Auburn Mayor Kirby says he'll 'hand the gavel' at next City Council meeting

Auburn Mayor Bill Kirby said at Monday night's City Council meeting he intends to "hand the gavel" to Councilman Daniel Berlant at the next city council meeting on April 27. Kirby came under fire Friday following several recent Facebook posts and comments criticizing the White House's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and other subjects, which included profanities and heated exchanges with others on Facebook. Kirby angered community members when a recent public Facebook post suggested supporters of President Donald Trump were akin to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Kirby admitted to re-posting some items but said in an interview with the Auburn Journal on Friday the posts have nothing to do with his job as mayor. "(Facebook) is not a city site. It's a personal site," Kirby said. "This has nothing to do with my job. I re-posted it. I think (Trump) is a racist, absolutely." Kirby did not apologize at the meeting Monday night but did say he "regret" some of what he posted. Kirby read a statement regarding the recent events, saying, "Am I angry and frustrated? Yes." He then explained his frustrations, saying firefighters aren't "allowed to go into a burning building to save lives without the proper equipment and backup." Kirby, a urologist, also mentioned putting his life on the line each day and seeing "nurses, respiratory therapists, other medical staff, first responders and my medical colleagues as well as their patients dying unnecessarily because of this. This president has put us all at risk." Kirby ended by saying he would nominate Berlant to serve as mayor for the rest of the year. Council member Cheryl Maki asked Kirby to pass the gavel to Vice Mayor Matt Spokely right then and let him run the meeting. Kirby answered, "No," and asked for agenda approval. The council later heard some 40 email and 10 voicemail comments about the mayor's posts. For more details regarding public and councilmember reactions to Kirby's action, look for the full story in the April 15 edition.