Mayor drops out of Tuesday's State of the City due to video by council president

Bayne Hughes, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·4 min read

Apr. 30—Mayor Tab Bowling will not participate in or attend the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce's annual State of the City breakfast on Tuesday morning, he said, due to a chamber decision to include a short video from the City Council president.

Bowling on Monday said he backed out of the presentation — scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Decatur Riverfront — because of a disagreement over the video prepared by City Council President Jacob Ladner, who is out of town this week on business.

"I had never seen or heard of anything like this regarding a state of the city address from any of my colleagues where the council president gives an opening statement," Bowling said. "I said, 'Don't show the video or I won't be participating.' They took the position that they're going to show the video."

Bowling said he not only won't participate, he also won't attend the event.

"The chamber had a different plan," Bowling said. "It's a State of the City, and they wanted to get a different direction on the way that message is given.

"... I know the state of the city."

Chamber president and CEO Crystal Brown would not comment except to say, "You'll have to ask the mayor."

Ladner said chamber officials asked him a few weeks ago to do the video when they found out he would be out of town.

"I guess since I had been part of (the State of the City presentation), I guess they just wanted to make sure I was missing it because of a prior engagement," Ladner said. "They asked me if I would do kind of a welcome video, and I told them that I would. I didn't think there was any big deal doing it."

Ladner said the video is about 120 seconds long.

"There's not a whole lot to it," Ladner said. "It's just a welcome video that gives my perspective to the state of the city and how we can move forward in the city. I talked about how good things are happening, but we have had some challenges in the last seven months. We all should try to come together and try to move forward."

Seven months ago, a Decatur police officer shot and killed Steve Perkins.

Ladner said he "doesn't understand why the video is a good reason not to attend" the State of the City breakfast.

Ladner said the only recent conflict between him and the mayor that he knows of prior to this chamber issue is he believes Bowling doesn't like how he, as council president, conducts council meetings since the Sept. 29 police shooting.

Bowling now leaves council meetings prior to public comments.

"He (Bowling) doesn't like the way I hold public comment," Ladner said. "He has said he thinks I should not allow the public comment, and I obviously disagree."

Ladner said they should listen to everyone who wants to express an opinion.

"Just because I don't like what is being said, that doesn't mean we as elected officials shouldn't listen and try to work together and try to move forward," he said.

Bowling said he understands Ladner finds it difficult to stop public comments at council meetings.

"They aren't helping our Police Department, our employees or our city as a whole," Bowling said. "The public comments are demeaning, and we're not hearing anything new. They don't lead to healing moving forward."

Bowling said he found out about the chamber's plans to include a video from Ladner late Friday when they met to make sure they were ready for the breakfast.

Bowling said he used to present a state of the city address "by myself, but, with this council and myself, we were having so much fun and energy, we started doing them together."

Bowling said he had planned this year to feature Parks & Recreation Director Jason Lake and Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester. Lake would give an update on the many projects that he's working on like the recreation center, event center and pickleball and tennis courts. Demeester would then provide financial insight about these projects, he said.

Bowling added that "there are many things the mayor does and many things the council does, and I try to stay in my lane, and they try to stay in their lane. This just didn't seem to right."

Councilmen Carlton McMasters and Kyle Pike will now give the State of the City presentation with the chamber's Wade Weaver as the moderator.

"We're going to provide an update the best we can," said McMasters, who declined to comment on the mayor's decision not to attend the breakfast.

Chamber members paid $30 to attend the event, with non-chamber members paying $50.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432