FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A local television station filmed part of Monday’s City Council meeting, but Mayor Tim Kant’s speech against the hiring of a city administrator didn’t make the evening news.

His address came at the tail end of a two-hour-long meeting, after Council President Debbie Quinn changed the agenda that night, moving the mayor from near the top of the agenda to the bottom.

By that time, the TV crew had long since left.

His speech even followed an executive session called by the council on an item to discuss pending litigation that wasn’t on the written agenda.

Those executive sessions typically come at the very end of the meeting; and once the council leaves with its attorneys, most of the remaining audience also leaves.

But not Monday, when a still large crowd hung around to hear what Kant had to say.

”I can name at least four reasons Fairhope does not need a city administrator,” Kant read, during a presentation in which his voice often rose loudly to make his points. “One, we do not need one because I am already doing the job, as I was elected to do. Two, you are trying to micromanage the city by use of the city administrator. Three, the position will be unworkable because of conflicts and confusion. And four, the position will entail tremendous costs.”

At the start of his speech, Kant said he wanted to speak before the council voted to remove certain language from the ordinance that created the city administrator position.

“But since I wasn’t able to talk before you voted, I would like to talk now,” he said.

By then the council had already voted to remove the words “under the direction of the Mayor” from the section of the ordinance establishing the job’s purpose being “to direct and manage the operation of the city, to include management and oversight of all city departments, functions, and coordination of special projects.”

The ordinance also states that “the city administrator is responsible for the implementation of all policy set by the council.”

Last week, the city posted a job announcement for the city administrator job, with a starting salary between $89,500 to $110,000, which only current city employees are eligible to apply for by the 3:30 p.m. July 3 deadline.

In his speech, the mayor argued that the council, by removing the “under the direction of” language, and by the adoption of the original ordinance, sought to create a position that would not answer to him.

“I thought those words were innocuous,” said Councilman Mike Ford, as the reason he voted for the removal of the language from the ordinance, adding that he felt like he had been misled by some council members as to the reason for the change.

But City Attorney Tut Wynne said there was a consensus, based on a recent meeting between the council and the general counsel of the Alabama League of Municipalities, that the city administrator will answer to the mayor.

“I think everyone has agreed that the city administrator will serve under the mayor.”

Although the council instructed that the position be posted a month ago, the mayor countermanded those instructions, requiring the council to order it done again at its June 8 meeting. The mayor declared that night that he would not post the announcement but relented several days later.

Ford said he thought removal of the language from the ordinance and the moving of Kant to the end of the agenda was “a slap in (his) face.”

All four other council members spoke in favor of hiring a city administrator and taking steps they felt necessary and some said, long overdue.

“The mayor was indeed elected but don’t forget we were also elected,” Councilman Dan Stankoski told a crowd that was openly hostile at times, and which booed and stomped the floor loudly at one point. “I’ll do whatever it takes, whether pleasant or not, to move the city forward,” he continued. “There may well be turbulent times ahead.”

In other action, the council:

• Promoted Rhonda White, who had been serving as human resources administrator, to the top job in that department at a new salary of what the last HR director was paid, which city records indicate was approximately $79,000 a year. White was hired in March 2008 at a salary of approximately $37,000, which was increased to about $55,000, when the last director resigned in January, and she took over his duties.

• Failed to consider one agenda item, regarding the taping of council meetings. After the meeting, Quinn said arrangements have been made through the city’s information technology director, and the taping of council meetings could start as early as the July 13 council meeting. She said the recordings would be available to the city clerk in preparation of minutes and to council members regarding the accuracy of their statements in the minutes. The city of Daphne has taped its council meetings, which the city clerk there uses to help prepare the minutes, for years.