Miner board in upheaval; mayor under fire

MINER, Mo. — Since June, the Miner Board of Aldermen has dealt with physical altercations, allegations of illegal meeting practices, along with several resignations by board members, culminating with a motion to remove the city’s mayor.

In June, Frank Tatum was elected mayor, and since, three members of the Board of Aldermen have resigned: Renee Clark, Don Foster and Phil Winters.

Tatum won the mayoral race, defeating four other candidates. One of those he defeated was Bill James, who was serving as the mayor after the previous mayor, Darren Chapman, resigned before his term was up.

During a meeting after the election, Tatum allegedly punched James during an argument.

“There was COVID and he was in my face, calling me names, and so I punched him,” Tatum said. “I was provoked into doing it. It was self-defense. I haven’t been charged with anything, so I guess (law enforcement) thought it was self-defense, too.”

When contacted by the Standard Democrat, James elected to not comment for the story.

“It’s like the Hatfields and McCoys,” said Foster, who said he resigned due to health reasons. “Between the two, they’ve contaminated this town. They have a vendetta against each other. It’s childish. They’re 80-year-old men.”

Clark agreed, saying she was taken aback by the mayor striking a citizen.

“I feel it was wrong for a mayor to hit a resident,” Clark said. “To me, that’s not what a leader does.”

Clark, who had been on the board for more than four years, said she resigned after a couple meetings with Tatum in charge, adding she herself had words with Tatum.

“I wasn’t going to be part of that,” Clark said. “I thought some of the stuff he was trying to do was illegal.

“He was trying to get something passed that wasn’t on the agenda, and I told him I wouldn’t vote for it. Frank wanted to do it, so he did it anyway. Just a lot of illegal stuff. There are some things you don’t do.”

Tatum is accused of such things as talking about an employee in a closed session that wasn’t on the agenda and removing items from the agenda instead of tabling the item or letting the board vote.

“I’m allowed to do that,” Tatum said. “I control the agenda. Bill James did it when he was mayor and Darren Chapman did it when he was mayor. The mayor controls the agenda.”

Tatum said members of the board would add things to the agenda at 4:45 p.m. on a Friday afternoon before the Monday meeting without his knowledge, and he said he wasn’t going to allow it.

“Their laundry is not that clean,” Tatum said, adding he wants to oversee calm meetings.

“I’m going to do what I think is right with my meetings,” he said. “I’m not going to allow any fussing, arguing or cussing in my meetings. I’m just not going to do it. I’m going to run my meetings proper.”

Other things such as hiring city workers without board approval and denying business licenses were also among the allegations.

“Frank got in there and tried to change the world and dictate everything,” Foster said. “He tried to jump too fast and he p’d a lot of people off.”

In the Sept. 14 Board of Alderman meeting, Alderman Phil Winters made a motion to remove Tatum from the position of mayor due to a breach of protocol. The motion was seconded by Kay Whitaker. During a roll call vote, Winters and Whitaker voted “yes” while Nibul Patel voted “no.” Jimmy Thomas Jr. was absent from the meeting.

Since that meeting, Winters has resigned his position on the board. When contacted by the Standard Democrat, Winters did not wish to comment.

“They have just trumped some things up,” Tatum said. “The mayor pro tem (Winters) wanted my job. When he didn’t get it, he resigned.”

Tatum added he heard Whitaker was also going to resign and if she didn’t, he was going to ask for her resignation at the next meeting.

“It’s just a sad situation,” Tatum said. “It’s over for me. Let them say what they want. I’m going to continue to be mayor.”

Clark said it’s the residents of Miner who are paying the price.

“I hate it for Miner,” Clark said. “I felt like the board had started improving before this board. We started getting the city out of the hole it was in.”