She forgot to mute.
Council member Bettye Gavin gave an apology this week to the public and fellow council members for an outburst caught on mike, so to speak, when she was participating remotely in the June 16 council meeting.
Gavin made a loud, aggressive statement that included a three-letter word referring to a part of the human body and a pack animal, that was not quite clear but indicated somebody should shut up or get out.
“You heard me say something, and it was not directed at anyone in this room,” Gavin told the council when it met again Tuesday. “Did I swear at you? No. I was talking to someone else.”
That someone else, Gavin said later in an interview, was her husband, Archie, who sometimes enjoys distracting her when she’s on the phone.
While she may have sounded angry, Gavin said it was horseplay between the two of them.
“It wasn’t aimed at anybody but that knucklehead husband of mine,” she said.
The outburst since has been turned into a bit of rap remix that includes Mayor Bob O’Dekirk’s question after the outburst whether Gavin had a comment. She replied she did not without explanation.
“When he said that, I just dropped to my knees,” Gavin said. “I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s out there.’”
Council members have been able to participate in meetings remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gavin said she doesn’t plan to do so again and appeared in person when she gave the apology.
“I said, ‘I’m going to get my butt back to the meetings,’ ” she said.
Texans need not apply
The City Council is launching another city manager search with the usual public controversy likely to deter some potential candidates.
O’Dekirk, who favors hiring someone local without a search, commented at the Tuesday meeting that the process leads to a lot of out-of-staters sending in resumes including the likes of “a guy who’s been city manager for two years in Nowhere, Texas.”
Council member Larry Hug, also opposed to a candidate search, continued to mock the council majority’s willingness to use a personality profile test, something fairly common in the recruitment of mid-level and top managers.
Hug said it will deter candidates.
“They’ll say maybe down the road I’ll have to see a shrink,” he said.
City departures
Former City Attorney Martin Shanahan is not the only high-level employee let go in recent weeks by interim City Manager Steve Jones.
Michael Schwarz, former director of planning for Joliet, also is no longer working for the city.
Jones would not comment on the reasons for either departure but said he does not plan to replace either Shanahan or Schwarz.
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