FOLEY, Ala. — One of the city’s most prominent citizens said he was “totally shocked and surprised” to learn that Foley City Council is considering selling a historical painting he gave to Foley Public Library years ago.

Former mayor Arthur Holk said Friday he isn’t an “Indian-giver” but he takes issue with the mayor and council over action taken earlier this month regarding selling a huge painting depicting the Battle of Mobile Bay, a significant naval battle of the American Civil War that took place Aug. 23, 1864.

Holk said the painting hung in the Grand Hotel on the Eastern Shore. When remodeling was taking place in the hotel, Holk said he had occasion to ask a manager about what would be done with the painting. The manager said he (Holk) could have it if he wanted it.

“I went back in my van the next day and picked it up,” Holk said, adding, he gave the painting to the Library and it was not to be sold.

“I had a person offer me money for it while I was mayor — a fellow in Mobile,” Holk said.

Holk, who stepped down as mayor in 1998, said he knew the man who commissioned the painting — a painting Holk describes as “oil on canvas.”

Holk said he has talked to some members of the Library Board and they were not aware that the council had given the go-ahead to sell the painting.

At the Sept. 15 council meeting, council members approved a resolution accepting a rate quote of $200,000 insurance coverage on the painting. At that time, Mayor John Koniar said the insurance coverage on the painting would be $3,600 annually.

The day after the council meeting, Koniar said the painting “deserves to be preserved better than we’re capable of.”

After being removed from the Library, the painting has also hung in the Foley Senior Center and, for the past couple of years, has hung in a conference room at City Hall.

“Why insure it?” Holk asked Friday. “It didn’t cost them anything to begin with.”

Holk said he is doing some research on this matter to see if he has a valid claim concerning the painting.

“They never asked me anything about it,” he said of the council’s decision to sell the painting. “This really got to me.”

Holk has contacted Koniar about the matter of selling the painting but Holk said he didn’t get the idea from the mayor that the council might reconsider the Aug. 15 action.

“We feel like we have the documentation to show it (painting) was given to the city, and that documentation shows we can do with it what we want,” Koniar said Friday.

Koniar said he respects Holk and what Holk has done for the city, but feels like the Aug. 15 action is valid and proper.

Holk said the perfect place for the painting is in the genealogy room at the new Foley Public Library.