A formal statement promised at the last regular council meeting by Huntsville mayor Claude Doughty will have to wait a little longer.

At the end of Monday night’s regular meeting, Doughty read a statement to council, saying, “On the Wednesday after last council meeting, I did an interview with (the local TV station). We covered a number of issues. When questioned on the matter of the article in the newspaper I gave some background of the interview. During that interview I stated that I apologized for the reference to former staff that was made in the local paper.”

In a story published in the April 9 edition of this newspaper Doughty made comments suggesting that former top-level administrators at the town were to blame for issues with the municipal books that arose during this year’s budget process.

At the April 21 council meeting, local resident Terry Russell chastised the mayor for doing this in a presentation to council, where he demanded a retraction and public apology by the mayor in this newspaper and at the council table.

Following Russell’s presentation, Doughty stated, “The article is of concern to me. I will be issuing a formal statement later this week.”

At the end of his comments Monday night, Doughty said, “A more formal statement will be forthcoming when the content of the draft that I have prepared is confirmed as acceptable.”

When questioned by councillor Brian Thompson on whether he, or the town, were now involved in a legal issue, Doughty said, “I have no further comment at this time. If you want to go into (closed session) to discuss anything of that nature that’s your right to do so.”

Thompson pushed for a simple yes or no on whether it was a legal issue, but Doughty replied that he could not say anything more.

Councillor John Davis then moved that council go into closed session.

When contacted by the Forester Tuesday morning, Doughty said he could make no further comment at this time.

He said he isn’t sure when his formal statement will be released, just that, “I would hope sooner than later.”