Apparently, in a bid to discredit Mayor Steve Britton and anyone who supports him, a disgruntled ex employee of The Sentinel who now runs a blog is inferring that Concerned Citizens of Coquille, a human rights advocacy group founded two years ago by Dian Courtright, had an earlier iteration that tried to recall the council. Courtright contacted the blogger to advise him that CCC had never been involved in any recall but the blogger refused to retract his statement.

The blogger continues to push his personal agenda, an apparent vendetta against The Sentinel and the mayor, over a seat to be filled by vacating councilor, Kathy Hagen. Speaking with the mayor today he told me that he was advised by city staff that according to the water department billing department, Hagen was not eligible for the council effective October 31, four days before the election.

Herein lies the problem. Since Hagen was not eligible for a seat on the council should she be considered one of the top three vote getters? The mayor believes that the top three eligible candidates were Corky Daniels, Fran Capehart and Dian Courtright and prefers to have the voters make the choice. The city attorney, John Trew, believes that regardless of eligibility, Hagen won the election and must now resign the seat and the council must take applications and interview candidates.

Trew’s interpretation of this very unusual circumstance puts the choice of a new council member in the hands of the council rather than in the hand’s of the voters, as the mayor believes is appropriate. The council can ask for a ruling from the Secretary of State or can choose to handle the matter themselves which is what tonight’s special council meeting is about.

Nevertheless, the blogger wants to portray the mayor as consorting with a group that once attempted a recall and to further cast a shadow upon Dian and his former employer. Dian gave him an opportunity to correct his site but he refused to do so. We have a letter coming from someone involved in that earlier recall attempt confirming that Concerned Citizens of Coquille was not involved and will be published here, on Dian’s blog and likely in The Sentinel soon.