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Show Lyman Resigns In Protest To Tampered Minutes ESCALANTE Council member mem-ber Blaine Lyman resigned at Escalante's town board meeting Monday night, in protest, he said, to the tampering of minutes of a previous board meeting in December. Decem-ber. Lyman had asked in December that a specific remark he made regarding re-garding Barry Barnson's request for out-of-town meters in "compensation" "com-pensation" for the town's having built its new chlorinator building on Barson's property be included in the minutes. Objections were raised to the remark in which Lyman said he was quoting a state official as calling the request "blackmail". In Monday night's meeting, Lyman's Ly-man's request was again denied when the minutes of December's meeting did not show the remark. On the basis of the action, Lyman resigned, effective immediately. At Escalante's town council meeting in December, Escalante Mayor Wade Barney broke a tie vote by casting his vote to award Barry Barnson two out-of-town water wa-ter meters to compensate for the town's having built its new chlorinator chlori-nator building on private property owned by Stanley Liston and recently re-cently sold to Barnson. Barnson had approached the council asking for the two meters "to compensate for the wrong that was done." The town has a moratorium on out-of-town water meters and the decision raised some concerns among council members. Council member Stanley Stowe told his fellow council members that he felt the council could accept Barnson's terms, condemn the property, or negotiate (other terms). The council was under the impression im-pression that its new building was being constructed on public lands, only to discover after the building was completed that it had been inadvertently in-advertently built on Liston's property. prop-erty. Liston sold the property to Barnson before the matter was resolved. re-solved. Mayor Wade Barney stated that the reason for the moratorium on out-of-town meters is because the town does not have a surplus of water according to the state and it is against the law to let water go out of town unless there is a surplus. He also said that the town can control con-trol guidelines if the water stays in the community and he would like to see the town grow from the inside in-side out. Barney explained that the council had received a letter from attorney Ken Chamberlain which stated that allowing Barnson to have the out-of-town meters would not set a precedent on other requests for out-of-town meters. Barnson told the council that giving him the meter for compensation for the mistake would be the least expensive way out for the town. He said the building build-ing cannot legally be moved since it belongs to Barnson because it is on his property. In the final action, Stowe mentioned men-tioned to accept Barnson's terms with council member Anne Spencer seconding his motion. Council members Gerald Barney and Blaine Lyman voted against the motion and Mayor Barney cast the deciding vote in favor. |
