FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Following an appeal hearing Friday morning, the City Council refused to overturn or modify Mayor Tim Kant’s termination of Human Resources Director Rhonda Bishop.

When Council President Lonnie Mixon asked if there was a motion to overturn the mayor’s termination decision, none of the three council members present responded.

Councilman Mike Ford abstained from voting. He said he refused to participate in the council acting in a personnel decision. He noted during Friday’s hearing that he opposed the ordinance adopted two years ago,which created the right of senior employees to appeal mayoral termination decisions to the council.

If Bishop intends to challenge the council’s decision, it would be by an lawsuit in county circuit court, according to state law.

The related story appeared in today's edition of The Fairhope Courier:

The timing of today’s hearing before the City Council of a department head’s challenge of her dismissal, and the method by which the special meeting was called by Council President Lonnie Mixon, has been questioned by Councilwoman Debbie Quinn, who said she cannot attend the meeting.

“I’m disappointed that council members were not called to see if they could make the date and time of a special called meeting,” Quinn said Thursday morning. “It gives the impression that they have what votes they need and others on the council do not matter and that it’s a done deal.”

The appeal by Human Resources Director Rhonda Bishop of her termination last month by Mayor Tim Kant is the first taken under an ordinance passed by the council two years ago.

The council will sit as a quasi-judicial body to hear her case. The hearing, which starts today at 8:30 a.m. in council chambers, will take place in an open meeting and not in a private executive session, according to an e-mail by the city clerk and statements by Mixon.

Bishop, who is still on the city payroll at a salary of approximately $79,000 per year, appealed her dismissal on March 3. She first learned of today’s hearing on the afternoon of March 9, she said.

Wednesday afternoon was also the first time that Quinn learned of the special meeting.

“When we are given a day and a half notice and then by e-mail for something this important, I think it’s very unprofessional to be notified this way,” said Quinn, adding that her flight this morning to Washington, D.C. to attend the National League of Cities meeting had been announced in recent council meetings. “It was not a surprise that I would be out of town (Friday),” she said.

On Wednesday, Bishop requested that the hearing be rescheduled until all five council members could be present.

“The Appeal Hearing will not be postponed,” Mixon stated in an e-mail to the city clerk Wednesday afternoon. “The public notice has been posted. There is no guarantee that all five council members will ever be able to meet at the same time due to illness, etc., only a quorum of the Council is required to have a valid meeting.”

City Administrator Gregg Mims will present the reasons for Bishop’s termination, and then she will have a right to respond, which includes presenting witnesses, according to city officials and staff.

Kant said Thursday he thought the hearing should be rescheduled until next Wednesday when both he and Quinn would be in town.

Mixon said he called the meeting for Friday because Kant would be at the NLC meeting on Monday when the council meets that night, and that the next regular council meeting would be two weeks away.

“I think something as important as this should be heard by the whole council,” Kant said. “I think it’s only fair to have a time when everybody could be there.”

City Attorney Marion “Tut” Wynne could not be reached for comment regarding whether Mixon had the authority alone to deny Bishop’s request for a continuance, or whether the entire council had to make that decision as a body.

“I made sure we’re going to have a quorum before I set the meeting,” Mixon said, referring to at least two other council members he contacted.

“I was told he contacted everybody,” Kant said.

A council president can call a special meeting “whenever in his opinion the public interest may require it,” according to Alabama statute.

State law requires only 24-hours notice for calling such meetings.