Rumors addressed at heated council workshop

After Pine Haven's council finished their main work shop Tuesday morning the room began to fill with North East Wyoming Walleye Association (NEWWA) members who wanted to directly address Mayor Karla Brandenburg about a couple of rumors that have been creating havoc on social media and among area residents.

The rumors concern an alleged statement made by the mayor at a previous meeting regarding taking over the auspices of the private NEWWA club Fish Fry summer picnic due to uncouth behavior by members.

The mayor began, "Truthfully, this thing has gotten blown way out of proportion; the only thing we want to talk about is the foul language over the [microphones]."

According to Brandenburg, "The F word came out two or three times on the mic."

She continued, "We want to make sure that that doesn't happen again because it has happened the last two years."

She stated that many people of the town "are complaining about it" and shared copies of said documents with Kelly Lang, spokesman and local leader of the club.

As the event is for children, Brandenburg asked those in the room, "Does anybody here think that's okay? We're just asking that not happen."

Lang, sat at the table across from Brandenburg, responded, "Well, we try not to because that's for the kids...It's our money raiser for the kids." The club donates proceeds for educational assistance and many other services.

Brandenburg and other members of council commended the efforts of the club for their contributions to the neighborhood children with the mayor saying, "You guys do an amazing job."

However, when the mayor expressed again that this concern was the sole purpose for the meeting, Councilwoman Kristy Speed questioned, "I thought the purpose of this meeting was you wanted to take over the fish fry because it was on the date of the [Pine Haven Days] parade?"

Brandenburg adamantly denied this, saying, "No, I never wanted to take over the fish fry."

To this argument, Lang spoke, "I think there's some confusion... Years ago, the rec board came to me and said, 'When are you doing the fish fry? We want to hold the parade the same day', so we've always coordinated that because we get all the people out here for the parade. If you guys don't want to the association between our fish fry and your parade, I suggest you do it on a different day...It's a private event; we use the city park, we clean it up and move on, but it is a private event."

Brandenburg asked how Speed misunderstood, but Speed retorted that the mayor had been sitting where she was sitting right then and had said, "If it was going to be the same day as the Pine Haven Days, the town should do it and not NEWWA".

Brandenburg stated that what she had actually said at that time was, "If they didn't want to stop the foul language, the town could do something about it." She reiterated, "I don't want to take over their fish fry."

She recalled that the council discussed the option doing something in the park themselves if NEWWA chose not to continue.

At this point, the mayor considered this conversation the source of the rumor. When Speed recited other aspects of that discussion, the mayor apologized, "because I didn't mean that".

Brandenburg also alluded to a situation in town: "There are a lot of people in this room who are very upset with me so whatever they can do to make it hard on me, they are going to do."

Local resident Sharon Coleman used an expletive to push back against this statement.

When the mayor reprimanded the wording and subsequently asked Coleman to leave, Coleman went on, "Well, it is. We all are about this town very much; that is why we are here...I put a lot of money into this town, a lot of time – a lot of everything."

Coleman told the mayor that she is often put down because she's not considered on Brandenburg's side, "So don't sit there and tell me I don't have a voice just because I don't live in this town."

The mayor did not respond to the sudden escalation of tensions and, after this main issue was handled, others asked questions regarding the mayor's behavior at previous events, particularly about authority at the picnic, to which Brandenburg again apologized and recognized Lang's position of head over this private event.

Lang opined that much of this – and other problems in the community – could be averted with direct communication; to which Brandenburg agreed.

Lang requested the town send a letter to ensure no more misunderstandings between the entities and the mayor agreed to see the missive written.