Councilman Al Montoya's emal about the Tusayan Fire Departmet may have landed him in hot water and now he is  is walking back an email which stated he is not endorsing the Tusayan Fire Department.  The controversy began after the Tusayan Fire Chief sent an email out to the town thanking the community for its support in a November election.

Those words of thanks somehow upset Montoya and he responded with this email:

I will not be endorsing the fire dept. any longer.  Due to its position to lies and innuendos presented by its staff.
Respectfully,
Al Montoya

When word got out about Montoya’s email, a petition drive was initiated seeking a recall election against Montoya. 

Montoya responded during a February Town Council meeting after he learned about a recall effort against him. Montoya claims his statement was misconstrued. He said the email was written on his personal email account and he did not sign the email as a member of the council.  Despite his email Montoya insists, “I totally support the Fire Department and its Volunteers.”

Montoya said he supports the Fire Department but not “those two people” referring to Chief Greg Brush and administrator Chrystal Schoppmann.

Schoppmann has voiced her displeasure with some members of the Town Council related to statements Montoya and others made they made disparaging opponents of the Stilo development. Those statements were mistakenly broadcast on the internet following a July council meeting and covered a number of topics including ways to keep certain materials outside the public record as well as suggestions on ways Stilo can counter negative publicity. Montoya was a prominent voice on the those recordings.

Schoppmann who initiated the recall replied, “"Mr. Montoya can try to spin this any which way he desires, my recall effort still stands."

For some background on the July open mic incident click here.