Testy council meeting

Shelton City Council member Miguel Gutierrez on Tuesday evening moved to remove himself from the council meeting, and then walked out after four other council members voted for him to go following a testy exchange with two downtown business owners.

His departure came 13 minutes into the meeting, following public comments by Jackie and Dean Jewett, who own Radio Fryer in downtown Shelton. Both said the city is failing to address problems caused by street people downtown, including urinating and defecating on their garbage cans. Dean suggested that two council members resign for their lack of leadership on the issue.

“I’m looking at him right now,” Dean said. “Absolutely, hello Miguel, how are you doing?”

When Dean sat down in the audience, Jackie pointed to Gutierrez and said, “He totally violated his duty, right now … He intentionally antagonized me by winking at me. Intentionally. Maybe he should be removed!”

Mayor Eric Onisko asked, “Does anyone want to remove Miguel from the meeting?”

“I move to remove Miguel from the meeting,” Gutierrez replied.

Council members George Blush, Melissa Stearns, Sharon Schirman and Lyndsey Sapp voted “yes” and council member Tom Gilmore and Onisko voted “no.”

Gutierrez threw up his hands and said “goodnight” as he walked out of the room. The meeting continued with a presentation on the city’s finances.

On Wednesday morning, the mayor told the Journal he was being sarcastic when he asked whether anyone wanted to remove Gutierrez. The motion was not legal, he said.

“I lost control of the meeting,” he said.

Onisko said Jewett pointed his fingers like a gun and said “bang!” when he pointed at himself and Gutierrez. He said he’s considering filing a lawuit against Dean for intimidating an elected official.

On Wednesday morning, Gutierrez told the Journal said he was joking when he made the motion to remove himself.

“I was trying to defuse with humor, and that triggered (Dean),” he said. He added. “I felt unsafe in that space.”

Gutierrez said he is also considering a suit for intimidating a public official, or a civil suit.

The showdown began with Jackie’s comments. She said the city is lacking in transparency and leadership in addressing problems caused by street people. She called for a town hall meeting on the topic and said a forum last year failed to get any concerns answered.

“I’m angry,” she said. “I’m angry because I come here and be transparent. I don’t like speaking in front of people. I don’t. And I do it because I’m upset and I don’t know what else to do, I know my words fall on deaf ears sometimes, in one ear and out the other.”

She continued, “My business is my house. I pay for it, I pay taxes, I pay the mortgage, I pay water, I pay power.”

People are “lurking after dark” downtown, Jackie said. “Why don’t we create an encampment in Terrace Heights? Why don’t we let them go over there?”

Then Dean spoke.

“People are pissed,” he said. “There’s a lot of people, business people we chat with that don’t want to come here. Can any of you guess why? Because they’re labelled as hard

asses. We’re the ones that don’t like the nonprofits, you know, the poor homeless people, the poor street people. What about the business people?”