Portsmouth - During the first Portsmouth City Council meeting following the arrest of Mayor Kenny Wright and the fine of Councilman William Moody, residents had a lot to say.
"God save Portsmouth God save this city"
"There are a lot of unhappy people in Portsmouth."
"You need to work on your image."
One by one, dozens of speakers made their way to the podium to express their displeasure with the Mayor and Council.
"I have been concerned with this city council ever since you passed the budget cuts," said one of the speakers.
Most of tonight's comments had to do with the rise of crime in Portsmouth -- specifically the crime Mayor Kenny Wright committed after the January 12th council meeting.
"I talked to several young people who said that you coming out smiling in a mug shot and smiling coming out of court tells them that what you did was ok. I don't think that's the message you want to send to kids," explained one resident.
Mayor Wright was arrested after reportedly eluding the Portsmouth Sheriff after the January 12th meeting. The Sheriff says he tried to pull over the Mayor for having an expired inspection sticker, though says Mayor Wright didn't stop.
One speaker had this to say about the arrest.
"Our mayors vehicle inspection 7 months in arrears our Mayor allegedly refusing to submit to law enforcement and has charged with a felony -- no apology to the citizens what an example to our young people."
The Mayor's crime came after Councilman William Moody was fined $1,500 for posting on Facebook about happenings in a closed session meeting.
After tonight's meeting he told Newschannel 3 that he will continue to speaking out and trying to answer resident's questions.
"I'm pleased I wasn't fined tonight, obviously, but dealing with that my rights were violated I'm Pursuing that," said Councilman Moody.
During the meeting Mayor Wright said that he wanted people to ask him questions, though not all attendees believed him.
"If you want questions to be asked then for goodness sake answer them when they ask," said a speaker.
