By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor

tyler@southerntorch.com

RAINSVILLE, Ala.  — The Rainsville City Council held it's regular workshop and meeting on Monday night, at the new time of 5:00 pm (with the workshop starting at 4:15 pm). 

In the meeting, a heated exchange was heard between the Mayor and City Councilman Marshall Stiefel during the work-session. Mayor Roger Lingerfelt also had an abrupt exchange with concerned citizen Regina Randolph towards the end of the meeting.

The exchanges were regarding a notice the Mayor sent to both the Fort Payne Times-Journal and the Southern Torch, stating that meeting notifications would only be sent to the Mountain Valley News, posted on the city's website, and also the bulletin board at city hall.

The exchanges can be heard at 21:55 (Stiefel, Lingerfelt) and 57:45 (Lingerfelt, Citizen Regina Randolph) in the video below.

The City of Rainsville also excluded the Times-Journal and Southern Torch from the city's advertising budget.

After the meeting, Councilman Stiefel said, "I'm extremely disappointed."

"(The City) is legally-bound to provide media outlets with meeting notices and agendas," said Stiefel.

"Why would we want to alienate the oldest, and most circulated newspaper in DeKalb County (Times-Journal), as well as a local county-wide newspaper and news website right down the street in Rainsville (Southern Torch)," Stiefel added.

"Even if it's not illegal..... it looks bad. It sets a bad precedent," Stiefel said in the workshop.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO: