A councilman lashed out Tuesday night after Mayor Scott Dudley blamed his staff for confusion during a previous meeting over providing information about the RV park.

Councilman Joel Servatius told the mayor that his comments were both inappropriately political and untrue.

“Time and time again, I’ve watched you — I don’t even have a fancy term for it — throw people under the bus,” he said, “which I find appalling.”

The exchange came as city staff is working on the sewage treatment plant — the largest project the city has ever taken on — while the mayor’s recent medical problems have further exacerbated a strained relationship between the mayor and council.

The council did receive the information it requested about the possibility of building a temporary RV park at the marina; in the end, they decided it is cost prohibitive.

The RV Park on Beeksma Drive will close for at least two years beginning in the fall. It will be used as a dumping ground for an estimated 40,000 cubic yards of dirt that will be removed from the site of the new sewage treatment plant.

Using the RV Park will save the city an estimated $1.6 million in costs of trucking the dirt off-site.

Downtown business owners are unhappy with the closure because it means fewer RVers spending money on Pioneer Way. Servatius had asked the staff to look into what it would take to temporarily move the RV park to a site next to the marina.

The issue was on the agenda during the last council meeting, but the staff didn’t have a presentation for reasons that weren’t completely clear. City Administrator Larry Cort said he would talk to the mayor about getting the information and suggested council members call him at home.

Dudley was out sick with a ruptured disk.

Council members, however, complained that the mayor was increasingly uninvolved in city business, making it difficult for them to get information from staff, who are under his direction.

Dudley was back Tuesday, though he said he was in “a lot of pain.” He said he wanted to “set the record straight” and denied that he did anything to prevent the staff from giving the council the information it requested.

“City council asked good questions that should have been answered, could have been answered,” he said.

Dudley argued that the staff was supposed to present information about the RV park relocation at least a month before the previous meeting.

“There were several good questions that were asked of our city administrator that should have received more in-depth answers,” he said.

“What I just witnessed was an incredible display of politics,” Servatius said, “and that’s unfortunate.”

He apologized to the staff members who the mayor referenced in his criticism. He said the mayor should address his concerns with the council or the staff behind closed doors.

Servatius said city staff have always been hard working and responsive.

Servatius also challenged the mayor’s assertion that he wants the council to get all the information possible.

“Time and time again we’ve begged for information,” Servatius said. “We get nothing.”

Public Works Director Cathy Rosen said it would cost approximately $70,000 to extend water and electrical service to a temporary RV park. She said it would require a bidding process.

Councilman Jim Campbell made a motion to direct staff to also look into the possibility of following the mayor’s proposal to use alternative sites for dumping the dirt. Other council members argued that the sites were too close to the current RV park and it wouldn’t make sense to mix heavy equipment and people camping.

Campbell’s motion failed.

Councilwoman Tara Hizon was absent from the meeting.