“We ask that You be with those on all sides of this; we just pray that we can be satisfied, and do what we need to do. Father, we need Your guidance for it.”

This is the opening of the prayer offered by Quitman Mayor Randy Dunn before a Feb. 4 special meeting of the Quitman City Council; the meeting was called to discuss and take possible action regarding a mediator’s proposal for the Bevill v. City of Quitman, et al. case.

The case stemmed from what Bevill claimed was a wrongful termination. Bevill signed an affidavit that a friend could not get a fair trial in Wood County due to a friendship with several Wood County officials; Bevill was later arrested for perjury and terminated from his position for having signed the affidavit. In 2025, a federal judge awarded Bevill $21.35 million, liable to be paid by the City of Quitman as well as a portion by the four defendants.

The first part of the evening’s meeting was 3 minutes, in which the council did an invocation and acknowledged the lack of public comments. The council was then in executive session for an hour and fifteen minutes. The only action coming out of the executive session was to accept the mediator’s proposal.

City Administrator Allan Gilbert, and Laura Benitez Geisler – one of Bevill’s lawyers – declined to comment on what the passed proposal entailed.

“We’re just trying to talk and reach an amicable resolution,” Geisler said.

According to Geisler, attorneys from the city of Quitman and Bevill’s contracted firm are “still in ongoing proposals” about the process, and they do not have an estimated time regarding any resolution. The mediator, she said, was an in-house mediator with the circuit court.

The vote to accept the mediator’s proposal was unanimous, except for council member Todd Wright, who was not present, and council member David Dobbs, who abstained due to his involvement as a defendant in the case.