‘What Hornet Nest Have You Jumped Into?’ New Orange Beach Councilman Steps Into City Hall’s Bitterest Fight

The newest member of the Orange Beach City Council knew exactly what he was walking into. When word spread that Pat Simpson had been appointed to fill a vacant seat, friends around town had one question for him.

“When it was made public that I was appointed, all of my acquaintances in town were going, ‘Man, what the heck were you thinking? What hornet’s nest have you jumped into?'” Simpson said.

The question was fair. Simpson’s appointment — approved by a 4-1 vote on June 16, with Mayor Tony Kennon casting the only no vote — landed in the middle of a city government consumed for more than a year by conflict over a police body camera video, a 911 call involving the mayor, and an ethics complaint that has since set up an October hearing before the Alabama Ethics Commission.

Simpson said he was “saddened” by the tensions that spilled into public view during the June 16 meeting, when Kennon and Councilman Robert Stuart clashed repeatedly — but he also said the friction was part of the reason he said yes.

“I was truly saddened that it had come to that, and that was one reason that I said, ‘Look, I don’t know if I want to do this,’ and that’s also part of the reason why I agreed to do it, to hopefully try to bring peace back up there,” he said.

A meeting that boiled over

The June 16 meeting started with routine business and ended in open warfare. First, the council voted down Kennon’s nominee to a city board, Nelson Bauer, by a 3-2 vote, with Kennon and Councilman Jack Robertson the only yes votes. Bauer had previously been ousted from the Orange Beach City Schools Board of Education when the council declined to reappoint him.

When Councilman Robert Stuart tried to explain his vote, Kennon banged his gavel and told him he was out of order. The two then traded blows for much of the meeting, over council picks, term limits and the city school system’s test scores.

Stuart described a council that had barely been on speaking terms with the mayor for more than a year, and recalled a workshop from his first term when, he said, Kennon threatened him over a question about the schools.

“That wouldn’t be a fight, buddy,” Kennon replied. “That would be a joke.”

At another point, Kennon warned Stuart he would have him removed from the meeting, and dismissed Stuart’s advocacy for term limits as a search for a political platform to get his “pound of flesh.”

Simpson, who watched the meeting but was not physically present, declined to pick a side. He said he had not seen the ethics complaint and had no preconceived notions about the disputes, but intended to gather the information he needed to make decisions.

The footage at the center of it all

The fight traces back to the early hours of Sept. 2, 2024 — Labor Day — when officers with the Orange Beach Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting a domestic violence incident on the balcony of the Coastal Resources Building. Officers found Kennon inside the government building, speaking with them through a cracked door after 1 a.m. Kennon has repeatedly denied hitting his wife that night but has admitted he was in the building.

A reporter was able to view the body camera footage, and an audio recording captured an employee at a nearby bar describing a naked man on the balcony hitting a woman. Kennon told officers the office was his and his wife’s “getaway on the weekends.” His wife, Paula, was with him and could have spoken to officers, but she was never officially interviewed.

On May 1, councilors Stuart, Ginger Harrelson and Jeff Silvers filed an ethics complaint alleging Kennon threatened councilors with lawsuits and political persecution if they released the footage. Councilors had floated releasing the video in an April 1 executive session as a way to end a federal lawsuit by attorney C.C. Dixon Moreno, who had requested the footage as a public record and been denied. During that session, Kennon let the councilors present watch the video but, according to the complaint, “would not allow his wife and family to be embarrassed.” A follow-up executive session on April 21 ended with the alleged threats.

The complaint asks the Ethics Commission to investigate Kennon for trying to influence the release of public records, interfering with legislative items, sitting in on meetings about a lawsuit he is personally involved in, and using his office for personal benefit.

Simpson’s responsibility

For Simpson — a member of the Orange Beach Planning Commission whom the council appointed to replace Jerry Johnson, a 10-year councilman and mayor pro tempore who resigned June 2 citing a family matter — the footage question is not going away. Asked whether he intends to view the video of Kennon’s encounter with police, he said that as long as there is no legal obstacle, “It’s not my prerogative. It’s probably more like my responsibility.”

He has high praise for the man he replaces — “You don’t find anyone better than Jerry Johnson, he’s a stand-up man, he’s just the real deal” — and said he was approached by other council members around June 9, accepted the nomination June 15 and was sworn in June 18.

His short-term goal, he said, is narrow: “To somehow bring a reasonable end to all the friction that’s here now.” What that end looks like, he said, he cannot yet say. The Ethics Commission hearing scheduled for October will force some of those answers into the open regardless.

Related coverage from South AL News

• Orange Beach Councilwoman Wants Kennon Bodycam Released — Is the Council Split?
• Kennon Boycotts Executive Sessions; Orange Beach Councilor Says He Should 'Consider Whether Continuing to Serve Is in the Best Interest'
• Body Camera Fight Boils Over: Orange Beach Council Meeting Dissolves Into Shouting
• Kennon Apologizes to Orange Beach Council as Public Feuding Pauses, Bodycam Fight Continues