Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon opened a City Council work session Tuesday morning at City Hall with an apology to council members, telling them he regretted the heated exchanges and tension that marked the board’s previous two meetings. He also acknowledged council members’ complaints that they were being left out of the loop on agenda items ahead of votes.
The gesture appeared to defuse things, at least for a night. Later that same Tuesday, the council made it through its regular meeting agenda without the friction that had defined recent sessions, wrapping up in about an hour and marking the calmest meeting since June 16.
“Let me begin with I want to apologize to everyone, anyone I’ve offended, especially (Councilman Robert Stuart) and (Councilwoman) Ginger (Harrelson). We’ve been friends for 30 years, and it breaks my heart that we are where we are,” Kennon said as the work session began. “Y’all, my wife doesn’t even like me, but you don’t have to like me to love the city. Hopefully, we can get to the point where we like each other, and I’m going to try really hard to do a better job.”
The apology follows weeks of visible strain between Kennon and council members Robert Stuart and Ginger Harrelson, which boiled over during the June 16 and July 7 meetings. At the center of the dispute is whether the city should release body camera footage from an early-morning encounter between Kennon and Orange Beach police officers at the Coastal Resources Building on Sept. 2, 2024. Officers had responded to a 911 call reporting a man, described as unclothed, assaulting a woman on the building’s balcony, in a space Kennon has said he uses as a personal getaway on weekends.
According to the footage, which was reviewed in 2025, Kennon told responding officers he was the mayor and that his wife, Paula, was present with him. Officers left the scene without confirming the identity or welfare of the woman who had been in the room. Days later, an Orange Beach police officer phoned Mrs. Kennon to check on her, but she was never formally interviewed by investigators. Audio recorded during the encounter has also surfaced. Kennon has consistently denied ever striking his wife that night, while confirming he was at the building and did speak with officers.
Council members trace the broader falling-out to April, when they say Kennon threatened legal and political consequences against them if they pushed to release the footage, a move they believed was tied to settling a federal lawsuit brought by local attorney C.C. Dixon-Moreno. Dixon-Moreno had submitted a public records request for the recording in 2025, which the city denied.
Those alleged threats form part of a complaint filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission by council members Harrelson, Stuart and Jeff Silvers. The complaint also asks investigators to examine whether Kennon has used his position as mayor to shield himself, both by involving himself in legal strategy tied to the Dixon-Moreno lawsuit and by working to keep the council from releasing the body camera video.
Council members have also said friction grew out of feeling shut out of updates on the lawsuit. During Tuesday’s work session, City Administrator Ford Handley told the council that staff would make a point of keeping members better informed going forward.
Kennon indicated he wants to see fewer complaints from council members about being under-informed and said the format of future work sessions would change.
“For 12 years, we did things a certain way, and it was acceptable,” Kennon said. “With this new council, we did not see it coming that maybe that was not acceptable, and we needed to deviate from that … Sometimes if you spent the day with us around here and saw just how fast things move, I get the cart before the horse all the time, and that’s just my personality, and it messes things up a lot of times. It makes people think that they’re not included, and I don’t really mean it that way. It’s just there’s so much going on. Sometimes I just try to make things happen, and I’m going to try to do better at that.”
Councilman Jeff Silvers said during the meeting that he was encouraged to see city staff, the mayor and the council all pulling in the same direction, and Stuart echoed that sentiment.
“I think that we need to be here to do what’s in front of us and what we were elected to do,” Stuart said.
Kennon said afterward that his apology was aimed at getting himself and his colleagues refocused on city business, adding that he hopes the infighting is behind them.
“I feel good that tonight is an example of hopefully what people will see from us going forward,” he said.
After the work session, Harrelson said the council is still weighing whether to bring forward a resolution that would release the Labor Day 2024 body camera footage, and is waiting to see whether doing so would raise the city’s insurance costs through the Alabama Municipalities Insurance Corporation. Council members were previously asked informally how they would vote on such a resolution. Harrelson and Stuart both said they would support releasing the footage as long as it did not harm the city, Councilman Pat Simpson said he had not made up his mind, and Councilman Jack Robertson and Kennon both declined to say how they would vote.
Follow-Up: Kennon Says Apology Wasn’t Forced
Speaking Friday, several days after the apology, Kennon rejected the idea that legal advisers had pushed him to make the gesture, even as he and the city continue to face a federal lawsuit over the release of body camera footage tied to the 2024 incident. That lawsuit is not scheduled to be heard by a judge until next year.
“As far as rumors of being forced to (apologize), anyone who knows me knows no one forces me to do anything,” Kennon said.
He also pushed back on online commentary questioning his motives, much of it posted to attorney C.C. Dixon-Moreno’s social media page. “Facebook is an abomination,” Kennon said. “The City of Orange Beach has tentacles that run all the way throughout the country. It’s become a distraction and caricature of who we are. As the mayor, if I needed to apologize, I have no problem with doing that.”
Kennon said he views the scrutiny as a warning sign for anyone considering public office. “Social media is truly going to drive a cudgel between good people who want to run for public service,” he said. “These type of social media attacks that go unfettered, and there is no recourse, it’s going to stop good people from running for public office, and that’s going to be sad. I feel like I am that cautionary tale.”
Council members offered mixed but largely positive reactions. Silvers said he was caught off guard by the gesture. “I was quite shocked about it and glad it happened,” he said. “It was in front of staff, and it was good. I was out of town and on vacation when the last flare-up happened. I was glad to see the mayor apologize.”
Harrelson said she appreciated the tone of the meeting while emphasizing that the ethics complaint against Kennon should still run its course. “I was encouraged by the tone of the Tuesday council meeting,” she said. “Trust is rebuilt by consistent actions. I remain hopeful that this marks the beginning of a more respectful and productive working relationship. I trust that the Alabama Ethics Commission will conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and follow the facts wherever they may lead.”
Stuart did not return a call seeking comment. Neither the federal lawsuit nor the ethics complaint was discussed during the meeting that followed the apology.
Update (Aug. 1, 2026):
Update (Aug. 1, 2026): More than 400 viewers tuned in live on Facebook as Orange Beach’s City Council convened across three separate sessions on July 21 — the morning work session and the meetings that followed it — underscoring the level of public interest in the mayor’s apology and the council’s efforts to move past recent friction.