Victoria Councilman Kenneth Boyd complained that Mayor Carol Watson is trying to silence him by removing him from the personnel committee.

It was a rare public display of disharmony and testiness that came as the council began discussing committee assignments at its June meeting.

The council is doing some reorganizing as those elected will be sworn in Wednesday, June 29.

Incumbents Sandra V. Jones and Ronald E. Mattox were re-elected, and will be joined on the council by C.H. “Chris” Gill. The council had three seats open, and was assured to have at least one new face as Lee Scott chose not to seek re-election. Watson ran unopposed.

The various committees review issues and make suggestion and recommendations to the council.

Boyd said he wants to remain on the personnel committee. He noted he has been on it for the 6 1/2 years he has been on council and considers serving on it an opportunity to use his skills and experience to help guide decision making.

But Watson said she wants to shuffle appointments on the various committees in order to get fresh ideas and new thinking. She also noted that there have been instances when he could not be present to help the committee.

In response, Boyd, raising his voice, insisted that he has only missed two committee meetings in his time on it, and in both instances, it was for health reasons and couldn’t be helped.

Watson tried to cut off the conversation, but Boyd said it was she who opened the discussion.

He then insisted that Watson was being biased and was trying to remove him from the committee because she was displeased with some of his personnel decisions. He did not give any details.

Watson, meanwhile, said decisions on committee appointments will be made later.