Using City Money To Clean Private Property

This weekend, the city of Mobile will be making another push to convince people in the Theodore area to vote yes to annexation.
To prepare for the big day they cleared off several acres of land to showcase what Mobile has to offer.
But is it fair to use city resources to get their point across?
Thursday, News 5 found crews cutting grass on several acres of land on Old Military Road in Theodore, which is out in the county. The problem is they were city workers, using city equipment, on private property.
City spokesperson Barbara Drummond told us there's a good explanation.
"We don't own property in Theodore. We looked around for a site, got with the property owner and requested that we have use of that site free of charge. Certainly we couldn't go down there and say ok, let us use your site free of charge and we want you to go cut the grass."
City Attorney Lawrence Wettermark says the Mobile City Council has unanimously approved the annexation effort and cutting the grass is necessary to hold the City Day function on Saturday and this is a proper use of public employees and equipment.