Local residents raised concern at a Dillon Town Council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 22, about comments council member John Woods made at a meeting two weeks earlier.

The residents, who spoke during the public comment portion of the Oct. 22 meeting, described Woods making comments that recommended against buying units at a condominium complex in town. The comments were made in the context of discussing a reported maintenance issue at the property.

The town’s recording of the earlier Tuesday, Oct. 8, meeting did not capture Wood’s comments but multiple residents as well as the mayor and other members of the council described hearing the comments. Dillon Town Manager Nathan Johnson said that an audio glitch led to the comments not being recorded and that the footage was not edited.

In the Oct. 8 meeting recording the comments in question cannot be heard, but Woods asks “Is that on the record?” to which Mayor Carolyn Skowyra said, “Yes, that is definitely on the record.” Later in the Oct. 8 meeting, Woods stated that he wanted to amend his earlier comments about the condo complex.

Sue Gannett, the president of the homeowners association for the condo complex in question, called Woods’ comments “disparaging,” “false” and “slanderous.” Gannett called on the council to “take disciplinary action and remove Woods from council.”

Woods admitted at the Oct. 22 meeting to making comments that he wouldn’t buy a unit in the condo complex, but he disagreed with the exact language that some of the residents claimed he had said. He said it was “implied” that he meant he wouldn’t buy a place there until the maintenance issue was resolved.

On Oct. 22, the Dillon Town Council voted to update the Oct. 8 minutes to include language that council members agreed better represented the comments made during the meeting.

“I’m not a professional politician,” Woods said. “Sometimes I speak before I think.”