Editor's Note: Typically, the Post-Signal would honor any request for information to be off the record, though legally we are not bound to do so. However, because of the allegations that the information included in our April 11 column was fabricated, we have made the decision to release the full, un-redacted and unedited audio from the conversation between Mayor Elisa Beasley and Post-Signal Editor and Publisher Abigail Allen. Below is a transcript generated through Otter.ai. There may be discrepancies between the audio and the transcription as a result.
Direct link: https://static2.postsignal.com/data/wysiwig/240820_1010.mp3
Abigail Allen 0:02
Hi, Elisa, how are you? Hey, good in you I'm good.
0:07
Do you have a couple minutes? Sure. Okay. Hey, I just got off the phone with Basil. He called me asking me about a conversation that I had with Renee, and he mentioned that you had mentioned it to him. So I wanted to call twofold. First of all, I'm not sure who, who and how, you know, my private conversation got back to you, and I have called Renee also, I don't have anything to hide, so it's not like there was any secret dialog there. But I want to just, you know, and I said this to basil, I just want to encourage you, everyone, everyone, when you hear things, call those people directly, you know, or somebody saying something to you, it's like, tell them to call Hey, call that person directly and find out there's so much going on right now and so much stuff being said that just is not true, and it just feeds this nasty narrative that is going on that, you know, pilot point is just a shit show, and it's just very sad. And so I just wanted to encourage you, like whoever it was that said, Oh, I heard so and so, said so and so. You know if, when, when? And if you hear it, you know, if it involves me, have them call me. Hey, you know what? Call her. Here's your number. You know, ask her. And I have no problem talking to people. And you know, I'm not one of those says one thing on one side and another on the other. If I said it, I said it, and if it's wrong, it's wrong, and I'll learn I'm not, I'm human. But it just is. It perpetuates just this ugliness that's in pilot point right now that is just, it's at some point, it's got to let off. It has got to stop. It's got to, you know, everyone has a right to their opinions and you know, but we have a lot of people jumping to their own confusions right now, and it's just, you know, my call to you is kind of just as a as an influencer and a leader in this community. You know, when you hear it, push them right back to whoever it is that you heard it, you know, from, okay,
2:21
I mean, sure that was, that was kind of the thought process I had behind asking basil to ask you about it. As far as that it was concerned, was making sure that when we, as the paper, spoke to spoke to you about it, that we gave you a chance to comment on, you know, the veracity of that or not. So that's kind of our version of that. But I can, I can also consider, you know, saying that directly to people who, you know, share those things with me, to encourage them to reach out to you, is something I am absolutely willing to do in the future. So yeah,
2:55
and between you and me, just off the record as humans, human to human. Had a relationship and just, you know, love pilot point and serving people, just overall, I, you know, since haven't said anything to anybody about you, you know, speaking at the count at the school board meeting, but you know, Basil asked me, so I I answered.
3:24
I was very surprised, and, quite frankly,
3:28
found it very interesting. Of all the things that have ever happened in pilot point that that's the thing that you're choosing to stand behind. And I understand, I mean, Abigail, you have Elisa,
3:41
I did that because since April, Amy McEvoy has been trying to disparage the paper and my reputation online repeatedly, and I have tried speaking to her about it in person. I have tried commenting back on what she has posted to ask her to stop doing that, and she has continued to spread misinformation about me and about my business online, and thus I felt the need, as a person who is being attacked online, to go and ask her to please follow the policies that she asks the school staff and students to uphold. And that is all I asked of her. I did not say that she is a bully. I was saying that she was exhibiting bullying behavior, and I asked her to stop. That was what I did. Yeah,
4:29
no, I know I heard it. I, you know, I just for me, you know. And just again, you can take it for whatever it's worth. As a leader and as an influencer in the community, you know, we choose what Hills we want to die on, and it just don't let your emotions get the most of you in responding. I mean, you know, people are going to say crap all the time about all of us, you know, because we're prime targets. And so I just Just be careful, because it. Looked very you fed right into the narrative that they're saying, right? That I wasn't. Oh well, you
5:06
know, she's okay. I disagree wholeheartedly that I fed into the narrative because I was speaking to my own personal experience online, where there is a demonstrated history of the fact that I have been being bullied online by Amy McEvoy, who has now turned to saying that we used to be friends, which I wasn't the one who changed, that I wasn't the one who changed that relationship. So I understand that you're standing and supportive of her approach. I think that that's also an interesting take to take. So we we disagree wholeheartedly with each other's willingness to support and endorse a certain type of activity and behavior in that regard. Well,
5:45
be careful there. Be careful there, because I'm not endorsing and supporting anybody's specific things, but I do believe that everyone has a right to speak, but we are all accountable for our words, and I very specifically said that to Basil. So before you know, if your your read on that was that I'm, you know, yes, I'm taking a side. I listen. I just want a community that we are better than this, all of us, every single one of us, you me, every single one of us. We're all better than this. And it's just gotten to a point where it's like, Listen, everyone has an opinion. Everyone's jumping to their own confusions. Everyone has is looking at things from a perspective of, you know, it's like, we all of a sudden turn into West Side Story, and we're on two different gangs, and it's like, there's these, you know, instead of the streets, we're online, battling it out. And it's it at some point, someone, 11234, people need to choose that. It's like, okay, we're not gonna, nobody's gonna win in this. You know, we have got to figure out what, where the problems are, okay, and stop doing all of this symptomatic problems, with attacking each other and everybody that that steps in the line of questioning, you know. And so there it's, it has nothing to do. I didn't speak at that meeting very specifically, is Amy, my friend, yes. Do I disagree with her, you know, utilizing her voice and doing, you know, saying whatever? No. I mean, everyone has a right to do that. But do I think that it's gotten ugly? I guess it's gotten ugly all over everywhere. You can't bring anything up. It's ugly. At least, chatter has always been ugly, right? I mean, people fought a fight about freaking trailers in the Dairy Queen parking lot, and, you know, somebody posts something, and there's always someone, because people are people. So
7:55
at least, you know, I ask you a question, yep. Why is it that me using my voice as a leader who has been attacked online by Amy McEvoy is problematic, but her using her voice as a leader to attack businesses and people online is not
8:14
No, I did not say it's problematic. I just said, personally, off the record, person to person, leader to leader, influencer to leader. Influencer. For me, I would not have fed into them saying, Oh, well, you're on this team and you're on this side and you're on the it just when you go up there and you speak and again, you did not you want, I don't. I
8:38
did not say, I did not say that I take a side. I have never said I take a side. I'm not I have not fed into the team citizen or the team city or the team anything. I have not fed into that narrative. In fact, that was something that Amy has done was was feeding into the team citizen narrative, which I think is problematic and damaging to the community. I have been calling for people to work together. I have been calling for questions to be asked about how taxpayer dollars are used. I have been calling for trying to bring people together and bring a sense of community. That's all that I in fact, that's what I mentioned during my my statement to the board, was talking about how much I try to support community. I try to support solutions. I did not once in any way, shape or form, attack or side myself with anyone. I was speaking as someone who has been attacked, who said that I don't appreciate the fact that there is attacking happening. That is not the same as aligning myself with anyone in any shape or form. In fact, I was added to a group of people who want to talk about a certain direction that they want to try to influence things. I let them know I have zero desire to be a part of the group, because I need to be unbiased and I need to be apart from any interest group that they were having. Are trying to affect positive, you know, change in town, and I think that that's a great goal, but I'm not a part of that group, and I will not allow myself to be aligned without my permission to be a part of any particular group. So you're telling me that I need to not align myself with the group that I haven't aligned myself with anyone. That's what I do with the paper. Is I stand apart. I have friends on all sides, and the only friends who are deserting me are friends who have joined, who are have decided to split the town up into into part, into teams. And that's interesting to me. I've, I've lost Facebook friends over it, which, again, that's there. That's y'all choice to not to not do that. That's fine, and that's whatever the reasoning. That's fine. I'm not saying that you're on that side, but you also you tend, you're giving me advice on how it looks. You tend to not say anything to the team citizen group while criticizing anyone who is seeming like they might be on the other side. And that, I think, is not a good appearance on your part, because it does come across like you are not expressly saying you're against the non team citizen group, but it comes across as though you are. I'm
11:19
not against the non team citizen. I'm not against the big government. I'm not against teams, whatever the groups are, I'm not against them. What I'm for is I'm for the people of pilot point and I'm for moving things forward. That's what I'm for. Okay, so it has nothing to do, because, like you, I actually have friends on all sides of it, we can agree to disagree. There's people that have chosen not to, and then they're, you know, I'm their freaking mortal enemy. And that's fine. That's says more about you than it does me, quite frankly, and I don't live with that kind of
11:53
hate in my life. I don't too much death in my life. On that, we can agree. I've also experienced too much loss, not too much death, but too much loss that I'm I'm definitely getting to my point of, I don't care whether what, whether you know, you think that I'm the spawn of Satan or not, I'm going to keep doing my job properly. And I do feel like I have done my job properly. And I do feel like as a member of the pilot point business community, I had a right to go and speak about being negatively affected in the pilot point business community by things that Amy has said and she has said them, despite knowing that what she is saying is not true, just because she doesn't agree with my observations and assessment does not mean that that means I am bought out by the city or managed by the city, or that I am only For the city and not for the people, because the only people I was looking out for in the way that I've reported, the issues with the petition, which I tried to keep very fact based, are the taxpayers who were going to have to spend 10s of 1000s of dollars, and still did end up having to spend 10s of 1000s of dollars for a petition that was not handled properly. And that's not something that was my fault, that I was calling attention to it, but it is my duty and responsibility as the editor and publisher of the newspaper which covers the area, to say this seems like a waste of taxpayer dollars, because these things do not seem to meet the sniff test on what this should be. This does not seem to meet the charter. That doesn't mean that I have anything about like I was going for Kelley Burgess, I it wouldn't have mattered if it were a recall petition to try to remove you from office, I would have handled it the exact same way, and I don't I'm not even close to Lizzy personally anymore. I know it appears that way, but that it appears that way because I try to be friendly and kind to everyone, not just the people who agree with me. And so I have not personally been close with Elizabeth for about two years, and I had really backed off and including her in the paper for that length of time. So anybody who tries to make it out that I'm really, I'm buddy buddy with her is inaccurate, because I mean, my my staff wouldn't tell you, but they could confirm that that has absolutely been my approach to anything related to Lizzy Gator for the last two years. And if Elizabeth asked me, tell that to her face, because I will say it to her face while I have you on the phone, I did want to ask you a question that I've been meaning to ask you for a while, and that was in regards to the open records requests where I received pretty much nothing from you. I was curious why there were no personal emails included in that. Because I know from the email where Kelley CCed me or CC you actually when it was exchanged between us, which I would have thought should have been included in that that that went to your personal email. And I also found it interesting that on social media since I made the request, Kelly Burgess has made comments about how you are the only elected official who responds to her emails. So do you have a reason why there were no emails pursuant to that? Public Information request. No,
15:06
okay, I do answer emails. I mean, you could, you know, I answer emails all the time. You asked. I don't remember what the poi was, but we've had quite a few for the last few months. But my report is very specific. Was
15:21
right? My request was specifically okay. My request was specifically related to the charter election and to the petition process. So you're so you just walked her through that over the phone or in person, or, oh, yeah, how did
15:36
you we've had plenty of I do. I do a lot of my business on the phone. I don't do this, email exchange, text exchange, you know, online going back and forth. I just don't, I mean, you know, I don't it's, it's, to me, it's futile. And quite frankly, I don't have the time for it. It just, it would keep me online literally all my waking hours. I don't have time for that. So I when people ask things, I say, Hey, call me at this time. I set up time. In fact, I have two calls this afternoon with citizens that were asking questions. Call me. I more than happy to answer any of the questions you have
16:13
got it so you so she never once emailed you about either of those topics that you had any interaction with her over email, even on personal email,
16:23
I don't keep anything beyond 30 days. So if you ask me for something, everything that comes up on my phone is 30 days. So I will send you everything that I have within 30 days. So
16:35
how does that align with the requirement to have records that are you
16:42
have anything that you have you need to send, and I don't have she sent me. There's one email that we exchanged where she asked me for the link from the charter and I for the recall. And I sent that to her. I sent that to her. I sent that to there's been three people that have asked me for it, and I can't remember the other two for the recall. And it wasn't, it wasn't like, I'm gonna recall so and so it was like, what are the what is just like with anything? What do you How does a recall work? What do you have to do? And I sent them the charter the link directly for the charter
17:17
text. So if you delete everything after 30 days, why do you do? I don't delete it. It's on auto delete, okay, if you set it to auto delete, okay, if you set it to auto Delete. For your personal email after 30 days, why do you conduct City Business on personal email?
17:34
Well, number one, I didn't have a phone to my email wouldn't go on my phone, so my city email, and when people email me, wherever they email from me from is where I respond from. So I don't move, I don't send it over to the city email to send it to that's just added work. I mean, I'm a volunteer. I do what I can. There's no hidden agenda. There's no, you know, just think I don't have anything to hide. I mean, you know everything, all these accusations, and just like with you, you know it's I don't have anything to hide. So do
18:10
you see how that appears like a transparency issue?
18:17
I mean, it would for people who are trying to find something to hide. I mean, but look at the work. Look at my work. I mean, by the proofs in the pudding. I mean, I You all can come out and or whoever, not y'all, but whoever can come out with all these accusations of, you know, I'm the one who sabotaged the the amendments. That's not true. Go look at it. Very timely, very specifically. I made zero comments, zero about the propositions, none. I never said anything. If people called me and asked me, I would say this exactly, and you can call any of them, I'd say there's 27 propositions. If you don't understand them, vote no, because I would never give the government more power ever, if I don't understand it. So when people call me, I ask that when I finally went online, is because Monica David chose to post something saying the mayor and the council all agree on all these propositions, and that was just not true. We had to vote to put them on the ballot. And that's what I voted yes for to put them on the ballot. And so when she decided to invoke my name, and you can go find it, I don't have the time on social media, you can go and find it. I did. Then the next maybe two or three days later, I came out and I said, Hold on, because then I had people blowing me up, saying, Oh, so you're for all the 27 agreement. No, I'm not. I said I'm going to vote maybe two or three of them, because I think that they're good for the city. I think they're good for the people. I think it's a win, win, win, all the other ones. I quite frank. I mean, I'll say it again. Our United States Constitution has 27 amendments in 200 years, 27 Seven in 10 years is ridiculous. You have voter fatigue. People are not going to educate themselves. So all of this, this whole narrative of, oh, and I'm, you know, chums with developers. Yeah, I have relationships with developers. Absolutely, 100% yes, I have relationships with a lot of people, and those relationships are good for the community, and you can even go back as far as a development, two developments that we were the city was struggling to get over the finish line, and Brenda and Brett both invited me and Councilman Ambrose you to sit in that meeting just to help influence that. Which one of them was pecan Creek, to move it from a mud to a pit. Because of relationship, we were able to do that. And Brit would tell you that. And the other one was, I think it was Bryson in the development agreement. We were trying to get bigger lot sizes and get more things for the city of pilot point. And because of my relationship, I'm able to help with that. I have relationships with the county. I have relationships. So this whole idea that it's like, oh, you know, she's bought out and sold out and this and this and this, it's just not true. You know, when it comes to the recall, yeah, I sent Kelly asked for information, just like two other people. I can't remember who the other two were to save my life, but asking about recalls I sent, when you asked me for information, I send it on this doesn't mean that I'm a part of it. That doesn't mean that I'm doing it. I mean, when I I'm the mayor, I'm going to get involved in things that pertain to my community, right? There's things that have happened with our police officers that, you know, again, you can talk to Brett that I've gotten involved in, saying, Well, this is what I think. And he knows I've got a relationship with so and so and so, it's like, Hey, can you help with this? Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to, I'm going to help, and I'm going to use those relationships, where it brings peace and where it brings things that are going to build for PowerPoint
22:05
on both Bryson and pecan Creek. Those are both Centurion American projects. Are they not?
22:10
No. Pecan Creek is Rock Hill. There's so it doesn't matter, but they were at the very beginning. I have a relationship with Rock Hill and and we were having trouble moving it from a mud to a pit, and we really needed a pit for our finances, and so we were able to do that. And, you know, fortunately, they sold it, and now it's in somebody else's hands. But, yeah, am I going to use relationships? Heck yes, because relationships have power, as you know, right? And I'm not going to make it doesn't mean that I'm getting money from them. It doesn't mean that I'm you can check my bank accounts. I trust me, I'm not rolling heavy and I just, it just wears me out, you know, just the whole idea and the whole but nobody wants to ask questions. So it's like they're going to sit with their own confusions. You know, Allen McCracken, and they block me from Facebook, so I don't even see what they accuse me of. So they get to accuse me and and I don't get to see anything that they're accusing me of. So it's the most fascinating thing.
23:12
Well, I can understand how it's frustrating to be shut out of of a conversation that way do on, on when you're saying, I understand that there you're not like having money directly to your bank account. Have you had any donations to your campaign that have been from any of these? No,
23:31
you can check my campaign reports, even so much as things like, Oh, hey, we have a box. I love the freaking Rangers. My family and I love the Rangers. We have a box to the Rangers. We're not using these seats. Do you guys want to use them? I never take them. Freaking tn, Texas, New Mexico, empowered. Jessica, hey, we've got some seats open. Do you want to go see this game or that game? Ask her if I've ever taken any seats. People you know here in in pilot point that have businesses. Oh, no, you don't have to pay. No, no, I need to pay because I don't want to ever coming back that, that you were doing something for me, that it was just for a favor. You can talk to businesses after businesses after businesses. I don't ever accept in kind. I don't ever, never. Because if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. And guess what? I don't want to be that's not what. That's not why I'm here. Would it be nice that, oh, hey, someone paid for my lunch. That would be nice, you know, because since I'm paying for freaking coffee all over the planet every time I have meetings, because I'm having to meet everywhere else. So yeah, that would be nice. But I don't even, I don't take it, right?
24:42
I get that, and I, you know, I have also been accused of being on the take for the places that I cover, including by Amy McEvoy and at least implied by Kelly Burgess. So you know, right back at you, as far as person to person, I. Why have you not felt the need to speak up when they are making accusations about local businesses, including mine, and making accusations that are mischaracterizations of our businesses and what we do? Why have you not felt the need to speak up?
25:16
That's a fair question, and I will say this The you don't know what conversations that I have with them, personally, I may not be on so, you know, like I'm, you know, my council feels that I should, you know, be defending them and defending, you know, on online. But that's not my job. My job is to provide information. My job is to help grow. My job is to help lead. I'm trying, you know, you don't know the conversations that I have privately. I'm not going to blast anybody on social media. Am I going to correct information Absolutely. So when Joyce Duesman, Amy Lanier, Allen McCracken, people are out there saying things that are completely inaccurate about me, and then I'm going to defend that when it comes to our businesses, when it comes when I know people absolutely i This thing is a mess.
26:12
So again, right? So what's kind of striking me, and what you just said, is you're again saying it's okay for you to defend yourself and stand up for yourself. But then when I went and did the same thing at the school board meeting, that that might be problematic and put me in the camp of the people against Amy McEvoy,
26:31
I'm just giving you what it looks like from the outside. So when I get phone calls, it's just like, you know, with bread, I'm like, there's certain things. I'm like, Dude, it it just looks that, you know, I try to do things and not do things that don't look, that don't feed into narrative, right? So, oh, I'm being accused of taking money from developers or being on the take. Guess what? I don't take anything from them. You know, I haven't to this point. And so it was a on it. That's not an on record. That's a personal conversation that I'm having with Elisa to Abigail, conversation that it's like, well, this is what I'm hearing on on my side. That doesn't mean that I'm sitting here just saying, yeah, go get her, and nothing like that. But I do think you know that it's, it's, we all, all of us wear different hats in the small community, we can't separate the fact that we're, we are who we are, you know. And I get it, you know. I mean, just like Abigail, Amy was upset because you listed, you know, Amy McAvoy school board member like that wasn't necessary.
27:40
When, when I when I listed it, that was in reference to times when she referred to herself that way, and she has presented herself in arguments about how the city is doing a terrible job, while in the same breath referencing her services on the school board as her reference for why she knows that the city is doing a terrible job. I stopped when she made a point to say that she was speaking as a private citizen, but and I didn't, and I haven't referenced her as a trust, as a school board trustee in everything, but I would, I would be willing to go back and say that I may have made an error here or there, and if I did, then I'd own that. But when I have represented her as a trustee, it's because she represented herself as one. And you're just saying that you can't be separated from your role, and I can't be separated from my role as publisher. But yet, she is going and speaking and addressing what should be a partner, in my view, and from my perspective, as with what I've seen work and not in the area. And she's going and addressing a partner, and whether she acknowledges that she's a trustee or not, she comes across as one who's telling the board what to do and what to say. Well,
28:49
and I'm, I'm not ever going to get into the place where I control people, right? Amy and I agree to disagree on a lot of things. Okay. She is my friend and and I believe in in the work that she does, because I believe the heart in which she does it, just like with you. I believe in the work that you do. I have always supported, not just you as a publisher, as a as a writer in the paper now, as a publisher, as an owner of a business, as a single mom, but just Abigail in general. And that doesn't change for me. Like I will continue to support you and what you're doing as a human being, because I believe in the heart of it, when I see that the hearts change, you know, like for the instance of, you know, the Amy Laniers and Allen McCracken, it's like you're just it's just unreasonable, like your heart is just so tilted about fighting against anything that you don't you're not building anything. And so I'm going to always work for things, but so the moment i. Start working against something, something in my heart changes. I know it. I'm 50 years old. I know myself, and I don't like that Elisa, that Elisa is not an Elisa that I give any, any breath or time to. So I give, I give breath and time to the things that we're building for. I don't control Amy. I don't control Kelley. I don't want to control Stevie. Steven Berg, Steven Burke, I don't control most of these people. Jeremy, what's his face? The what's his name? Not Jeremy, the guy who puts his stuff on Idle Chatter. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry I had a total brain fart. Anyway,
30:38
I've spoken about Justin Carlson or Justin? Justin,
30:42
yes, sorry, Jeremy Justin, I've never even spoken to the guy. I've had one car conversation with, Steven Birkelbach. But it's like everyone wants to lay everybody at my feet and say, well, they're your people. It's like, you know, what do we believe? A lot of the same things. Yeah. And fundamentally, you know, as I expressed to Joyce juiceman on your page, you know, she's like, well, you work for the city, and you know, that's where we're going to be an absolute and complete disagreement. I don't work for the city. I work for the people. And that right, there is a very fundamental shift and change in in a very we will agree to disagree resoundingly in that I serve the people, I don't serve the city.
31:28
Okay? Well, I just, I want to touch on one other thing. Just, I don't know if it'll make an impact or not, but it's kind of like what I mentioned in my columns, that the perspective, the place from which we sit is usually the way that we see what it is that we're looking at. And so while where you see me speaking up about Amy attacking me as me seeming to align myself with the anti Amy crowd, to me, you not speaking up to the comments and attacks made by people who do support you, who voted for you, who have put themselves out there as supporters of you, you not speaking to their bad behavior, then says that it comes off as an implicit, an implicit support on your part of what it is that they are saying when they are saying it in the same breath as saying that you're the only one that they trust, and they're casting aspersions at everyone else that that perception problem is a problem I think you might want to look at because it is something that is a real issue. And while you might think that I see it only one way. I I was literally trained to see things in multiple perspectives, and I try my best to express and see multiple perspectives, and my perspective as a whole from really an a connected, but still outsider looking at this, which is what I hold myself to be and why I have friendly associations on all sides of any issue and continue to treat people well on as well as possible on every side. My perspective as an outsider is that you, where you seem to sit, aligns with the people you haven't said a single negative thing about in this conversation other than that you agree to disagree with them, whereas you have specifically had taken issue with other community members who are saying these things seem like bad behavior, and I understand that you're saying that they're also coming for you, but please understand that that lack of speaking out about previous examples of bad behavior may have led to them getting to that perspective of why they think you might implicitly agree with those people who are speaking
33:49
perspective is the fact that they won't return my phone calls, that they block me from their their little commentaries, that they won't talk to me when I ask questions. That's what brought that. And you know, you said something that you made two assumptions. Number one, you made assumptions that I think that everything that Kelley and this group does is bad behavior. I don't think it's bad behavior. Number one, so that that's a matter of opinion, and number two, that I have yet to say anything about anything, because, again, you don't know my private conversations with them, and again, not for Steven, because I don't talk to Steven.
34:28
So I wasn't, you know I was referencing, I was referencing our conversation in which you are not saying you're saying you've had private conversations with them, but you're not acknowledging the fact that Amy and and Kelley and and Steven, and people who have said that they are your supporters are negatively trying to affect my business, and you are. You just told me that you don't think that those comments where they're trying to negatively affect my business with misinformation, talking
34:55
about that I wasn't talking about that I was I just as an overall everything. That they say. So I apologize I wasn't reading into like, talking specifically about your business. I'm
35:05
not just speaking up for my business, Elisa, but if that's that's helped you, helps you understand what I'm trying to get at, then that's fine. I'm talking about the impact that they are having on the community, where they think that they are the the positive force. The outside perspective looking in, that I've heard from other communities is that they are the divisive force. And I do have connections with other communities who look at that and go what is going on in pilot point. And a lot of them are on idle chatter and see the comments themselves. A lot of them are looking at what's happening with the things that we are trying to be as close to factual as humanly possible on all of what's going on. And they're looking at that and going, this looks bad. Why is pilot point such a circus? And that's not my fault for shining a light on what's going on. I am not trying to contribute to the circus. I am merely shining a light on what is happening in town. And as I've told you before, I much prefer when I can focus on the good and leave this and leave that. Not have a circus to focus on, but I will go through and shine a light on things that are happening that seem questionable, when necessary, and it feels like it has been necessary a lot more often recently, well,
36:25
and it, you know,
36:28
I hear you,
36:30
and you know I hear you, I the same thing can be said for your opinion pieces. You know, when you wrote that opinion piece about me, you didn't even call me. You know you didn't you didn't talk to me. You didn't say, hey, Elisa, like we
36:43
were set to have a convert. We were set to have a conversation after that Thursday council meeting where you repeatedly made comments about the paper. You You were the one who made public comments about that before I ever put that opinion piece in the paper. I wasn't going to even touch on it in the paper unless there was something to write about. It
37:04
doesn't matter the why? What I'm saying is that you know you can say that you're you're not biased, and that you're trying to expose and just report on the good things, but you've also both of us, okay, both of us have engaged in areas we probably should have stayed away from, and both of us have not engaged in areas we probably should dig deeper in. So I hear what you're saying. I think you and I have a lot of experiences that are very relatable on all sides of this, because you know where we both get accused of things and attacked, you know about things that aren't true. And actually, you know, to your point, like about Elizabeth, you know, I believe you. When you say that, that you haven't even had a relationship, and you distance yourself, I believe that. And so to be clear, I didn't accuse you of,
37:55
you know, to be clear, I didn't say that we haven't had a relationship. I said I have distanced myself, but not that we haven't had a relationship, that we have been friendly, but not close friends for at least two years, but I anyway, I think probably it's going to be better. We're just getting into a circular conversation. It doesn't really feel like you're really hearing what I'm trying to share with you, and I assume that you probably feel that same way about me. So I I need to go through and get some things prepared before I go to the rotary meeting. And I am glad we had this conversation. I just am worried that at this point, it's not becoming a productive conversation. It's just becoming a back and forth that's going to cause further frustrations in the future. So I'd rather
38:40
you're frustrated. I you know, I don't want to frustrate you, so I'm telling you that I hear you. I think that we both align in a lot of areas, for all of them, and we both have responsibilities and and victories on on all of it. And so, you know, I'm sorry you're frustrated.
38:56
That's it. I just I appreciate you being willing to give me a call, and I appreciate you answering my questions about you know that you know issue about the emails not appearing in the public information request, because that one, I've been wondering how and why that was possible to just be very transparent with you, and it made me question the validity of what was released. And also, I guess, if you have things auto delete after 30 days, that makes sense why you wouldn't have any interactions that were, you know, responsive between you and Amy McEvoy. But it doesn't make it makes me feel like, just to be transparent, it makes me feel like it's not that there weren't conversations, it's that there's no record of what they were, which, in my job, I'm telling you there have been
39:43
conversations. So you get asked me, have there been conversations? Yes, there have been conversations. She asked a lot of clarifying questions about the recall, and I said, this is what it reads. This is what I think it reads. Most people don't know what government is sound. I mean, understand it. I don't. Even know it. I mean, shit, we just proved our council and attorneys don't even freaking know it. Yeah, you know, our attorneys and city manager let us down a shit stream with his entire recall, which it could have been solved three months ago, sending it to the Denton, you know, elections office. So,
40:18
yeah, there was conversations
40:20
that just reminded me of another question that I forgot what it was, but hopefully it'll come back to me. But all right, oh, actually, I do remember what it was. So the other question I had for you on that is, why, when Kelly asked for guidance on it with you not being like necessarily an expert in how recall works. I did? I sent her to Lynette. Did she talk to Lenette and get guidance from Lenn? I
40:49
don't know when I when I couldn't answer. I'm like, I don't know. You're gonna have to call Lenette. I know that she emailed Lenette several times. But when I don't know anything I do, I send them to Britt or Lenette. Because I don't, I would, I don't know, okay,
41:02
well, I'm glad that that was the advice that you gave her. So, yep.
41:07
All right, all right, thanks. I appreciate it.
41:10
Yes, ma'am, thank you. Bye. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
