INGALLS — Ingalls officials are in conflict about an email town manager Tim Millikan sent council members regarding a phone conversation between councilman Tim Green and a state fire marshal.

The email flap is the latest in a series of issues involving disagreements between Green and Millikan, putting other town officials on edge, they said.

Millikan and Green used to have a good working relationship, Millikan said, until Millikan insisted Aaron’s Auction Headquarters in Ingalls follow business codes.

The business ended up shutting down local operations several weeks ago.

Green said he feels Millikan overstepped his bounds dealing with Aaron’s Auction Headquarters along with other code issues around town.

The more recent issue involves an email Millikan sent to council members describing a phone conversation Green had with state fire marshal Mike Barnhart.

In the email, Millikan wrote that Barnhart said Green had called him after hours and allegedly cursed at him because of a compliance issue surrounding Aaron’s Auction Headquarters.

Green denies using foul language with Barnhart and demanded an apology from Millikan during a recent council meeting, saying he felt his integrity was called into question.

Millikan maintained the email contained qualified information told to him by Barnhart in person and refused to apologize.

“I put in the email that it was purported — a second-hand account of things,” Millikan said. “I never personally accused Green.”

Green said the email about the Barnhart phone call is typical of the issues he has with Millikan; he also said it’s an attempt to keep him from staying in office.

“I’m running for re-election, and if I don’t get re-elected, this town is going down the toilet, because it’s being run any way he (Millikan) wants to do it,” Green said.

Clerk-Treasurer Kip Golden has been caught up in the email issue.

Golden backed Millikan’s version of Millikan’s conversation with Barnhart. Millikan brought Golden in as a witness when Millikan talked with Barnhart about Green’s phone call.

Golden, however, said he did tell Green at one point — contrary to his recollection but just to end a conversation in which Green continued to press the issue with Golden — that it’s possible Barnhart didn’t say Green cursed.

To get to the bottom of the email flap, council President Chris Bradshaw contacted Barnhart.

Barnhart said Green had called him after hours and was rude, and he didn’t care for Green’s manner, but Green didn’t curse, Bradshaw said.

Green called Barnhart on his own accord concerning Barnhart’s ruling to have Aaron’s Auction Headquarters fulfill certain requirements before it could open for business, a decision Green didn’t like, Bradshaw said.

Millikan maintains Barnhart said during their in-person meeting that Green used foul language during the phone call, and town leaders needed to know Barnhart complained about Green’s behavior, Millikan said.

“When the fire marshal came by, it was only the second time in my life I’d ever met him,” Millikan said. “When he said he wanted to talk to me about Green, I went and got Kip so we’d have a witness.”

The email issue and other disagreements between the two are pitting townspeople against each other and wasting time and resources, while hurting the town’s efforts to move forward with growth, town leaders said.

Council Vice President Justin Gardner said he believes there is a lack of communication between Green and Millikan that must be bridged.

“They are both looking at different sides of the same coin, and they have an issue of communicating with one another,” Gardner said. “I think they are both doing what they think is right for the town.”

Gardner said Green is representing the town residents’ view, while Millikan said he is enforcing state and local codes.

“There are rules and procedures town officials are supposed to follow, and we can’t have board members going behind the scenes undermining that,” Millikan said. “It puts me in a dangerous position.”

In the meantime, town leaders are trying to clarify the town’s Unified Development Ordinances (UDO) to help head off future issues.

Millikan said he’s simply trying to do the job he was hired for — clean up the town and make sure codes are followed by the book.