Jefferson city council members heard a pair of open letters chastising the council for recent decisions but made no response and took no action. Mayor Craig Berry read the letters aloud during the open forum portion of the meeting.
The letters, written by Jefferson attorney Michael Mumma, referred to the council’s adoption Jan. 12 of a new policy for the use of hotel/motel tax revenues, and to the council’s approval Jan. 26 of a fire department grant application for Grow Greene County funding for air tanks for the fire department.
Mumma wrote to the council that he “heartily disagrees” with the decisions, that the hotel/motel tax use policy is a “violation of trust of the voters, an overreach,” and that the grant application exhibits “unmitigated greed” on the part of the council. Mumma urged the council to seriously reconsider those decisions in the near future.
The first letter Berry read dealt only with the hotel/motel tax use policy. Mumma had provided that letter to GreeneCountyNewsOnline Tuesday morning at the same time he emailed it to city hall for distribution to council members. It was posted under the Opinion tab at GCNO and was widely read.
