Columbus Mayor Robert Smith Tuesday said a recent column in The Packet is “not true.”
During a meeting of the Columbus City Council, Smith read Packet writer Ron Williams’ column from the June 29 edition of the newspaper, which criticized city crews for planting flowers in the Dean Acres community, where Smith lives.
Williams wrote the property was private, but Smith noted the work was done on city property.
“Mr. Williams, we are doing the right thing in beautifying our city, in the city right-of-way,” Smith said Tuesday. “I would hope, in the future, Mr. Williams would report factual information, instead of deceitful, inaccurate information.”
“We had just gotten complaints from people claiming it was city property,” Williams said Thursday morning.
“No, I did not research it ahead of time to see whether it was city property or private property,” he added, but noted he will publicly retract his statements, if it is found the flowers were planted on city property.
Also during the meeting, Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens apologized to a resident of his ward, Hilda Fox.
During a March 20 Council meeting, Fox complained Mickens was unresponsive to the needs of his constituents and Mickens said Fox was mistaken in her assertion he didn’t return constituents’ phone calls. Mickens, in April, apologized to Fox for comments made in the March meeting.
On Tuesday, he apologized for “the language used” in discussions with her, but did not elaborate on when or where the discussions took place or if the apology was in reference to the March 20 meeting.
“I accept your apology,” Fox responded, adding she looked forward to working with Mickens for the betterment of the community.
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