Three members of the Orange Beach City Council have filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Tony Kennon, alleging he threatened them over the possible release of body camera footage from an incident involving him.
First reported by Lagniappe Daily, the complaint alleges Kennon threatened council members over the release of body camera footage showing Orange Beach police speaking with Kennon at the Coastal Resources building minutes after a report that a naked man had assaulted a woman on the building’s balcony.
Council members Jeff Silvers, Ginger Harrelson and Robert Stuart filed the complaint against Kennon, detailing an April executive session in which Kennon objected to their suggestion that the footage be released.
“During this discussion, the mayor became visibly upset and raised his voice toward members of the council,” the complaint reads. “The mayor stated that the body camera footage would not be released because he would not allow ‘his wife and family to be embarrassed.’”
The complaint alleges Kennon threatened to sue council members personally if they released the footage. It also alleges he insinuated that he would influence future elections against them and stopped just short of threatening physical harm.
“The mayor directed personal remarks toward members of the Council, including statements instructing a council member to ‘stop playing attorney’ and referring to another council member as a ‘feeble old man,’” the complaint states. “The mayor stopped just short of making a physical threat against Councilmember (Robert) Stuart when he said, ‘If you weren’t such a feeble old man, I’d . . .’”
According to the complaint, council members were not told about the incident, despite the city administrator and clerk learning about it about a day after it happened. The complaint also alleges that police reports regularly provided to the council excluded the incident.
According to the complaint, a city investigation into the incident has not been completed, and surveillance footage from Coastal Resources had not been requested.
