Things got heated Monday night at the Marion County NAACP town hall meeting in Mullins. 

The civil rights organization hosted the meeting to find out more about how the city is being run.

The group says its members had a lot of questions after the mayor's water bill ballooned up to more than $16,000 before it was finally paid last September.

"It was so important to have this meeting to let the citizens know what's going on in our city . As you're aware, it's a lot of destruction going on in our city and nobody wants to answer our questions," said Helen Gerald, Marion County NAACP Secretary.

Gerald, along with NAACP President, Isaac Black, headed up Monday night's meeting.

Gerald says all of the council members were invited to come, but only Terry Davis and Mayor Pam Lee showed up.

"And all the city council that did not show, that just shows the citizens how much they're concerned about us and how much they care about us, and how we feel about what's going on within our city. They don't even care about what's going on within the city to even address the citizens," said Gerald.

Terry Davis said the other council members care about what's going in the city and are interested in residents concerns. She thanked the crowd for coming out.

The newly hired city administrator, Kenneth Davis,  took part in the meeting and answered a number of questions from residents.

Harsh words were exchanged when a resident asked Mayor Lee about why she hasn't returned any of his phone calls. The two went back and forth. The resident even said he voted for Lee in the last election, but she won't get his vote again.

Mayor Lee says in her defense she never got his calls and argued city council has essentially stripped her of any authority.

"People come here now and ask for me. They don't most of the time, they don't give a number for me. They just tell them I'm not here anymore, and they maybe need to come to my restaurant to see me you know, and I'm still the mayor here you know, but I don't seem to have the power."

Mayor Lee says she doesn't know if they've taken away her authority because of her water bill situation.

Lee explained, "They never said why, and they still hadn't given me an answer as to that. I was asked to sign a form in which I did not sign it no ma'am, to this day I still don't know. Now the mayor pro-tem takes over all the meetings, she does all that. The administrator has asked me not to come to his office, not by myself to discuss anything. He thinks somebody else should be present, that I don't know why."

City Administrator , Kenneth Davis, referred all questions about the mayor's authority to city council.

At one point, Davis walked away from the podium saying to NAACP President Isaac Black that what he had feared had happened, barbs being thrown at certain people. He walked to the back of the room, but stayed and continued to answer questions.

Davis got a pretty lengthy question about why the new police chief, Michael Bethea, lives in Dillon County and drives a city car home every night.

Davis replied Chief Bethea is looking for a place in Mullins, and there is no ordinance or department policy that requires him to live in the city of Mullins. He argued Bethea is also charged $3 a day for use of the car. Davis said it's cheaper to allow Chief Bethea to take the patrol cruiser home. Davis said every time Bethea would come back to Mullins to respond to an incident, they would have to pay him mileage.

Mayor Lee interrupted saying it is a requirement for the police chief to live in Mullins.

Helen Gerald says she had a hard time getting city officials to agree to the meeting. She said when she met with Davis last week he talked to her like a dog, and she has the conversation all on tape.

Davis says he always treats people with kindness and would never be disrespectful to anyone.

She also asked Davis if he had a lawsuit against the City of Mullins prior to being named city administrator. Davis said no.

"And as you can see for tonight we didn't really get any questions answered, answers for our questions, you know. It's all, we will get back with you, and we'll meet at later date," said Gerald.

She told residents to vote council members out of office if they're not satisfied with how they're leading the city.

Residents asked a number of questions about missing street signs, customer service at the water department and sewage problems.

Davis says he's working to correct many of the problems, but it's going to take time. He encouraged the crowd to come to him with any questions or concerns.