PANAMA CITY — Police were called to the Visual Arts Center last week after an incident between Visual Arts Center Attorney Joe Silva, a Panama City employee and a bride-to-be.
The report states police will issue a trespassing warning against Silva if he appears at the VAC building in the future.
“We don’t want him back in the building because we don’t want anyone to have this same type of confrontation with him,” Mayor Greg Brudnicki said Wednesday. “We all need to be professional.”
--- DOCUMENT: READ THE INCIDENT REPORT»»
Carla Branch, 32, who is scheduled to be married in October, was dropping off paperwork for her reservation of the VAC and meeting with a city employee Friday afternoon when Silva interrupted, according to a Panama City Police report.
“Branch stated (Silva) began questioning the city official about his identity,” the report states.
Silva then stated the documents Branch brought in belonged to the VAC because they included the organization’s logo. He then “snatched” the documents from the city official, Branch recalled in a Wednesday interview.
“They belong to the Visual Arts Group and I’m taking them,” Silva said, according to the report.
Branch said city officials requested that she file a report with Panama City Police, which she did after the incident. She added she has not changed her wedding plans because of the incident.
“He was just rude,” Branch said Wednesday. “I believe there’s good people in Bay County. I unfortunately walked into a situation I shouldn’t have witnessed.”
The News Herald attempted to contact Silva several times but he did not return calls Wednesday. Attempts to learn the identity of the city officials also were unsuccessful Wednesday.
The city took over the VAC from the VAC board of directors on the grounds that there were no longer any duly elected board members. The city commission discussed the takeover at its meeting on Tuesday with Silva present. Brudnicki described Silva’s actions in the meeting as grandstanding.
“If you’re going to act like a buffoon, you’ll get treated like one,” Brudnicki said of Silva.
Brudnicki added that Silva’s behavior has changed recently.
“In the beginning they were pretty compliant to what we had to do,” he said. “I don’t understand where this change is coming from.”