Greeneville Alderman Sarah Webster has elaborated on the issues she has taken with a lengthy and detailed memo recently presented by Mayor Laraine King.

The memo, given to the four aldermen at the conclusion of their Nov. 3 meeting, provides data in support of the mayor's 2008 decision to transfer maintenance employees from the Parks and Recreation Department to the Public Works Department.

Alderman Webster has formally requested that "this item and a vote" be placed on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The next scheduled meeting date for the Board of Mayor and Aldermen would be 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

The meetings are held in the board room at the Greeneville Light & Power System headquarters.

On Tuesday evening, Webster, who also is a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, sent an e-mail message to Mayor King.

Webster's brief message said, "Mayor King, I disagree with the 'facts' you present in your memo 'Building, Grounds & Maintenance Crew -- Do the facts justify a change of supervision?'

"I request that this item and a vote be placed on the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen."

Webster explained on Thursday that she does not dispute the mayor's authority to make the transfer.

She does, however, think the issue should be open for public discussion in a city board meeting.

The "very divisive situation for our community" will not be resolved until members of the public are allowed to give their input, Webster said.

"We can't do it if we keep sending memos," she said.

She added that Mayor King needs to clarify a lot of the numbers presented in the memo.

Webster said that she had at first sent a short e-mail because she was facing a one-week deadline from the mayor.

After she received the mayor's memo, she was busy helping organize the GFWC Greeneville Woman's Club annual Holiday Bazaar, she said.

When she finally read the memo, she said, she realized she needed to send a reply to the mayor before midnight on Tuesday.

Mayor King said Thursday that she had read the e-mail, and she was still preparing the agenda for the Nov. 17 meeting.

She did not comment further, except to say that The Greeneville Sun would be notified when the agenda is finalized.

What remains a sharp controversy developed some 15 months ago when Mayor King, acting in her capacity as the town's top elected official, transferred the maintenance employees.

That action was not brought before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Since then, critics of the move -- including Aldermen W.T. Daniels, Buddy Hawk and Webster -- have questioned the transfer without consideration by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Mayor King has maintained that transferring employees between town departments was within her authority and responsibility as the senior official of the town government.

She has also emphasized the workers' transfer has saved a significant amount of money for the town.

The full text of Mayor King's memo can be viewed under Public Records at GreenevilleSun.com.

Near the end of the memo, King wrote, "If you have any disagreement with the facts as I have presented them, please put them in writing to me within one week, and I will then schedule a workshop to address them."

No such workshop has been scheduled.