BELHAVEN — Trash service was once again a point of contention at Monday night’s Belhaven Board of Aldermen meeting.

Mayor Adam O’Neal again broached the subject of Arthur’s Community Mart owner Arthur Bonner’s trash service, which was discussed in depth at the board’s March 13 and April 10 meetings.

O’Neal accused town Manager Woody Jarvis and a majority of the board of acting unfairly toward Bonner, and launched new claims of underhanded mistreatment of Bonner and a calculated removal of the camera filming town meetings.

“When you have a town manager that goes after folks, you have a major problem. … It’s a serious problem,” O’Neal said. “This all started with a $250 reimbursement.”

In January, Bonner approached O’Neal about being overcharged for trash services, saying the Town charged him for three trashcans while he claimed to have only one (an excess charge of $260).

At the March 13 meeting, Jarvis gave an account to the Board of Aldermen, stating Bonner approached him in November 2016 about the overcharging, which began about 10 months prior to November. Jarvis said the problem was corrected as soon as it was brought to his attention — a point O’Neal continues to refute.

The board subsequently voted 3-2 to not reimburse Bonner for the $260 of overcharges, as three aldermen agreed there was no way for the Town to know it was overcharging until Bonner approached Jarvis 10 months after the fact.

Since the April 10 meeting, O’Neal said town employees have threatened to cut off Bonner’s power and claimed Bonner owes a $50 payment, which is incorrect. O’Neal also said he was unable to find record of a $150 payment Bonner made recently on his utilities.

Jarvis did not respond to the accusations Monday, but he did deny any wrongdoing at the April 10 meeting.

“Coercion and bullying is not the way to run a town,” Jarvis said at that meeting. “I am really using all the restraint that I have. … Why don’t you tell the truth?”

O’Neal again brought up the decision to allow Spoon River Artworks and Market to use another service other than David’s Trash and also attacked town officials’ reluctance to give him access to Spoon River’s billing records.

“There’s obviously a vendetta here, and there’s no place in Belhaven for a vendetta,” O’Neal said Monday. “I’m not bullying. I’m trying to stop the bullying.”

According to Jarvis, David’s Trash did not pick up Spoon River’s trash for days because of the amount, and the restaurant voiced concerns about health hazards and needing trash space for weekend service.

David’s Trash cannot provide a larger trash container without a concrete pad, and Spoon River is waiting for its grant-funded expansion project to begin, and the subsequent construction, before pouring the concrete.

“I have discussed it thoroughly with the town council, I have discussed it thoroughly with Spoon River, and I have discussed it thoroughly with David’s Trash,” Jarvis said at the April meeting. “Most people would say it’s more important to get trash dumped and avoid health problems.”

In response to accusations of removing the meeting camera, Mayor Pro-Tempore Greg Satterthwaite explained either he or his sister operated the camera at no cost in the past, but doing so got to be too much of a responsibility.

Satterthwaite said it had nothing to do with the trash service problem, or wanting to keep things from the public.

“You can’t force me to change my decision; you can’t intimidate me to change my decision,” he said. “I’m still Greg. I’m still fighting for my community.”

The board eventually voted to task Jarvis with making sure a camera is at every meeting.

O’Neal said he plans to continue talking about these topics until elections in November, as he feels it is his responsibility to do so. He also asked the Town to remove the trashcans off his property and take the charges off his utility bill if operations continue in the same way.

“That’s done beating a dead horse. I really would not like to hear it every meeting,” Alderman Amos Wilson said.