Almost an hour after Wednesday night’s special council meeting in Walton was slated to start, Mayor Gabriel Brown had still not arrived.
The meeting was called to discuss accusations that Brown misused company property and tax dollars, discovered after a local attorney filed an open records request with the city.
Just as councilmember Dan Martin was calling for a motion to begin the meeting without him, Brown walked in.
“Even when I prevail, I still lose— and Walton loses most of all,” Brown said. “I wish I could say I enjoyed working with you, but I’d be lying.”
Brown announced his resignation, effective March 31, and left the meeting.
While the incidences of Brown allegedly using city vehicles for personal use took place over the span of a year, two specific circumstances were cited at Wednesday’s meeting: one in which Brown is accused of taking a city plow outside Walton’s limits, clearing a privately owned business’s parking lot and receiving payment for the act; and another in which he allegedly took a city owned vehicle to Bowling Green, not returning it to the city when he arrived back in Walton.
City council members announced a new policy for city officials using vehicles, which would require them to check them out of a logbook and record the odometer after each use.
Attorney Steve Megerle filed the records request that led to the special meeting.
“We filed the open records claim based on some information we’d received about the inappropriate expenditures from the mayor,” Megerle said.
Deliberations to appoint a new mayor will begin Monday, April 1 at another special meeting.