Gambling supporters on Bessemer’s City Council refused Jan. 14 to acknowledge Mayor Edward May’s veto of their latest resolution — this time essentially transforming the city’s paper bingo ordinance into an “electronic bingo” law.
Although Council Members Louise Alexander, Dorothy Davidson, Pro-tem Jesse Matthews and President Earl Cochran did not acknowledge two vetoes of bingo resolutions previously submitted by May, the group has continued to create and pass ordinances in an attempt to override the mayor’s authority. In the latest veto, May cited the crime, corruption and havoc caused by gambling. He said the latest resolution, which passed Jan. 5, is invalid since City Council members introduced and voted on it in the same meeting without unanimous consent — a violation of Alabama law.
“I have for some time urged the council to abandon its ‘ambush’ approach to adopting contested or controversial ordinances or resolutions,” he wrote. “The action taken Jan. 5 clearly suggest(s) that the same majority of the council fully intends to continue their practice of adding items to the agenda without providing public notice, without providing this office with an advance copy or the ability to participate in open discussion or deliberation.”
According to the Alabama League of Municipalities’ Handbook for Mayors and Councilmembers, a mayor can veto “all ordinances and resolutions intended to be of a permanent nature” within 10 days of passage and “the (city) clerk shall report the objections to the council at its next regular meeting.”
Alexander accused Travis Brooks, acting city clerk, of lying about receiving the veto since he did not provide the council’s bingo committee with copies of it at a Jan. 15 meeting. But Brooks told The Alabama Baptist, “Every veto that I’ve ever received has been in a timely manner.”
To this issue, May said, “There is nothing in that statute that provides that the clerk is to give [or] transmit [the veto] prior to the next regular meeting.”
Yet attorney Kim Davidson, who has ties to electronic bingo gambling debates in other areas and is now working with some Bessemer council members, advised the council that this is not her understanding of the city code. “Once [the veto is] filed with the clerk, it’s not a private document,” she told The Alabama Baptist.
The handbook also states a two-thirds vote from members of the council is required to override the mayor’s veto. Perceiving that they did not have the necessary votes, the four gambling supporters on the council instead voted to instruct Davidson to “go across the street” and ask Circuit Judge Eugene Verin for clarification in the matter.
When Councilor James Stephens asked how the council planned to pay Davidson for the work she is doing in Bessemer, Alexander said, “The general fund. We use taxpayers’ money for everything else. Why not use it for this?”
At press time, it was unclear how much Davidson stands to earn from representing the council in its bingo disputes. The City of Bessemer is already represented by one law firm and the council by another, so Davidson is the third attorney being paid to represent the city.
“It (bingo) is already here under (ordinance) 2108, (which allows traditional paper bingo),” Davidson told the council. “We can pretend it’s not. The operators in this very room are making a lot of money off of it. … My job is collecting the fees (for the city). … The city of Bessemer isn’t making money off of it.”
Yet Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls has said the county’s charity bingo amendment does not allow any person or municipality to receive money from bingo operations.
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