheduled without notice or advance consultation with Fairhope’s elected officials or employees.
“Subsequently, the Moore campaign learned that a nationally recognized public figure and former cabinet member (sic), Steve Bannon, intended to attend the event along with television celebrity, Phil Robertson. This turn of events caused the Moore Campaign to reach out to the City for reasons of public safety and security. An event of this magnitude was expected to draw national attention and media coverage. More importantly, such an event also draws a far larger crowd bringing with it a host of public safety and security concerns.
“For these reasons, City officials and employees, including Chief Petties, worked with the Moore Campaign as well as members of U.S. Secret Service to implement standard safety and security protocols in order to protect the citizens of Fairhope, the attendees of the event within its police jurisdiction and the candidate and officials attending the event. Extraordinary expenditures necessitated by the event were invoiced by the City and paid for by the Moore Campaign.
“Public safety and security is one of the paramount objectives of the City of Fairhope. When events such as the September 25th One (sic) is scheduled within the police jurisdiction of Fairhope it is incumbent on the City to properly prepare, plan and implement adequate safety procedures to insure the health safety and welfare of its citizens.”
City protocol and state law
City protocol for usage of city property like the barricades for private events has always been subject to city council approval in the past.
Events like the Grandman Triathlon and the Angel Ride have also made use of city barricades in the past, but they were pre-approved by a majority vote of the council each time.
Council President Jack Burrell said he could not recall a previous time where the city had used the barricades for a private event without approval from the council.
Councilmen Jay Robinson, Kevin Boone and Robert Brown said they had no knowledge of the use of the barriers until they had been contacted by The Courier.
Councilman Jimmy Conyers said he had been contacted by the Moore campaign prior to the event and had been asked for the city’s assistance, but Conyers said he gave them Botop’s contact information and did not have any further involvement with the event or usage of city property.
State law is ambiguous as to whether a municipality can grant the use of city property and use city labor to set up and deliver said property during work hours for private events, but an Alabama Attorney General’s Opinion from 1998 does lend some clarity to that ambiguity.
In the Apr. 13, 1998 opinion, the town of Ashville questioned whether it could open and close graves in a cemetery not owned by the town for a charge to the deceased’s family.
In the opinion, the Attorney General’s office said the town “cannot, during normal working hours, use city equipment and employees to open and close graves even where there is full reimbursement.”
“This office has concluded that in the absence of legislation specifically authorizing a city to do work in private cemeteries, a city is prohibited from doing so during normal working hours, even if a fee is offered for the work,” the opinion reads.
The AG’s office did say that the town could lease idle municipal equipment under “certain guidelines,” however, in recognition that “in many of the smaller communities of the state, grave digging services are unavailable to the residents through private businesses.”
The guidelines that must be met include:
1. The services must not be available in the area through private enterprise.
With regards to the use of Fairhope’s barricades, there are multiple businesses in the Gulf Coast area that do rent barricades for special events.
2. The equipment can be leased by the municipality only when not needed by the municipality.
At that time, there were no Fairhope city events which required usage of the barricades.
3. The amount paid to the municipality should be an amount comparable to that of the rental of such equipment from private sources.
With regards to the use of Fairhope’s barricades, the “materials” charge was zeroed out on the final invoice. Barricade rental companies in the Gulf Coast area said they do charge for the cost of the barricades in addition to labor and delivery fees.
4. The lease contract should mandate municipal approval of the operators of the machinery in order to assure that only qualified persons would be allowed to operate the machinery.
With regards to the use of Fairhope’s barricades, while permission was given by city staff, usual protocol of council approval for the usage of city property and labor was not followed.
5. Town employees can be allowed to operate the machinery only when not on duty in their municipal job.
With regards to the use of Fairhope’s barricades, work was done by city employees during on-duty hours with the City.
Questions regarding the issues created by the Attorney General’s opinion were not answered by the City.
