Councilwoman leaves meeting, council braces for lawsuit

Westminster Councilwoman Susan Ramey left last night’s meeting in an agitated state and vowed she won’t be back until the December meeting, where she wants the council to do something to lower the electric power rates.  Ramey confronted the council with what she said were personal attacks and acts of disrespect toward her.  In particular, she accused Mayor Brian Ramey and Councilman Bill Brockington.  But those she accused denied her accusations.  And Councilman Yousef Mefleh said he did not hear Mayor Ramey threaten Councilwoman Ramey by saying he had relatives that he could get to cut her.  Councilwoman Ramey left as the council prepared to go into an executive session to discuss a threatened claim against the council.  It was a claim, Mayor Ramey said, that Councilwoman Ramey is planning to sue her colleagues.  After the councilwoman left, the mayor and others suggested that they change the way they communicate with the councilwoman to protect themselves in the event of a lawsuit.  And the mayor asked Chris Carter, the city administrator, to send the councilwoman a letter telling her that, from now on, their communications shall be in writing.  Last night’s developments were part of a meeting which, at the outset, dealt with the city administrator’s report of an investigation into the possible misappropriation of city equipment.  Carter concluded no criminal conversion of city property had taken place, though he left it to the council to decide if a state police investigation is needed.  We’ll have the part of the story later today on 101.7/WGOG.