Paul Davis: Opening meetings, case closed

I am not a quitter, usually. Most of the time, I have given up involved debates with my bride. I usually pose, back away, and pout. We built a home last year. I mean, she and daughter-in-law built a new home at Lake Martin. I made one suggestion and it was shot down quicker than a quail over a baited field. I made no other suggestions.

Thus it came as quite a surprise when I received a call at 8:10 a.m. one morning recently. It came before I had my britches on, before I had taken coffee to my bride, before I let my dog Charlie out for her morning routine, and before I had collected my newspapers from the front yard. “Paul, would you hold for a moment for a call from Governor (Bob) Riley?” I didn’t get a chance to respond that I didn’t take calls at that time of day. Momentarily, the governor was on the line. Here’s exactly what he said as his morning greeting: “Davis, (not Paul, not Mr. Davis, but DAVIS) you are the most hardheaded man I have ever known.“

I instantly responded “Well, thank you very much. That’s one of the nicest things you’ve ever said to me.” I wondered if I should have addressed him as RILEY, instead of governor, but I was taught better. The governor was upset that I had resigned from the Mental Health Board. I was appointed by the governor to serve on the board of trustees of the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

When my term expired, I was reappointed, again by Gov. Riley. Several months ago, I was asked to serve with Kathy Sawyer, former Commissioner of Mental Health, on a special committee to explore what we would do for a new home for the state’s mentally ill if Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa was sold to the University of Alabama.

Bryce has always been the state’s largest facility for care of the mentally ill. It sits next door to the University of Alabama. The university has run out of space for future growth and badly needs the 175-acre Bryce campus. Our board voted unanimously to sell the land to the university, provided the price was sufficient to build a new hospital.

Our board met a few weeks ago at Bryce. The governor chaired the meeting. The university’s bid, as presented, was unanimously rejected. The bid was about $25 million short of what we need to construct a new hospital.

I had notified the editor of the Birmingham News and the publisher of The Tuscaloosa News of the meeting and its significance. Both newspapers sent reporters and photographers. Both reporters were told that they would be asked to leave. (They were not.) The reporter for the Tuscaloosa paper asked me if our meeting was “open.” I was shocked at the question and told her all our meetings are open to the press and the public. She said she had been told differently.

I later checked with commissioner John Houston and was informed that the department’s legal counsel had said our group, as an advisory board, was not subject to Alabama’s open meetings law. That was enough for me. As a newsman all my life, I have fought for openness. I asked if we had anything to hide. The commissioner said reporters have never been turned away. That was not good enough for me. If they don’t know when or where the board is going to meet, then it’s very difficult to come to the meetings.

Governor Riley said he, too, was surprised that the meetings are not posted and that the department feels that it does not have to comply with the open meetings law.

The governor asked that I reconsider my resignation. Commissioner Houston also made such a request. Riley said the rules will be changed, the meetings be advertised in advance and open. I said I would wait and see what the department and the board does.

In the meanwhile, a volatile meeting of employees has been held in Tuscaloosa after hearing that Bryce may move to the old Carraway Hospital in Birmingham. No such move has to be made. A new hospital could be built across the road from Bryce on the Partlow State School site. The patients stay in Tuscaloosa, the 657 jobs stay in Tuscaloosa, and the university gets the land it covets and everybody lives happily ever after.

The 1,000-pound gorilla in this situation is the University of Alabama. It needs to come up with an extra $25 million. Case closed.

* * *

Heeeee’s back. The former president of the Opelika City Council, who’s had more jobs and surfaced in more locations than Ringling Brothers Circus, was in Pell City Thursday night hoping to sell the city council there on turning over management of its water works to an Opelika company. They’re asking asround $52,000 per month for their services.

The Rev. Mr. Teel is listed as the marketing director for the rather new Opelika company called Clearwater Solutions. Teel has been a regular visitor in Pell City and has attracted at least one council member to support the company’s bid to privatize the city’s water department.

The Opelika company is about two years old and issued its business address as 3051 Frederick Road, Suite 4. Richard Ailiff is listed as president; Paul Jackson, vice president; Gregory Ryland, vice president-operations.

Teel is a former employee of Diversified Products, former pastor of Farmville Baptist Church, former salesman for Craftmaster Printers, former car dealer and other businesses. He played a role in privatizing Opelika’s Public Works Department while president of the city council. 

Paul Davis writes a Sunday column for the Opelika-Auburn News. You may contact him at