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Regular Council Meeting June 23, 2014 Page 9 resolution to the task. He said it was true that Dr. Grossnickle, Mr. Godwin, Mr. McIlyar and himself did recently speak with Mr. Defenbaugh. Mayor Frierson said after receiving Mrs. Clifford's presentation, and hearing the amount of money being spent with no promise of a written report, left unanswered questions. He said after the PEDC special meeting Mr. Defenbaugh was to release his report, which was after it was reported no written reports existed. Mayor Frierson said he took the step to initiate a conference call between the city attorney, Mrs. Clifford and himself. According to the city attorney, Mrs. Clifford declined to accept that phone call. He said he had no choice but to call a special City Council meeting to discuss the ongoing process. Prior to that time, he said he decided that the mayor pro -tem, the city attorney, the city manager and himself should contact Mr. Defenbaugh to see what other information he could share with them to determine whether or not the special meeting on the 121' could proceed. He said he did not want to make any mistakes and his only concern was a resolution of this matter. Mayor Frierson emphasized that in no way, form or fashion was there any conversation about shutting down the investigation or stopping any work by Defenbaugh and Associates. He said the conversation centered on the areas that were left unresolved after the presentation by Mrs. Clifford to the City Council, such as the following: 1) when asked by the City Council about the initial visit of Mr. Defenbaugh and his staff, which took place prior to the contract being approved; Mrs. Clifford said she was aware of the charge and inquired about it. She said they were given a reduced rate and she let it go. Mr. Defenbaugh said when they were invited to Paris, he was told that the charges would be taken care of, 2) when asked about those in attendance at the initial meeting, Mrs. Clifford said no one else from her board was in attendance. She also said the meeting was held at Dr. Hashmi's office with both her and Dr. Hashmi in attendance. Mr. Defenbaugh confirmed this, but also noted there was one more person in attendance and that was Bill Strathern. Mr. Strathern is not a member of the PEDC is not on the Council and is not a resident of the City of Paris. Mr. Strathern was not identified as a member of any applicable board or a constituency; 3) Mrs. Clifford identified herself and Shannon Barrentine as those in touch with Defenbaugh and Associates. She did not identify anyone further. Mr. Defenbaugh was asked the same question and he said Mr. Strathern was also involved in supplying information to the point that Mr. Strathern physically took documents to his Dallas Office; 4) Mr. Defenbaugh was asked again where his information came from and he responded by saying there were over 900 documents and e -mails supplied to his firm. He was asked, as was Mrs. Clifford, what individual parties had he spoken with that might be a target of this investigation where it be former PEDC directors or HWH representatives, etc. and he said he had spoken to no one other than those previously mentioned; 5) the Council was told there was no written report available despite the contractual language stating that this was to be expected within 30 days of the contract inception, in addition to the weekly oral reports that were given only to the board chair. The Council was told that it was turned over to the FBI and no further comment was given. When Mr. Defenbaugh was asked why there was no written report he responded he was told by Mrs. Clifford to not provide a written report. It was this facet that led to the special meeting be cancelled; and 6) Mr. Defenbaugh was asked about the timeline as to when might get a decision from the FBI and he said in multiple weeks. Mr. Defenbaugh was asked when they might expect a final report and he said he had not prepared a final report, but only prepared preliminary reports in rough draft at this time. Mayor Frierson said he did not see anything that had been done to stop the process and then he asked the city attorney to give an update he had received from Mr. Defenbaugh.