Cairo clerk fired over lawn episode

~ The clerk, once loyal to the mayor, says Paul Farris is making a 'vital mistake'

CAIRO, Ill. -- Embattled Mayor Paul Farris Tuesday fired city clerk Debran Sudduth, who up to now had been loyal to the man who hired him.

Sudduth called the reason for his dismissal a misunderstanding, the bad result of office joking. A city work crew mowed his lawn, he said, and the mayor fired him for misusing public resources.

"The other day I was laughing and talking at the counter with Jeff Childs, and I said, 'While you are cutting all this grass, why don't you cut mine?'"

Childs, who supervises a city maintenance crew, obliged Sudduth. He never intended his request to be taken seriously, Sudduth said.

And Farris will regret taking the drastic step, he said.

"I am a wellspring of knowledge when it comes to this administration," Sudduth said. "He is making a vital mistake. He will not be re-elected as a result of his actions today."

Farris did not return calls seeking comment. City attorney Alan McIntyre said Sudduth was dismissed after the mayor learned of the lawn mowing Tuesday morning.

"We were advised that this occurred last Tuesday, a week ago," McIntyre said.

The firing forced cancellation of Tuesday evening's regular council meeting.

About 3 p.m., 2 1/2 hours before the council was scheduled to meet, an unsigned notice was sent to the Southeast Missourian: "Cairo City Council meeting scheduled for May 9, 2006 is canceled due to repair of utilities and departure of city clerk."

Council members contacted by the Missourian said they had been told only that the air conditioning was broken at city hall. One councilwoman, Carolyn Ponting, had not received any notification of the cancellation.

After checking with city hall, Ponting said she was told Sudduth was fired. The person she contacted told her "this place is a madhouse," Ponting said.

In an interview Tuesday, he acknowledged that he asked for the mowing. But the situation where the request was made, Sudduth said, should have made it clear it was an idle jest.

Sudduth lives next door to councilman Joseph Thurston.

"A neighbor called to complain, and they continued to take it around town," Sudduth said. "Today, Alan McIntyre, the attorney, basically talked him into firing me."

Cairo city workers cut the lawns of private property owners who are in violation of the weed ordinance, Sudduth noted, and he said he was willing to pay the same charge assessed against landowners. And, he said, he wanted to make a public apology to the city and the council during the Tuesday meeting, but Farris and McIntyre were opposed.

Farris learned about the use of the city work crew from a council member, McIntyre said. "We did not hear about it from Mr. Sudduth."

McIntyre declined to comment further on Sudduth's statements.

Sudduth has been part of Farris's team from the day he took office May 1, 2003. He has endured scorn from the city council and kept silent when so directed by Farris.

For his entire tenure, Sudduth has been working as a "temporary" clerk because council members refused to confirm him in his post. On the six-member council, there are four absolute opponents of Farris, one who fights with him regularly and one, Ponting, who advocates some level of cooperation with the mayor.

"I am so embarrassed by it all I don't even know my own name. I hope we can last another eight or 10 months," she said, referring to the next scheduled elections for council and mayor.

Sudduth's dismissal could generate additional problems for Farris. He and his opponents on the council are embroiled in numerous lawsuits, little is accomplished at council meetings and Farris refuses to issue paychecks to four council members who are his strongest opponents.

And one of the leaders of the opposition, Councilman Bobby Whitaker, is facing driving while intoxicated and weapons charges in neighboring Pulaski County.

Few details of Sudduth's dismissal have been forthcoming, Whitaker said Tuesday. "I only know that he got relieved of his duties," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126