Locked out: Cairo council meets in city hall foyer after mayor locks building

CAIRO, Ill. -- The sparring match between Mayor Paul Farris and the city council continued Wednesday when four council members found a locked door as they attempted to assemble.

City hall was locked up and office workers were sent home early before the four could meet to address agenda items Farris refused to consider during the regular session Tuesday evening. At that meeting, Farris ordered police to clear the council chambers without a vote to adjourn.

Farris' opponents on the council -- Bobby Whitaker, Elbert "Bo" Purchase, Linda Jackson and Sandra Tarver -- vowed to continue the meeting.

They did so, meeting in the cramped foyer of the building that houses both city offices and police headquarters. Two other council members -- Joseph Thurston and Carolyn Ponting -- did not attend.

"This is totally disrespectful," Whitaker said after the meeting. "He thinks he is our boss and he owns this building."

During their meeting, the four agreed to lay off six employees hired recently by Farris. They also passed a motion demanding an updated monthly list of past-due bills owed by the city.

"These are six employees we feel we don't really need at this time," Whitaker said, explaining the decision.

Salaries for the public works employees cost the city $3,120 every two weeks, he said, funds the city can't afford as it struggles to pay bills.

Other resolutions passed by the council ordered the city to pay tax money to the library that is the subject of a lawsuit and to suspend again without pay police officer Terry Crow.

Bobby Whitaker, left, Linda Jackson, right, along with council members Elbert "Bo" Purchase and Sandra Tarver finished their city council agenda carried over from Tuesday in the entrance way to City Hall.

The suspension of Crow renews the action taken by Farris following the death of Demetrius Flowers while in police custody. Three officers, including Crow, and two dispatchers were suspended without pay until the death investigation concludes. Crow returned to duty when he admitted breaching city policies and agreed to drop any grievance.

About 40 residents, mainly supporters of the four opponents of the mayor, joined the four council members as the hour for the meeting approached.

"I've lived here most of my life and this has got to end," Anna Marie Spence said as she waited with other spectators and council members outside City Hall. "I am just wishing they would get along."

If she had to choose, Spence said, she would reluctantly choose Farris to support but believes the city is badly damaged by the fighting.

City police officers stood watch over the gathering but did not attempt to search anyone. Acting on orders from Farris, officers on Tuesday directed everyone entering City Hall to empty their pockets and submit to a sweep for weapons with a hand-held metal detector.

Two metal detectors were purchased since the Jan. 10 meeting, when the council session was packed with supporters of the anti-Farris faction. They cost about $200 each, police chief John Bosecker said Wednesday.

The metal detectors are available for officers who want to use them while on street patrols, Bosecker said. They are not exclusively for use for security at council meetings.

Officers attempted to search council members as well as visitors Tuesday but refrained when Purchase raised loud objections.

Whitaker on Wednesday renewed charges that Farris has injected race into the dispute. Three of the four council members opposing Farris are black, as are most of their supporters attending council meetings. Farris is white.

"He's not used to having that many black people at a meeting," Whitaker said. "He's turned this into a racial issue."

Farris was in the building, sequestered inside police headquarters as the council members conducted business. At the end of the renewed council session, he sent police chief John Bosecker out with letters for two council members, who refused to receive them.

"Take it and give it back to him and tell him to send it by registered mail," Whitaker said.

Farris did not return a telephone message seeking comment.

The dispute between council members and Farris, simmering since he won election in May 2003, erupted into a full boil in December when Whitaker, Purchase, Jackson and Tarver declared they would boycott meetings. The boycott didn't last, however, and the four have brought their opposition back into council chambers, where their supporters have filled the room.

Lorrie Hesselrode, a former city clerk fired by Farris as he came into office, said none of the acrimony seen today occurred during previous administrations.

"The majority rules, and the mayor doesn't understand that," Hesselrode said. "We live under a dictator down here."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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