Smithville Aldermen met Thursday night to reassure citizens that they will be more diligent in asking questions.
That’s the view of Alderman Jason Murphy. The pledge comes in the wake of revelations that Smithville’s Mayor hired his son to work on a city project.
Mayor Jimmy Poss hired his son Tony to work at the city’s golf course and swimming pool without board approval. Tony Poss worked for six months before the incident came to light earlier this month. Tony Poss’ employment ended days after. Mayor Poss did not attend Thursday night’s meeting.
“(It) put him into a conflict of interest there and we just want to make sure we can assure the public that were going to do everything we can just to be more transparent so that this doesn’t happen again,” Murphy said.
Murphy said the mayor’s decision caught the aldermen off guard.
“I don’t think anybody likes being surprised,” Murphy said. “Nobody likes having a private citizen tell you something that’s going on that you feel like you should already have known about.”
“We want to reassure the public at this meeting that we’re going to do a better job to make sure that things like this just don’t happen,” Murphy said.
The aldermen will decide whether to vote to censure the mayor at a special called meeting March 22.
