TALK OF THE TOWN City Mgr. Bam Haislip Fired & Rehired
By: TRACY HARRIS – Staff Writer
Tuesday
Councilman Joe Bradford motioned to terminate City Manager Roy “Bam” Haislip effective immediately on Aug. 13 in an abrupt and unforeseen motion at his last regularly scheduled City Council meeting.
Vickie Michael motioned to defer, “until we have the new Council here next month for something this important.”
Bradford said, “I represent Ward 5 until the end of the month.”
A roll call vote was taken to defer and it failed 3 -2.
The motion to terminate Haislip was back on the table.
Three Councilmen voted yes – Bradford, David Perka, and Tommy Burns. Michael and Patty Parsons voted no. It passed by a vote of 3 -2.
There was a buzz in town all week- on social media, at City Hall, at restaurants, and everywhere else. Some people took to social media with the hashtag #istandwithBam and others made t-shirt to support him.
Wednesday
On Wednesday afternoon, the City announced a Special Call Meeting to be held Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting was for…the following item of business: Discussion of reinstatement of Roy A. (Bam) Haislip to the position of City Manager.
This meeting was requested by Councilman Perka.
Later in the afternoon, a second notice was issued announcing a 5:00 meeting. The purpose of that meeting was for…the following item of business: Vote on Motion to reinstate Roy A. “Bam” Haislip as City Manager.
This meeting was requested by Councilmembers Michael and Parsons.
At 6:09 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, the following email reply was sent to Gina Jones, Lewisburg City Recorder from Joseph Bradford (email redacted).
The Marshall County Post (Tracy Harris) received proof of an official email on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, at 9:34 p.m. from an anonymous source:
Subject: Re: Notice of a Special Call Meeting August 16, 2024
“I see no point in attending. If three called it, I assume three will vote for it. Best wishes to you all. I’m retired from this.” Thumb up emoji
-Joe
Friday
Due to safety concerns, Fire Chief Drew Hawkins moved the meeting to the Lewisburg Rec Center.
At 9:19 a.m., Bradford sent an email to Patty Blackburn at The Marshall County Post. Blackburn summarized the email as follows: “He stated he would not be at the Friday evening’s meetings. These were scheduled with little more than two days’ notice and he already had a medical appointment scheduled. No one from City Hall reached out to him when scheduling these meetings.”
At the 3:oo meeting, over 200 people showed up including a heavy police presence, former City employees, concerned citizens, and News Channel 5. Discussion took place until just after 4 p.m. Every speaker was in support of the reinstatement of Haislip and against terminating a City Manager in the manner it was done.
Haislip thanked everyone for their support and asked everyone to remain peaceful, civil, and respectful.
Vickie Michael said the following about Haislip, “He has never not returned an e-mail, a text, or call. He’s never not allowed me to enter his office unannounced. In my opinion, our City Manager has an open-door policy for all citizens and all council members.”
She elaborated on the success of the Rec Center, steps taken to keep it going since COVID-19, as well as all 12 city parks.
“Mr. Burns has often spoken of training. We’ve had many discussions and we’ve always kind of disagreed because I believe training should be job-specific. But in this case, I think training is demanded. This City Council and the future City Council need to have conflict resolution training,” Michael said.
Burns and Parsons made brief statements.
Bradford was the only Councilman not present.
Perka discussed a lawsuit between the Lewisburg Housing Authority (LHA) and a former employee, and the conditions at LHA where he resides, including 175 unfit units.
Perka said he voted to terminate Haislip so he could provide the community with this information at a Special Call Meeting. According to Perka, the person involved in the lawsuit with LHA is Haislip’s sister.
The vote to reinstate the City Manager was 4-0.
