When perception is seen as reality

The arrival to office of three new Westminster councilmen in January brought new ideas to city government.  At the same time, however, one of the three says there’s perception the three ran as a group.  Which is something Councilman Cater says he recognizes but doesn’t agree with, and he understands why others might think that.  Cater has come to the defense of holdover Councilman Reid Adams whose status is challenged because Adams’ wife is the full-time, paid clerk-treasurer.  Cater made the following remarks to 101.7/WGOG NEWS to further explain why he threatened to quit his council seat during what, at times, was a heated discussion in the August 25 council meeting:  “The council trying to gain back a majority control of the votes.  Once they allowed Mr. Adams to run, they changed the law to allow him to run, and as long as his votes seemed to be in the minority, that was not a problem.  But the minute he tended to think along with me and Danny (Duncan) and Brad (Chastain,) as long as Mr. Adams tended to think that way that created a majority vote.  And to me, it just looked like that was their way of trying to remove him from office.  I did not like that,” Cater explained.  Mayor Brian Ramey, however, has said that issues are created by the appearance and the reality of having a city worker answerable to the city council who is part of the same household as one of the councilmen.  An opinion from the state’s office of legal beagles, the Attorney’s General, may settle the controversy.