A Councilwoman's Husband Gets a Tourism Board Seat. She Abstained.

At its Oct. 20 meeting, the Orange Beach City Council filled a Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism Board seat left open by Penny Groux. The appointee was Hunter Harrelson of Beachball Properties, to fill the rest of Groux's term, through September 2029. He is the husband of Councilwoman Ginger Harrelson. (Gulf Coast Media)

The family business

The city's own biography of Councilwoman Harrelson says she co-founded Beachball Properties, which it describes as a locally owned vacation rental and real estate company managing more than 350 properties on the Alabama Gulf Coast. (City of Orange Beach)

The vote

Councilwoman Harrelson abstained on her husband's appointment, according to the city's audio recording of the Oct. 20 meeting. (City recordings page) Published coverage of the meeting had not reported how she voted.

Nothing in the record we have seen shows the appointment broke any rule.

The backstory

The appointee and the mayor have clashed in public. At the July 7 council meeting, private investigator Wendy Pickering spoke in favor of keeping the mayor's bodycam footage private and accused Councilwoman Harrelson of spreading lies about her on Facebook. (Gulf Coast Media)

From the audience, Hunter Harrelson shouted, "She's a liar!" Mayor Tony Kennon warned he would be escorted out if he interrupted again. Hunter Harrelson then asked Kennon whether he had met with a private investigator to look into the council members who filed the ethics complaint against him. Kennon said he had not. (AL Reporter)

"It seems like a three-ring circus. I didn't bring the circus to town," Kennon said at that meeting. (same story)

Three months later, the same council put Hunter Harrelson on the Tourism Board.

Questions Orange Beach hasn't answered

• Who else applied for or was considered for the seat?
• Does Beachball Properties do any business with the Tourism Board?

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