‘This council and administration is a circus’: Prine supporter attends Mobile City Council meeting dressed as clown

UPDATE (5:33 p.m.) — Two women confronted the Mobile City Council on Tuesday, calling the council and the city administration a “circus.”

Behind their costumes and wigs, Sabrina Mass and Rena Chapa called for transparency as the city moves forward with a third-party investigation into allegations made by former Police Chief Paul Prine.

“I feel like this council and this administration is a circus,” Chapa said.

Prine alleged that the city made improper attempts to control the Police Department and ignored his grievances. Prine also claimed he was silenced by city officials.

The city council set the scope for an investigation of those allegations, and with it came the issuance of subpoenas.

Prine was served a subpoena, and the city administration members were not.

Mass challenged the city council to answer why.

“Somebody is definitely hiding something somewhere,” Mass said.

Prine said he received a subpoena via email on the evening of June 4. He said he showed up for his interview with the third-party investigators the following morning and provided all the documents.

Some of Prine’s supporters, like Mass and Chapa, said the city administration should receive the same treatment.

“My momma said, ‘Play slow, stay low and let it flow,’” Mass said. “Flow them subpoenas on out. That’s what you need to do.”

“Is this administration the Mobile Mafia now?” Chapa asked.

The explanation, according to City Council Attorney Michael Linder, is that subpoenas do not have to be issued if someone agrees to come in for an interview voluntarily; something he said the city has agreed to do.

“It was decided in the end that subpoenas were not necessary there because the city was voluntarily giving the special counsel what he asks for,” Linder said.

Linder said the miscommunication stemmed from the vaguely written Zoghby Act, which gives the city council the authority to conduct investigations.

“Some of these things, we have to make up as we go along or figure out the procedures as we go along,” Linder said.

Multiple city council members declined to speak on camera following the meeting.

ORIGINAL STORY:

MOBILE, Ala. ( WKRG ) — A supporter of former Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine showed up at the Mobile City Council meeting on June 18 to discuss her concerns about the investigation into claims made by the former chief.

But that supporter, Rena Chapa, approached the podium wearing a clown wig.

She addressed the council, saying, “This council and administration is a circus.”

This comes after the council approved a law firm to investigate claims Prine made on his way out, which included that the city tried to control the police department.

The city council fired Prine in April after former U.S. Attorney Kenyan Brown released a report on the use of force in the Mobile Police Department.

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