If Crossville citizens thought that city council meetings were highly controversial before, Thursday night’s monthly meeting was a real show stopper. It was the final meeting attended by members Pete Souza and Jesse Kerley. Both have been at the center of several disputes over the last year. In fact, some of those disputes appeared as agenda items Thursday. Particularly a set of 13 ethics violations charges against Kerley, Kerley’s father Jerry Kerley who is a city employee and interim City Manager Steve Hill that Souza had set to present to the council. Just before that presentation, Souza asked for a 10 minute recess to pass out new information on the charges. Upon the council’s return, City Mayor James Mayberry announced that the issue balanced on three things: do the charges have merit, are they without merit, and if they have merit, do they warrant further investigation. Mayberry further stated that if an investigation was called for, an independent investigator would have to be called in because the city attorney, who is the city’s ethics officer, would have a conflict of interest. After much discussion and two failed motions, Souza began to comment on the matter when Council Member Danny Wyatt called a point-of-order to ask for a motion to hold a special-called meeting on the matter. The motion was seconded by Council Member Pamela Harris who then called for the ethics matter to be addressed after the new council is seated in December. It was at that point that Souza uttered a profanity to which Ms. Harris chastised him. Members of the audience began to chortle and make light of the proceedings. Ms. Harris then picked up her papers and left the council chambers. As Souza began to speak again, Wyatt stood up and said that he had heard it all before and was not going to sit through it again, and he left the chambers. The audience erupted in laughter and singing. Mayor Mayberry slammed down his gavel and dismissed the meeting abruptly without finishing the rest of the council’s business for the night.